Neal Ascherson

Early life

Ascherson was born in Edinburgh on 5 October 1932, the son of a naval officer of Jewish ancestry and a mother from a London family of Scottish descent; his elder half-sister (by his father's first marriage) was the artist Pamela Ascherson. His aunt was the actress Renée Asherson.

Neal was awarded a scholarship to Eton.

Military service

Before going to university, Ascherson did his National Service as an officer in the Royal Marines, serving from July 1951 to September 1952. During this time, he fought in the Malayan Emergency against pro-independence and communist guerrillas belonging to the Malayan National Liberation Army. During the Malayan Emergency he witnessed the racial oppression of the native people at the hands of British forces, and once claimed to have seen a communist guerrilla shot dead while vainly attempting to save another wounded communist during a gunfight. These experiences later pushed him towards anti-imperialist politics.

University education

Ascherson attended King's College, Cambridge, where he studied history. The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm was his supervisor at Cambridge, and described Ascherson as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had. I didn't really teach him much, I just let him get on with it."

Career

After graduating Ascherson declined offers to pursue an academic career. Instead, he chose a career in journalism, first at The Manchester Guardian and then at The Scotsman (1959–60; 1975–79), The Observer (1960–75; 1979–90) and The Independent on Sunday (1990–98). He contributed scripts for the documentary series The World at War (1973–74) and the Cold War (1998). He has also been a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

Ascherson has occasionally been actively involved in politics. In 1976, while working as the Scottish political correspondent for The Scotsman, he joined the newly-founded Scottish Labour Party (SLP), a breakaway faction which was led out of the UK Labour Party by the MP Jim Sillars following disagreements over the party's policy on Scottish devolution. Ascherson, like Sillars an enthusiastic supporter of maximalist 'Home Rule', provided much favourable coverage of the new party, but the SLP was riven by internal dissension and was wound up after the 1979 general election. Twenty years later, in the first election for the Scottish Parliament, he stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the West Renfrewshire constituency but was not successful. Ascherson supported the "Yes" (pro-independence) campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Ascherson has also lectured and written extensively about Polish and Eastern Europe affairs. he is a visiting professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He has been editor of Public Archaeology, an academic journal associated with UCL devoted to CRM and public archaeology issues and developments, since its inception in 1999.

Awards and honours

In 1991 Ascherson was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. In 2011 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Personal life

Neal Ascherson's first wife was journalist Corinna Adam; the couple first met at Cambridge University and married in 1958. They had two daughters together before separating in 1974. The couple divorced in 1982. Corinna Ascherson, also a journalist, died in March 2012.

In 1984, Ascherson married his second wife, journalist Isabel Hilton. The couple currently live in London and have two children.

Bibliography

• The Spanish Civil War (Granada Television serial script, 1983)
• with Magnus Linklater and Isabel Hilton
• Opposition to Turkey's Ilisu Dam rises again with Maggie Ronayne, published 27 November 2007, chinadialogue

References

References

1. Wroe, Nicholas. (12 April 2003). "Romantic nationalist". [[The Guardian]].
2. "Interview of Neal Ascherson – December 2016".
3. Pendreigh, Brian. (6 October 2014). "Obituary: Renée Asherson, actress". [[The Scotsman]].
4. (3 August 2014). "The SRB Interview: Neal Ascherson". [[Scottish Review of Books]].
5. {{London Gazette. (24 July 1951)
6. {{London Gazette. (30 September 1952)
7. Poole, Dan. (2023). "Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency: The Atrocity and Cover-Up". [[Pen and Sword Books.
8. Jackson, Ben, ''The Case for Scottish Independence: A History of Nationalist Political Thought in Modern Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), p. 101.
9. Drucker, H. M., ''Breakaway: The Scottish Labour Party'' (Edinburgh: EUSPB, 1978), pp. 104, 108.
10. "Vote 99: Scotland Constituencies & Regions. Renfrewshire West". BBC News.
11. Ascherson, Neal. (18 July 2014). "Scottish Independence Is Inevitable". New York Times.
12. (2004). "UK writer Neal Ascherson discusses NATO, EU on Prague visit". Radio Prague.
13. (2004). "Neal Ascherson – fascinating memories of the Soviet invasion and much more". Radio Prague.
14. "People: Staff: Honorary". UCL Institute of Archaeology.
15. Carman, John. (2002). "Archaeology and Heritage: An Introduction". [[Continuum International Publishing Group]].
16. "Neal Ascherson books – Folio Biography".
17. "Honorary Fellows".
18. (29 March 2015). "Corinna Ascherson". [[The Times]].
19. Pavan Amara [http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2012/mar/rhyl-street-flat-blaze-victim-corinna-ascherson-idealistic-socialist-once-one-half-%E2%80%98jo "Rhyl Street flat blaze victim, Corinna Ascherson, an idealistic socialist once one half of 'journalism's golden couple'"] {{webarchive. link. (8 September 2012 , ''[[Camden New Journal]]'', 15 March 2012)