Rupert Murdoch showed a ruthless strain in his personality yesterday. Here are some
anecdotes about the man from Craig Brown.
Diary, Craig Brown, The Spectator, 12 September 1987.
As TUC delegates bore on about Nye Bevan and the Tolpuddle Martyrs, journalists attempt to remain sane by exchanging fond memories of their own mythological figures, the newspaper proprietors. Robert Maxwell has just taken over from Beaverbrook as the most anthologised ogre, but for some reason there are precious few stories about Rupert Murdoch. He well be bad but he is obviously not bonkers, and both attributes are necessary for real popularity among journalists. Anecdotes about Murdoch’s wit are few and far between, but the following one might help boost his reputation. It also involves William Rees-Mogg, a similarly under-anecdotalised figure. Rees-Mogg has a favourite dinner-party gambit. ‘In my time,’ he likes to say, ‘I have met two Kings, three Queens and three Popes,’ (I forget the exact proportions) ‘and I have found none of them remarkable.’
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