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| Professor Andrew Wheatcroft 1944-2016 |
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Professor Andrew
Wheatcroft
20 July 1944-18 Oct 2016
Andrew (‘Andy’)
Wheatcroft was proud of sharing his birthday with the date of the von
Stauffenberg plot to assassinate Hitler. He was born in Surrey and educated at
St John’s School, Leatherhead before going up to Cambridge to read history at
Christ’s College where former alumni Milton and Darwin had established a
tradition of questioning. His
contemporary Simon Schama observed that of their small and talented group,
Andrew was the most brilliant European historian. He spent a year at the
University of Madrid working on the theme of the use of national image for
propaganda, ‘soft power’ and the misuse of stereotypes to whip up hatred. His subjects for later books focused
on the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires. He served
as a senior commissioning editor for publishers Routledge and Keegan Paul, and
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, also as Professor of Publishing Studies at the
University of Stirling. As a result of teaching many Chinese students of
publishing, he was appointed Foreign Adviser in Publishing to the Chinese
government and was due to address a seminar of 100 Chinese managing executives
in publishing in Oxford yesterday. He
and his wife Janet married in 1970, and came to live at Craigieburn House just
outside Moffat in 1983 with their four
young children. Andy and Janet became Trustees
of Moffat Book Events in 2012, and Andy, as chair, co-signed the Memorandum of
Understanding with the State Library for Foreign Literature. Andrew was a kind,
thoughtful man who wore his academic gifts and learning lightly, was always
helpful and direct, never pompous or patronizing. He delighted in good company,
good food and laughter. He will be sadly missed. R.I.P.
ER 21.10.16
