‘Robert Maxwell sued me repeatedly’
Biographer Tom Bower tells York Membery he started out selling books door-to-door
‘He was a crook, but a courageous one. How did he die? I’m sure of a heart attack and fell off his yacht’
Tom Bower is an author and investigative journalist best-known for his revelatory biographies of celebrities, businessmen, politicians and royal figures. The 76-year-old former Panorama reporter has written biographies about everyone from former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone to Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson to Jeremy Corbyn, and Conrad Black to Robert Maxwell. His latest book, Revenge, is about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and their strained relationship with the Royal family.
In all, he has sold two million books. He and his wife Veronica, a former editor of the London Evening Standard, and their four children, live in London.
HOW DID YOUR START IN LIFE AFFECT YOUR OUTLOOK ON MONEY?
We had very little money when I was a child – my parents were both refugees from Nazi Europe [Austria and Czechoslovakia], and so had to start all over again. I spent my first 11 years living in a two-bedroom flat in London with my mother, chemical salesman father and maternal grandmother. We never knew from one week to the next whether we’d have enough money to last us out the week – it all depended on how well my Dad had done. I had very loving parents but it was a tough childhood financially and socially, and that taught me the value of money
DID YOU RECEIVE POCKET MONEY?
I earned pocket money as a boy by going door-to-door around the houses where I lived on a Saturday with a pal collecting old newspapers in a pram, and then selling them to the rag and bone man. He’d weigh the papers, and we’d usually get paid one or two shillings, which could buy quite a few sweets in those days.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST PROPER JOB?
I did all sorts of summer jobs growing up, be it working as a tour guide in Italy and selling encyclopaedias door-todoor in the East End. I was a pretty good salesman, having seen my father in action. At one stage, he was making money by buying glass animals from an Italian ex-PoW in Soho and selling them on to shops at a mark-up – a real education. At university, I earned extra money by buying shirts in the East End and selling them at a profit in the student bar. But my first proper job after university was as a researcher at the BBC working on the programme 24 Hours.
WHY DID YOU START WRITING BOOKS?
I was offered a good advance for my first book, Blind Eye to Murder (1980) – an exposé of the Allies’ failure to hunt down Nazi criminals. It was a very personal book for me because I lost a lot of relatives in the Holocaust – and that was very much part of the story. The book was serialised in a national newspaper and became the basis of a BBC TV documentary. I’m still terribly proud of that first book. Having been educated in a class of 54 at a school in Tufnell Park, north London – with German being my first language as a child – to get a book published was a big deal.
YOU WERE LATER SUED BY ROBERT MAXWELL – WAS THAT A FINANCIALLY PAINFUL EXPERIENCE?
My book about Maxwell came out when he was still a powerful media magnate and he repeatedly sued me, though luckily my publisher – and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was also very supportive – bore the financial cost of my legal defence. When the book came out people were still praising Maxwell and thought I was completely wrong abut him but of course subsequent events proved me right. How did he die? I’m sure he had a heart attack and fell over the side of his yacht.
HAVE YOU PICKED UP ANY GOOD MONEY TIPS FROM THE PEOPLE YOU’VE WRITTEN ABOUT?
In terms of business, I actually learnt quite a lot from my books about Bernie Ecclestone, Richard Branson – and even Robert Maxwell. People very rarely got the better of them deal-wise because they’re terrific actors and salesman who were also ruthless businessmen.
Yes, Maxwell was a crook – but he was a courageous crook.
WHICH OF YOUR BOOKS HAS BEEN THE MOST LUCRATIVE?
Probably my latest book about Meghan, for which I was paid a six-figure advance. It’s sold more than 300,000 copies in the UK alone. It’s also done well in America and has been translated into another nine languages. But my books on Simon Cowell and Richard Branson also did very well. I’ve always chosen tough but popular subjects so have always secured a pretty good advance too.
HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE THE SUCCESS OF A BOOK?
I might go out for dinner or visit Paris with my wife for the weekend. Then I’ll think about the next book. I’m afraid my work ethic is remorseless.
HAVE YOU BECOME FRIENDLY WITH ANY OF YOUR BIOGRAPHICAL SUBJECTS?
Yes, Simon Cowell and Bernie Ecclestone – but it’s rare. Normally they either sue me or shun me, and I don’t expect to become friendly with Meghan. I don’t mind becoming the object of my subjects’ enmity though – the more enmity, the more satisfaction it gives me. I know I’ve done my job.
DO YOU OWN A PROPERTY?
Yes, I live in the same four-storey Victorian house I bought in Hampstead Village for £10,000 in 1974, a lot of money at the time. It was a wreck when I bought it though – you could see the sky from the basement. So I had to spend another £10,000 rebuilding it. But it’s now worth about £3m.
ARE YOU A SPENDER OR A SAVER?
A saver – I’ve always been very cautious with my money, a habit I learnt from my father. I’m all too aware that things could easily come to an end.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST INDULGENCE?
I bought a beautiful second-hand Range Rover a couple of years ago for about £65,000 – but my greatest indulgence was rebuilding the Wiltshire farmhouse I bought 30 years ago and putting in a pool which is marvellous in summer.
DO YOU DONATE TO CHARITY?
Yes, to the Salvation Army, Macmillan Cancer Support and the London Music Fund, a fantastic charity my wife created which helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds learn a musical instrument and become musicians.
WHO’S THE NEXT CELEB IN YOUR SIGHTS?
I’m currently negotiating the advance for my next biography about the Beckhams who combine stardom with money. They’re a money-making machine and that’s fascinating.
Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, by Tom Bower (Bonnier), out now in paperback, £10.99