{{short description|English art dealer (1935-2012)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Roy Miles | image = | caption = | birth_date = 9 February 1935 | birth_place = Liverpool | death_date = 10 December 2012 | death_place = | occupation = art dealer | parents = | website = }}

'''Roy Miles''' (9{{nbsp}}February 1935{{snd}}10{{nbsp}}December 2012) was a London art dealer who was one of the first dealers to recognise the commercial potential of the art of the former Soviet bloc.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/9762134/Roy-Miles.html Roy Miles.] telegraph.co.uk 21 December 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2012. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121224020259/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/9762134/Roy-Miles.html Archived here.]</ref>

Born Roy Marsh in Liverpool, Roy took his step-father's name of Miles and moved to London at an early age to work for an antique dealer. He quickly changed to hairdressing and owned a salon in London's West End. In the late 1960s he began in business as an art dealer.

Miles specialised first in British Victorian art and later toured the former Soviet Union buying Socialist Realist art that he sold for a huge markup. In the 1970s and 80s he was able to capitalise on the rising status of London as an art centre and his innate entrepreneurial skills and flair for self-publicity. Miles' parties at his various galleries became legendary social events, and Miles was associated with names such as Rudolf Nureyev, Edward Heath, Lord Forte, Raine Spencer, Ossie Clark, the Duke of Devonshire and Jonathan Aitken.<ref>[https://www.standard.co.uk/home/a-stylish-and-savvy-man-7436149.html A stylish and savvy man.] by Philip Mould in ''The London Evening Standard'', 27 August 2003. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131028123606/http://www.standard.co.uk/home/a-stylish-and-savvy-man-7436149.html Archived here.]</ref>

==Publications== *''Priceless: The Memoirs and Mysteries of Britain's No. 1 Art Dealer''. London, Metro, 2003. {{ISBN|1843580659}}

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Roy}} Category:1935 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Liverpool Category:Art dealers from London Category:20th-century English businesspeople

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