{{short description|British journalist and writer (born 1945)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} '''Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft''' (born 23 December 1945) is a British journalist, author, and historian.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Geoffrey-Wheatcroft/7781 | title= Geoffrey Wheatcroft | work=[[Simon & Schuster]] | access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Wheatcroft is the son of [[Stephen Wheatcroft (economist)|Stephen Frederick Wheatcroft]] (1921–2016), [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], and his first wife, Joyce (née Reed). He was born in [[London]] and raised at [[Hampstead]]. His father was an economist, serving as a governor of the [[London School of Economics]], and an expert on civil aviation, serving as Commercial Planning manager for [[British Airways]] from 1946 to 1953, before working for various airlines as an independent consultant.<ref>World Authors, 1995-2000, ed. Mari Rich, et al, H. W. Wilson, 2003, p. 839</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/05/09/stephen-wheatcroft-aviation-expert--obituary|title = Stephen Wheatcroft, aviation expert – obituary|newspaper = The Telegraph|date = 9 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/stephen-wheatcroft-qdd69s2j3|title=Stephen Wheatcroft|date=1 September 2024|website=www.thetimes.com}}</ref>
Wheatcroft was educated at [[University College School]], London, then [[New College, Oxford|New College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]], where he studied [[modern history]].<ref>One Hundred Letters from Hugh Trevor-Roper, ed. Adam Sisman, Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 390</ref>
== Publishing and journalism == Wheatcroft started work in publishing in 1968, working for [[Hamish Hamilton]] (1968–70), [[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]] (1971–1973), and [[John Cassell|Cassell & Co]] (1974–1975). In 1975, he became the assistant editor of ''[[The Spectator]]'', moving to the post of literary editor, which he occupied from 1977 to 1981. During the 1981–1984 period, he worked as a reporter in South Africa before becoming editor of the [[Londoner's Diary]] gossip column in the London ''[[Evening Standard]]'' in 1985–1986. He was a ''[[Sunday Telegraph]]'' columnist in 1987–1991 and freelance 1993–1996, feature writer on the ''[[Daily Express]]'', 1996–1997, and has since written for ''[[The Guardian]]'', ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'', ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', ''[[The New Republic]]'', the ''[[Boston Globe]]'', ''[[The Atlantic]]'', ''[[The American Conservative]]'', and other publications on both sides of the Atlantic.
His book ''The Controversy of Zion'' won a 1996 [[National Jewish Book Award]].<ref>Geoffrey Wheatcroft, [http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/04/02/most_favored_nation/ Most favored nation], ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', 2 April 2006.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30759 |title=Past Winners |date= |publisher= Jewish Book Council |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref> His 2021 biography of [[Winston Churchill]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Hastings |first=Max |date=7 November 2021 |url= https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-11-07/winston-churchill-politicians-who-claim-his-mantle-embody-his-worst-traits |title=Politicians Who Claim Churchill's Mantle Embody His Worst Traits |work=Bloomberg News |location=New York |accessdate=28 November 2021}}</ref> was described by conservative historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]] in ''The Spectator'' as a "character assassination";<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/churchill-as-villain-but-is-this-a-character-assassination-too-far | title= Churchill as villain – but is this a character assassination too far? | work=[[The Spectator]] |location= London | first=Andrew | last=Roberts | date=14 August 2021 | access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref> in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Peter Baker (journalist)|Peter Baker]] wrote: "They are, of course, taking different views of the same man. Roberts's book was described in these pages as the best single-volume biography of Churchill yet written. Wheatcroft's could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written."<ref>{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Peter |date=26 October 2021 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/books/review/geoffrey-wheatcroft-churchills-shadow.html |title=The Case Against Winston Churchill |work=The New York Times |accessdate=28 November 2021}}</ref>
== Marriage and family == In 1990, Wheatcroft married the fashion designer and painter [[Sally Muir]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sallymuir.co.uk/|title=sally muirSally Muir|website=Sally Muir}}</ref> the daughter of [[Frank Muir]]. They live in [[Combe Down]], [[Bath, Somerset]], and have two children.<ref>A Kentish Lad, Frank Muir, Corgi Books, 1998, p. 398</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Genevieve |title='They save us': Sally Muir on the art of drawing rescue dogs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/12/they-save-us-sally-muir-on-the-art-of-drawing-rescue-dogs |access-date=12 February 2023 |work=The Observer |date=12 February 2023}}</ref>
== Books == * ''The Randlords'' (1985) * ''Absent Friends'' (1989) * ''The Controversy of Zion'' (1996) * ''[[The Strange Death of Tory England]]'' (2005) * ''Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France'' (2003, 2007, 2013) * ''Yo, Blair!'' (2007) * ''The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill'' (2021)
== Sources == * ''Who's Who'' (2008 edition) s.v. Geoffrey Wheatcroft
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071123193551/http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/geoffrey_wheatcroft/index.html Wheatcroft on The Guardian] * [https://www.theatlantic.com/about/people/gwbio.htm Biography of Geoffrey Wheatcroft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705152759/http://www.theatlantic.com/about/people/gwbio.htm |date=5 July 2008 }} on ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'' (accessed 24 September 2007) * [https://www.nybooks.com/authors/2854 Wheatcroft author page and article archive] from ''The New York Review of Books'' * {{C-SPAN|1023831}}
{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatcroft, Geoffrey}} [[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]] [[Category:British biographers]] [[Category:Daily Mail journalists]] [[Category:The Guardian journalists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People educated at University College School]]