Deeply flawed life of Cap’n Bob
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED! Soon after Robert Maxwell’s mysterious death at sea in 1991 — he either fell, jumped, or, some said, was pushed off his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine — his chief flunkey Peter Jay (formerly Our Man in Washington) was quoted in the newspaper Today as follows: “I think he had more physical and moral courage than anyone I have ever met.”
But here is Jay in John Preston’s flashy, frothy and frivolous new book describing Maxwell as “pre-moral … like some great woolly mammoth stalking through a primeval forest”. It’s a killer quote, all the more so for contradicting Jay’s earlier assessment, of which Preston appears to be ignorant. The book’s “Note on Sources” is broken down by chapter, and includes references to published sources and interviews. The chapter in which this killer quote appears lists Jay as by Nigel Farndale.
