The late Robert Maxwell, media baron. Credit: Getty

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Was Robert Maxwell really the ‘crook of the century’?

Winner of the Costa Biography Award 2021

Fall

WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2021 
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2021 
A SUNDAY TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 
A dramatic, gripping account of the rise and fall of the notorious business tycoon Robert Maxwell from the acclaimed author of A Very English Scandal. 
 
'The best biography yet of the media magnate Robert Maxwell - by turns engrossing, amusing and appalling' Robert Harris, Sunday Times 
 
'Electrifying... the supreme chronicler of modern British scandals' Mail on Sunday 
 
Robert Maxwell was a very British success. Born an Orthodox Jew, he escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, fought in the Second World War, and was decorated for his heroism with the Military Cross. He went on to become a Labour MP and an astonishingly successful businessman, owning a number of newspapers and publishing companies. But after his dead body was discovered floating in waters around his superyacht, his empire fell apart as long-hidden debts and unscrupulous dealings came to light. Within a few days, Maxwell was being reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. 
 
What went so wrong? How did a man who had once laid such store on the importance of ethics and good behaviour become reduced to a bloated, amoral wreck? In this gripping book, John Preston delivers the definitive account of Maxwell's extraordinary rise and scandalous fall. 
 
'I have a shelf full of books about frauds, but this one is by far the most enjoyable' Craig Brown, author of Ma'am Darling

'This is the best biography yet of the media magnate Robert Maxwell - by turns engrossing, amusing and appalling... it slips down as richly, easily and pleasurably as a tablespoonful of Beluga caviar'

'Electrifying... the supreme chronicler of modern British scandals'

'This is such a richly detailed, well-written, gripping biography I wished it could have been twice as long'

'I have a shelf full of books about frauds, but this one is by far the most enjoyable. By turns self-righteous and revolting, Maxwell makes the perfect villain'

'Any good biography of a mountebank depicts not only its subject but also the ambivalent society that accommodated the monster. John Preston's Fall does this with deft understatement ... Preston's A Very English Scandal used an almost novelistic eye to revive a well-worn scandal. Fall is equally satisfying'

'An absorbing profile of the war hero turned rogue ... Preston comes to his subject with the advantage both of hindsight and his great skill at exposing hypocrisy and subterfuge ... he has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the revealing quote'

'There have been many books written about Robert Maxwell, but surely none as pacy, entertaining and jaw-dropping as this one... yes, this is quite a book'

'Preston has written a wonderfully ­entertaining book and interviewed almost everyone who crossed ­Maxwell's path in his heyday. He has an eye for comedy and drama and, where he explains his subject's shady and dauntingly complex business dealings, he does so clearly and succinctly'

'Irresistible page-turning pace ... what emerges from Fall is a vividly grotesque picture of the emperor showing off his nonexistent new clothes to an applauding crowd of courtiers - politicians, editors, bankers - who all too willingly suspended any disbelief they may have felt'

'John Preston's book Fall, a recounting of the life of one of the most extraordinary figures in British corporate life, is timely ... almost 30 years since Maxwell died at sea in unexplained circumstances, it is possible to look back on his story and the fraud as a great, sweeping whole, a bridge from the second world war to the last years of the media barons before the internet began ... Preston tells the story well ... its strength is in telling the grand sweep of an extraordinary life'

'Vivid ... Preston (has a) gift for the kind of wry comedy that suits English decline'

'John Preston's research for this terrific biography is extensive; he interviewed three of Maxwell's children and his sister. But he also presents a large character at the heart of a gripping novel which happens to be true'

'Thanks to Preston's fine writing, Fall fizzes along at pace and is engrossing as it charts Maxwell's astonishing life - and how he came to be so widely reviled'

'John Preston tells [the story of Maxwell] with great verve and the benefit of extensive interviews with, among others, Maxwell's one-time rival Rupert Murdoch... the portrait that emerges is more subtly drawn than previous ones'

'John Preston brings the old crook and liar magnificently to life in this sparkling biography... this beautifully written book provides many moments of high and low comedy... Preston's sharp eye for the ridiculous and the piquant conjures up a lost Fleet Street world'

'Preston is a natural storyteller'

Deeply researched, fluently written, and darkly comic, it reads like a thriller

Ben Macintyre on 'A Very English Scandal'

A terrific book and brilliantly researched

Claire Tomalin on 'A Very English Scandal'

John Preston is a former Arts Editor of the Evening Standard and the Sunday Telegraph. For ten years he was the Sunday Telegraph's television critic and one of its chief feature writers. His novel, The Dig, based on the 1939 archaeological excavation at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, has been filmed starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James. His first nonfiction book, A Very English Scandal, was published to great acclaim in 2016 and turned into BAFTA-winning BBC drama series. His latest book Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell was published to great acclaim in February 2021. It has been shortlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Costa Biography Prize and is being adapted for television by Working Title productions.

Now a BAFTA-nominated motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James

The Dig

A brilliantly realised account of the most famous archeological dig in British history, now a major motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James. 
 
'Exquisitely original' Ian MacEwan 
 
'An enthralling story of love and loss' Robert Harris 
 
In the long hot summer of 1939 Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Pretty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find... 
 
John Preston's recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain - brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure. 
 
'A tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal' Nigella Lawson 
 
'A delicate evocation of a vanished era' Sunday Times

'Very fine, engrossing, exquisitely original'

'An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year'

'You don't need to be in archaeology - this is a tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love. It's so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal'

'A rich vein of dry humour runs throughout'

'Intriguing, tender and entertaining ... easily Preston's best'

'A delicate, quietly affecting human drama'

'A moving novel that coheres wonderfully as it progresses'

'A delicate evocation of a vanished era'

Wonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention

'Beautifully written...there is a true and wonderful ending to the story'

'Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement'

'Exciting, evocative and beautifully written. A treasure in itself'

'Shimmers with longing and regret . . . Preston writes with economical grace . . . He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful'

In the long hot summer of 1939 Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Pretty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find... 
 
John Preston's recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain - brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure.

Now a Major BBC Series Starring Hugh Grant

A Very English Scandal

The bestselling book that inspired the Bafta-winning BBC drama 
 
Corruption. Blackmail. Conspiracy to murder. A Very English Scandal has all the hallmarks of a classic thriller with one difference. It's all true. 
 
In the late 1960s Jeremy Thorp, the charismatic leader of the Liberal Party, was at the height of his political career. But homosexuality had only just been legalized, and a former relationship with a younger man named Norman Scott threatened to destroy Thorp's carefully curated facade. Helped by fellow politicians, Thorpe schemed, deceived and embezzled until he saw only one way to silence his ex-lover for good. 
 
Meticulously researched and endlessly extraordinary, Thorp's trial captured the moment that British society discovered the truth about its political class - and learned just how far the Establishment will go to protect its own. 
 
'Gripping. A story of cack-handed assassins, buffoonish policemen, dodgy Home Secretaries' Daily Telegraph 
 
'I loved it; eccentric, dark, humane and English in the very best sense' Alain de Botton 
 
'Retold with masterful skill . . . It grips like a detective story' Daily Mail, Book of the Week

The shocking true story of the first British politician to stand trial for murder

This is a brilliant, sad, startling nonfiction novel about the Jeremy Thorpe murder-plot scandal. It is as funny and dark as anything by Evelyn Waugh or Jonathan Coe. And in these post Cyril Smith/Jimmy Saville days, it's so timely and relevant

A terrific book and brilliantly researched. John Preston writes wonderful dead-pan prose and reveals the depths of depravity, the absurd power of snobbery and the old boy networks of the time

A brilliant exploration of an extraordinary political scandal... deeply researched, fluently written, and darkly comic, it reads like a thriller

I loved it; eccentric, dark, humane and English in the very best sense. It's going to be a sure fire-hit

The most forensic, elegantly written, compelling account of one of the 20th century's great political scandals... a real page-turner'

Very funny and endlessly extraordinary... makes for amazing reading

Impeccably researched... full of shocks, surprises and laugh-out-loud moments. Preston revives a forgotten era and delves into the personalities behind the headlines.

Retold with masterful skill... It grips like a detective story, as compelling as BBC2's Life of Duty and every bit as dirty in what it exposes about the upper echelons of society in the Sixties and Seventies

This brilliant account made me feel I was hearing the tale for the first time ... Preston is an enthralling narrator

Gripping ... cack-handed assassins, buffoonish policemen, dodgy Home secretaries and sozzled judges. The conclusion of an Establishment cover-up is hard to avoid

The unbelievable truth... Preston is a natural storyteller ... he provides the context for actions that seem unbelievable today

Wonderfully readable ... John Preston is the ideal author, having researched for years many minor characters and talked to dozens of well-known political and literary friends and enemies of Thorpe

Fluent, readable ... a vivid tableau of the players in Thorpe's long, tragic downfall

I spent a thrilling 48 hours reading it. The narrative is so vivid, the characterisation so brilliant... I thought I knew all about these events, but the full horror of them has only now become apparent

A gripping account of the Jeremy Thorpe case. The details make one laugh out loud or gasp with amazement

The whole affair is retold here compellingly and fluently, bringing to life the cast of characters with some verve

Nothing comes close to the eyepopping outrageousness of the gay murder shenanigans that engulfed and almost destroyed a Liberal leader. Reads like a comic thriller

John Preston

Elton John

If John Preston hasn’t already sold the film rights to this book, he surely will soon. Watford Forever is the heartwarming story of the collaboration and friendship between English football’s oddest couple, Elton John and Graham Taylor

A wonderful, feel-good account of an ultimately English provincial story

A rollicking period tale of footballing success . . . Watford Forever teems with unforgettable images . . . from first to last, this is an ever-entertaining telling of a remarkable sporting fairy-tale

Entwining sport, music and social history, the absorbing Watford Forever is masterfully judged, saccharine-free, true-life fairy tale, which showcases another side of Elton John

A warm and redemptive tale . . . packed with anecdotes, moments that skewer the times with economy and prevision. Plus endless laugh-out-loud yarns…as Preston tells [Elton John and Graham Taylor’s] story, it rattles along at page-turning pace….it reads, indeed, like the script of a movie

It is hard to read Watford Forever without becoming overwhelmingly nostalgic . . . Preston burrows to the heart of what for a while Watford got so right

John bought his beloved Watford FC when it was near the bottom of English football, then carried it to glory in alliance with manager Graham Taylor — his polar opposite. The rock star collaborated with Preston, a skilled and versatile writer, for this English-odd-couple feelgood story

The original football fairytale of a small club rising from the bottom to the top

You don't have to be a Watford fan to enjoy this terrific book. It is about much more than the unlikely friendship between one of the most famous stars on the planet, who as a boy had loved being taken to Watford matches by his distant father, and the fiercely ambitious son of a sports editor who wanted, in his managerial achievements, to make up for an undistinguished playing career

How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other

Britain in the 1970s was beset by unrest and unemployment. Meanwhile, Watford FC were floundering in 92nd place at the bottom of the entire Football League. Enter Elton John, now the most successful rockstar in the world and a lifelong fan of the club. 
 
Made in Watford is the remarkable story of Elton John's ownership of Watford Football Club and its transformational journey to the top of the first division under iconic manager Graham Taylor. Filled with incredible stories about legendary players and unlikely heroes, from Luther Blissett to Ross Jenkins, and a loveable supporting cast of eclectic characters, this a tribute to football's unlikeliest friendship and one of sport's great underdog stories.

John Preston

Books by John Preston

Articles featuring John Preston

Was Robert Maxwell really the ‘crook of the century’?

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