James Goldsmith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James Goldsmith
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the European Parliament for France | |
| In office 1994–1997 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
James Michael Goldsmith
26 February 1933 Paris, France |
| Died | 18 July 1997 (aged 64) Benahavís, Spain |
| Nationality |
|
| Political party |
|
| Spouses |
|
| Domestic partner | Laure Boulay de La Meurthe |
| Children | 8, including Jemima, Lord (Zac) Goldsmith, and Ben |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | See Goldsmith family |
| Education | Millfield, Eton College |
| Known for | Finance, Eurosceptic politician |
Sir James Michael Goldsmith (born February 26, 1933 – died July 18, 1997) was a famous French-British businessman and politician. He was known for his work in finance and for starting a political party. In 1994, he became a Member of the European Parliament, representing France. He also created the Referendum Party in the United Kingdom. This party wanted Britain to leave the European Union.
Contents
Early Life and Education
James Goldsmith was born in Paris, France. His father, Frank Goldsmith, was a wealthy hotel owner and a former politician. His mother was Marcelle Mouiller. James was the younger brother of Edward Goldsmith, who became a well-known environmental activist. The Goldsmith family had a long history in banking. They were a rich Jewish family from Frankfurt, Germany.
In 1940, when James was young, his family had to leave France. They fled because Nazi Germany took over the country. They managed to escape on the last ship from a French port. They left behind their hotels and most of their belongings. The family then moved to the Bahamas. James was sent to school in Canada. There, he started a small business trapping animals like rabbits and mink.
He also attended two famous schools in England: Millfield and Eton College. He left Eton early in 1949 when he was 16. He had won a lot of money, about £8,000, from a horse racing bet. He famously said that "a man of my means should not remain a schoolboy!" After leaving school, he took over a business in Paris from his brother. This business sold a cure for rheumatism and electrical plugs. Goldsmith also served as a soldier in the British Army.
Business Ventures and Successes
During the 1950s and 1960s, James Goldsmith took many risks in business. He worked in finance and as an industrialist. Sometimes, he came close to losing everything. But he also had many big successes. For example, he won the right to sell Alka-Seltzer in Britain. He also helped bring cheaper, generic medicines to the UK.
Some people in the media called him a "corporate raider." This meant they thought he bought companies just to break them up and sell their parts. Goldsmith strongly disagreed with this. He said his actions helped make companies more efficient. He believed he removed bad management and increased value for shareholders.
One of his early successes was with the Paris business he took over. He created a publicity stunt with an arthritic racehorse. This made sales go way up. He then started selling slimming products and making generic prescription drugs. He also got involved in the food industry. In the early 1960s, he helped start the Mothercare retail chain. However, he sold his share early, and the chain became very successful later.
In 1965, he bought several food companies and combined them into Cavenham Foods. At first, this group made little profit. He added bakeries and candy makers to the group. He also bought many small shops that sold tobacco, candy, and newspapers. By making the businesses run better and closing inefficient factories, he improved their profits. By 1971, the company was doing very well.
A big moment came in 1971 when he tried to buy Bovril. This was a much larger company with many well-known brands. The Bovril family directors fought hard against his offer. But in the end, Goldsmith succeeded. After buying Bovril, he sold off parts of the company. He sold the dairies and farms, and the ranches in Argentina. These sales helped him get back almost all the money he spent to buy Bovril. Years later, he sold the brand names for a huge profit.
Goldsmith also started doing business through private companies. These companies were registered in places like France, Hong Kong, and the Cayman Islands. This helped him avoid some of the public scrutiny he faced. In 1973, he went to New York to look for business chances in the US. He believed the UK economy was going to get worse. So, he started selling many of his assets.
He bought a controlling share in Grand Union, a large supermarket chain in the US. He tried to make the chain more efficient. However, he faced many problems from unions and management. In the 1980s, Goldsmith also became one of the biggest private owners of timberland in America. He found that many companies valued their timberland very low on their books. He realized the true value was much higher. This allowed him to buy companies and gain huge amounts of timberland at very low cost.
In 1987, Goldsmith retired to Mexico. He had predicted a market crash that year and sold off his assets. However, he continued to be involved in big business deals. He even tried to take over British-American Tobacco in 1989. He also made profitable investments in raw materials around the world.
Environmental Work
Later in his life, James Goldsmith became very active in environmental issues. In 1994, he wrote a book called The Trap. In this book, he talked about major challenges facing humanity. He focused on modern intensive farming and the use of nuclear power. His brother, Edward, had always been passionate about these topics. Goldsmith himself had not shown much public interest before.
His book received some criticism from different groups. Goldsmith wrote another publication called The Response in 1995 to answer these criticisms. After his death, Goldsmith's family started the 'J.M.G. Foundation'. This foundation helps groups that are against the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in farming.
Entering the World of Politics
James Goldsmith became increasingly worried about the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1980s. He suspected that its main goal was for Germany to control Europe. This idea became stronger for him in 1992. That year, the EEC changed its name to the European Union. It also gained many new powers over its member countries.
In 1993, Goldsmith gave a televised speech. He publicly spoke against the European Union. The speech was shown in the UK and published in The Times newspaper. In the mid-1990s, he also helped fund a group called the European Foundation. This group shared his views against the European Union.
In 1994, he published The Trap, which shared his political ideas. He criticized how governments in the "First World" focused too much on free trade. He also disagreed with mass migration, which he believed was driven by short-term economic gains. He thought this could cause big problems for society. Instead, he suggested returning to older economic ideas. He also wanted governments to stop large numbers of people from poorer countries moving to richer ones for economic reasons.
Later in 1994, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for France. He represented a party called Majorité pour l'autre Europe. He then became the leader of a group in the European Parliament that opposed the European Union.
The Referendum Party
In the early 1990s, Goldsmith felt that the main political parties in the United Kingdom were not doing enough to oppose the European Union. So, in 1994, he started and funded The Referendum Party in the UK. The party's main goal was to hold a public vote, or referendum. This vote would decide if the UK should leave the European Union. The party put forward candidates in the 1997 general election.
As the 1990s continued, Goldsmith became more involved in British politics. He often appeared in the news and on TV debates. He spoke out against the European Union. He also criticized the media for not fully reporting on the EU's goals. He believed that the British Parliament had failed the country and was giving away its power.
During the 1997 election campaign, Goldsmith sent about five million video cassettes to homes. This allowed him to speak directly to voters without media control. He wanted to share his message widely.
1997 UK General Election
In the 1997 UK general election, Goldsmith ran as a candidate for the Referendum Party. He stood in the Putney area of London. He was running against David Mellor, a former Conservative Party minister. Goldsmith received 3.5% of the votes. The announcement of the Putney results was shown live on TV. There was a lot of excitement and noise from anti-European Union activists.
During the announcement, Mellor, who lost his seat, insulted Goldsmith. In response, Goldsmith and some of the crowd started chanting "Out!" This showed their defiance against the political system they disliked. Goldsmith's election performance was not very strong. It is often hard for new parties to succeed in British politics. He was also very ill with cancer during the election. This was a secret to most people and limited his ability to campaign.
Goldsmith's 1,518 votes were not enough to save Mellor's seat. Mellor lost by a larger margin. Goldsmith also lost his £500 candidate's deposit because he got less than 5% of the votes. He had reportedly spent £20 million on The Referendum Party. Mellor had correctly predicted that the Referendum Party would disappear. Indeed, the party ended after Goldsmith's death two months later. However, many of the party's supporters later joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). UKIP eventually led a major change in British politics. Almost 20 years later, the UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum.
Death
James Goldsmith died on July 18, 1997. He was 64 years old. He passed away from pancreatic cancer at his farmhouse in Benahavís, southern Spain. This was two months after he ran in the 1997 general election.
Family Life
James Goldsmith was married three times and had eight children. His first wife was María Isabel Patiño y Borbón. They married when he was 20. Sadly, she died in 1954 during pregnancy. Their daughter, Isabel, was born by C-section and survived. Isabel was raised by Goldsmith's family. She later became an art collector and owns a hotel in Mexico.
His second wife was Ginette Léry. They had a son, Manes (born 1959), and a daughter, Alix (born 1964). They divorced in 1978, but they continued to share a house in Paris. Goldsmith also built her a house on his estate in Mexico. Manes worked for FIFA and owned football teams in Mexico. Alix took over her father's properties in Mexico and manages them with her husband. Their hotels, Cuixmala and Hacienda de San Antonio, are very famous in Mexico.
In 1978, he married Lady Annabel Birley. They already had two children together: Jemima (born 1974) and Zacharias (born 1975). They later had a third child, Benjamin (born 1980). Jemima and Zac have become well-known public figures. Zac Goldsmith was a Conservative Member of Parliament and later became a life peer. He also ran for Mayor of London. Jemima became a journalist and was married to Imran Khan, who later became Prime Minister of Pakistan. In 2003, Ben Goldsmith married Kate Emma Rothschild.
