Nikolai Tolstoy: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox officeholder |
{{Infobox officeholder |
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| name = Nikolai Dmitrievich Miloslavsky |
| name = Nikolai Dmitrievich Miloslavsky |
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| honorific-suffix = [[Count]] |
| honorific-suffix = [[Count]] Tolstoy |
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| image = Count Nikolai Tolstoy on Hart Fell Scotland.JPG |
| image = Count Nikolai Tolstoy on Hart Fell Scotland.JPG |
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| caption = Count Tolstoy on Hart Fell Mountain, Scotland, 2015 |
| caption = Count Tolstoy on Hart Fell Mountain, Scotland, 2015 |
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| birth_place = [[London]], [[United Kingdom]] |
| birth_place = [[London]], [[United Kingdom]] |
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| nationality = [[British nationality law|British]] |
| nationality = [[British nationality law|British]] |
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| party = |
| party = [[UK Independence Party]]<br>{{Small|(1996–present)}} |
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| alma_mater = [[University of Dublin]] |
| alma_mater = [[University of Dublin]] |
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| profession = [[Historian]], [[writer]] |
| profession = [[Historian]], [[writer]] |
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Count '''Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky''' ({{lang-ru|link=no|Николай Дмитриевич Толстой-Милославский}}; born 23 June 1935) is an [[English people|Anglo]]-[[Russia]]n [[author]] who writes under the name '''Nikolai Tolstoy'''. |
Count '''Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky''' ({{lang-ru|link=no|Николай Дмитриевич Толстой-Милославский}}; born 23 June 1935) is an [[English people|Anglo]]-[[Russia]]n [[author]] who writes under the name '''Nikolai Tolstoy'''. Current head of the senior line of the [[Tolstoy family]], he is a former [[parliamentary candidate]] of the [[UK Independence Party]]. |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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==Literary career== |
==Literary career== |
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Tolstoy has written a number of books about [[Celtic mythology]]. In ''The Quest for Merlin'' he has explored the |
Tolstoy has written a number of books about [[Celtic mythology]]. In ''The Quest for Merlin'' he has explored the historical and mythological background of [[Merlin]], and his [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] novel ''[[The Coming of the King]]'' draws on his research into ancient British history. He was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]] in 1979. |
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He has also written about [[World War II]] and its immediate aftermath. In 1977 he wrote the ''[[Victims of Yalta]]'',<ref>http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1980jun-00089 "Victims of Yalta", by Nikolai Tolstoy, Encounter, June 1980, page 89-92 – [[Peregrine Worsthorne]], in a review, declared that, "More than enough has now emerged about the Russian deportations to stir the national conscience, and the matter cannot be left as it is. If a new war crime on this scale had suddenly come to light in Germany, Britain would be the first to agitate for an inquiry; indeed for much more than that . . . if honour, at this late stage, can never be redeemed, at least dishonour can be squarely faced."</ref> which criticised the British forced [[Operation Keelhaul|handover]] of Soviet citizens to [[Joseph Stalin]] in direct violation of the [[Geneva |
He has also written about [[World War II]] and its immediate aftermath. In 1977 he wrote the ''[[Victims of Yalta]]'',<ref>http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1980jun-00089 "Victims of Yalta", by Nikolai Tolstoy, Encounter, June 1980, page 89-92 – [[Peregrine Worsthorne]], in a review, declared that, "More than enough has now emerged about the Russian deportations to stir the national conscience, and the matter cannot be left as it is. If a new war crime on this scale had suddenly come to light in Germany, Britain would be the first to agitate for an inquiry; indeed for much more than that . . . if honour, at this late stage, can never be redeemed, at least dishonour can be squarely faced."</ref> which criticised the British forced [[Operation Keelhaul|handover]] of Soviet citizens to [[Joseph Stalin]] in direct violation of the [[1929 Geneva Convention]].<ref>'The Application of International Law to Forced Repatriation from Austria in 1945', in Stefan Karner, Erich Reiter, and Gerald Schöpfer (ed.), "Kalter Krieg: Beiträge zur Ost-West-Konfrontation 1945 bis 1990" (Graz, 2002)</ref> In 1986 he wrote ''[[The Minister and the Massacres]]'' which criticised [[Bleiburg repatriations|British repatriation of anti-Communist troops]] to [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s Yugoslav government, it received much critical praise, as well as criticism by Macmillan's authorised biographer.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Horne|first=Alistair|title=The unquiet graves of Yalta.|journal=National Review|date=5 February 1990|volume=42|pages=27|issn=0028-0038}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Pavlowitch|first=Stevan K.|title=The Minister and the Massacres review|journal=The English Historical Review|date=January 1989|volume=104|issue=410|pages=274–276|doi=10.1093/ehr/civ.ccccx.274}}</ref> |
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==Controversy== |
==Controversy== |
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He has written of the forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and others during and after World War II. As a result, he was called by the defence as an expert witness at the trial of [[John Demjanjuk]] in Israel. In a letter to the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' (21 April 1988), Tolstoy said the trial and the court's procedures struck "at the most vital principles of natural justice". He condemned the use of especially bussed-in audiences, who were repeatedly permitted by Judge Levin to boo and hiss at appropriate moments. He called Levin's conduct "an appalling travesty of every principle of equity", and said that it was "a show trial in every sense of the word", even being conducted in a theatre. When eventually the [[United States Justice Department]] was found to have collaborated with the Soviet authorities in suppressing evidence that he had been falsely identified, the case against Demjanjuk was dismissed.<ref>Willem A. Wagenaar, "Identifying Ivan: A Case Study in Legal Psychology" ISBN 0-7450-0396-6; Yoram Sheftel, "The Demjanjuk Affair: The Rise and Fall of a Show-Trial" ISBN 0-575-05795-5; Hans Peter Rullmann, "Der Fall Demjanjuk: Unschuldiger oder Massenmörder?" ISBN 3-925848-02-9; Jim McDonald, "John Demjanjuk: The Real Story" ISBN 0-915597-79-9</ref> |
He has written of the forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and others during and after World War II. As a result, he was called by the defence as an expert witness at the trial of [[John Demjanjuk]] in Israel. In a letter to the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' (21 April 1988), Tolstoy said the trial and the court's procedures struck "at the most vital principles of natural justice". He condemned the use of especially bussed-in audiences, who were repeatedly permitted by Judge Levin to boo and hiss at appropriate moments. He called Levin's conduct "an appalling travesty of every principle of equity", and said that it was "a show trial in every sense of the word", even being conducted in a theatre. When eventually the [[United States Justice Department]] was found to have collaborated with the Soviet authorities in suppressing evidence that he had been falsely identified, the case against Demjanjuk was dismissed.<ref>Willem A. Wagenaar, "Identifying Ivan: A Case Study in Legal Psychology" ISBN 0-7450-0396-6; Yoram Sheftel, "The Demjanjuk Affair: The Rise and Fall of a Show-Trial" ISBN 0-575-05795-5; Hans Peter Rullmann, "Der Fall Demjanjuk: Unschuldiger oder Massenmörder?" ISBN 3-925848-02-9; Jim McDonald, "John Demjanjuk: The Real Story" ISBN 0-915597-79-9</ref> |
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In 1989, [[Toby Low, 1st Baron Aldington|Lord Aldington]], previously a British officer (chief-of-staff to [[ |
In 1989, [[Toby Low, 1st Baron Aldington|Lord Aldington]], previously a British officer (chief-of-staff to [[Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley, commanding British forces in Austria]]), former Chairman of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], and then Chairman of [[Royal & Sun Alliance|Sun Alliance]] insurance company, commenced a libel action over allegations of [[war crimes]] made by Tolstoy in a pamphlet distributed by Nigel Watts, a man in dispute with Sun Alliance on an insurance matter. Although Tolstoy was not the initial target of the libel action, he insisted in joining Watts as defendant because, Tolstoy later wrote, Watts was not a historian and so would have been unable to defend himself.<ref>Nikolai Tolstoy "Close Designs and Crooked Purposes: Forced Repatriations of Cossacks and Yugoslav Nationals in 1945", London 2012, p15</ref> Tolstoy lost and was ordered to pay £2 million to Lord Aldington (£1.5 million in damages and £0.5 million in costs). This sum was over three times any previous award for libel.<ref>Nigel Nicolson, "The final verdict on Lord Aldington". The Telegraph, 10 December 2000.</ref> After Tolstoy had appealed in vain to successive courts in Britain and Europe, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the size of penalty violated his right to freedom of expression.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2000/dec/09/guardianobituaries.obituaries | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Lord Aldington | date=9 December 2000 | accessdate=25 May 2010}}</ref> Documents subsequently obtained from the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] shewed that, under Government instructions, files that could have had a bearing on the defence case were withdrawn from the Public Record Office and retained by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office throughout the run-up to the trial and the trial itself.<ref>''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'', 7 April 1996</ref> Tolstoy sought to appeal on the basis of new evidence which he claimed proved Aldington had perjured himself over the date of his departure from Austria in May 1945. This was ruled inadmissible at a hearing in the High Courts of Justice, from which the press and public were barred, and his application for an appeal was rejected.<ref>''[[The Guardian]]'', 28 May 1992, p.19, and 8 June 1992, p.4</ref> |
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In July 1995, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] decided unanimously that the [[British Government]] had violated Tolstoy's rights in respect of Article 10 of the [[Convention on Human Rights]]. This decision referred only to the amount of the damages awarded against him and did not overturn the guilty verdict of the libel action. ''[[The Times]]'' commented: |
In July 1995, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] decided unanimously that the [[British Government]] had violated Tolstoy's rights in respect of Article 10 of the [[Convention on Human Rights]]. This decision referred only to the amount of the damages awarded against him and did not overturn the guilty verdict of the libel action. ''[[The Times]]'' commented: |
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A committed monarchist, Tolstoy is Chancellor of the [[International Monarchist League]]. He was also Chairman of the London-based Russian Monarchist League, and chaired their annual dinner on 6 March 1986, when the Guest-of-Honour was the [[Member of Parliament|MP]] [[John Biggs-Davison]]. He was also in the chair for their Summer Dinner on 4 June 1987, at the [[Oxford and Cambridge Club]] in [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]]. Tolstoy was a founding committee member (January 1989) of the now established ''War and Peace Ball'', held annually in London, which raises funds for White Russian charities.{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
A committed monarchist, Tolstoy is Chancellor of the [[International Monarchist League]]. He was also Chairman of the London-based Russian Monarchist League, and chaired their annual dinner on 6 March 1986, when the Guest-of-Honour was the [[Member of Parliament|MP]] [[John Biggs-Davison]]. He was also in the chair for their Summer Dinner on 4 June 1987, at the [[Oxford and Cambridge Club]] in [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]]. Tolstoy was a founding committee member (January 1989) of the now established ''War and Peace Ball'', held annually in London, which raises funds for White Russian charities.{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
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[[File:International Monarchist League - 12 March 1990.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Top table L to R: Christopher Arkell & [[Lord Nicholas Hervey]] (standing) [[Gregory Lauder-Frost]] (speaking to Arkell), Countess Georgina Tolstoy, Count Nikolai Tolstoy (under painting) unknown man, [[Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley|Lord Sudeley]], at the Russian Monarchist League Annual Dinner in 1990]] |
[[File:International Monarchist League - 12 March 1990.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Top table L to R: Christopher Arkell & [[Lord Nicholas Hervey]] (standing) [[Gregory Lauder-Frost]] (speaking to Arkell), Countess Georgina Tolstoy, Count Nikolai Tolstoy (under painting) unknown man, [[Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley|Lord Sudeley]], at the Russian Monarchist League Annual Dinner in 1990]] |
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In October 1987, he was presented with the [[International Freedom Award]] by the [[United States Industrial Council Educational Foundation]]: "''for his courageous search for the truth about the victims of totalitarianism and deceit.''" {{cn|date=September 2016}} In October 1991, Tolstoy joined a [[Conservative Monday Club]] delegation,<ref>See ''The Times'', 15 November 1996, for a major interview with Tolstoy on p.18</ref> under the auspices of the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, and travelled to observe the war between [[Serbia]] and [[Croatia]], the first British political delegation to observe that conflict. Conservative MPs [[Andrew Hunter (British politician)|Andrew Hunter]], and [[Roger Knapman]], then a junior minister in the Conservative government (and from 2002 to 2006 leader of the [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP)), were also part of the delegation which, after going to the front lines in the [[Sisak]] region, was entertained by President [[Franjo Tuđman]] and the Croatian government in [[Zagreb]]. On 13 October the group held a Press Conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Zagreb, which apart from the media, was also attended by delegates from the French government. A report on the conflict was agreed and handed in to [[10 Downing Street]] by Andrew Hunter.{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
In October 1987, he was presented with the [[International Freedom Award]] by the [[United States Industrial Council Educational Foundation]]: "''for his courageous search for the truth about the victims of totalitarianism and deceit.''" {{cn|date=September 2016}} In October 1991, Tolstoy joined a [[Conservative Monday Club]] delegation,<ref>See ''The Times'', 15 November 1996, for a major interview with Tolstoy on p.18</ref> under the auspices of the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, and travelled to observe the war between [[Serbia]] and [[Croatia]], the first British political delegation to observe that conflict. Conservative MPs [[Andrew Hunter (British politician)|Andrew Hunter]], and [[Roger Knapman]], then a junior minister in the Conservative government (and from 2002 to 2006 leader of the [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP)), were also part of the delegation which, after going to the front lines in the [[Sisak]] region, was entertained by President [[Franjo Tuđman]] and the Croatian government in [[Zagreb]]. On 13 October the group held a Press Conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Zagreb, which apart from the media, was also attended by delegates from the French government. A report on the conflict was agreed and handed in to [[10 Downing Street]] by Andrew Hunter MP.{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
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Tolstoy has stood unsuccessfully for the [[Euroscepticism|Eurosceptic]] and [[Right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP) as a parliamentary candidate in four British general elections, having first been asked by UKIP founder [[Alan Sked]] in November 1996.<ref name=TimesNov96>"Wielding a sabre for the freedom of England." ''The Times'', London, 15 November 1996: pg 18.</ref> Tolstoy was subsequently UKIP's candidate for the [[Barnsley East (UK Parliament constituency)|Barnsley East]] [[Barnsley East by-election, 1996|by-election in 1996]]; where he received 2.1% of the vote,<ref name=GuardBarnsE>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/687/barnsley-east|title=Guardian Politics - Barnsley East|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> and for [[Wantage (constituency)|Wantage]] in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1997|1997]] (0.8%),<ref name=GuardWant>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/1402/wantage|title=Guardian Politics - Wantage|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> [[United Kingdom general election, 2001|2001]] (1.9%)<ref name=GuardWant/> and [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 general elections]] (1.5%).<ref name=GuardWant/> Tolstoy stood for UKIP in [[Witney (UK Parliament constituency)|Witney]] at the [[United Kingdom general election, 2010|2010 general election]] and received 3.5% of the vote.<ref name=GuardWit>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/1444/wantage|title=Guardian Politics - Witney|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> |
Tolstoy has stood unsuccessfully for the [[Euroscepticism|Eurosceptic]] and [[Right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP) as a parliamentary candidate in four British general elections, having first been asked by UKIP founder [[Alan Sked]] in November 1996.<ref name=TimesNov96>"Wielding a sabre for the freedom of England." ''The Times'', London, 15 November 1996: pg 18.</ref> Tolstoy was subsequently UKIP's candidate for the [[Barnsley East (UK Parliament constituency)|Barnsley East]] [[Barnsley East by-election, 1996|by-election in 1996]]; where he received 2.1% of the vote,<ref name=GuardBarnsE>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/687/barnsley-east|title=Guardian Politics - Barnsley East|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> and for [[Wantage (constituency)|Wantage]] in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1997|1997]] (0.8%),<ref name=GuardWant>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/1402/wantage|title=Guardian Politics - Wantage|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> [[United Kingdom general election, 2001|2001]] (1.9%)<ref name=GuardWant/> and [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 general elections]] (1.5%).<ref name=GuardWant/> Tolstoy stood for UKIP in [[Witney (UK Parliament constituency)|Witney]] at the [[United Kingdom general election, 2010|2010 general election]] and received 3.5% of the vote.<ref name=GuardWit>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/1444/wantage|title=Guardian Politics - Witney|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 August 2014}}</ref> |
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==Family== |
==Family== |
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Tolstoy is the head of the senior branch of the Tolstoy family, being descended from Ivan Andreyevich Tolstoy (1644–1713). His relationship to the famous author [[Leo Tolstoy]] (1828–1910) is that of a distant cousin, as Leo Tolstoy was descended from Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy (1645–1729), the younger brother of Ivan. Tolstoy's great-grandfather, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, was [[Chamberlain (office)|Chamberlain]] to the last reigning Emperor |
Tolstoy is the head of the senior branch of the Tolstoy family, being descended from Ivan Andreyevich Tolstoy (1644–1713). His relationship to the famous author [[Leo Tolstoy]] (1828–1910) is that of a distant cousin, as Leo Tolstoy was descended from Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy (1645–1729), the younger brother of Ivan. Tolstoy's great-grandfather, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, was [[Chamberlain (office)|Chamberlain]] to the last reigning Emperor. Tolstoy's father, Count Dimitri Tolstoy, escaped from Russia in 1920 and settled in England. He entered the legal profession, was [[called to the bar]] and was appointed a [[Queen's Counsel]].{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
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Tolstoy's father, Count Dimitri Tolstoy, escaped from Russia in 1920 and settled in England. He entered the legal profession, was [[called to the bar]] and was appointed a [[Queen's Counsel]].{{cn|date=September 2016}} |
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Tolstoy himself is married and has four children: |
Tolstoy himself is married and has four children: |
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* [[Alexandra Tolstoy|Alexandra]] (born 1973),<ref name=carson>{{cite journal|title=The Fat Family and the Ridge of the Cow|first=Douglas|last=Carson|page=77|journal=Familia: Ulster Geneological Review|volume=2|number=6|editor-first=Kenneth|editor-last=Darwin|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?vid=F5PnkkJ90w0C&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of [[Sergei Pugachev]], a married Russian tycoon with whom she has three children<ref name=alexandra2016>{{cite news|title=Three kids, no cash, and a billionaire boyfriend on the run from Putin|newspaper=The Sunday Times|location=London, UK|first=Clara|last=Silver|date=21 February 2016|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1669835.ece}} {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>Richard Eden. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6234948/Alexandra-Tolstoy-the-oligarch-Sergei-Pugachev-and-a-juicy-story.html "Alexandra Tolstoy, the oligarch Sergei Pugachev and a 'juicy' story"] The Telegraph, 26 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref><ref>Richard Kay. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007439/RICHARD-KAY-Miss-Tolstoy-counts-2bn-fortune.html "Miss Tolstoy counts her £2bn fortune"], ''Daily Mail'', 2 November 2011; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref> |
* [[Alexandra Tolstoy|Alexandra]] (born 1973),<ref name=carson>{{cite journal|title=The Fat Family and the Ridge of the Cow|first=Douglas|last=Carson|page=77|journal=Familia: Ulster Geneological Review|volume=2|number=6|editor-first=Kenneth|editor-last=Darwin|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?vid=F5PnkkJ90w0C&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of [[Sergei Pugachev]], a married Russian tycoon with whom she has three children: Alexei, Ivan, and Maria <ref name=alexandra2016>{{cite news|title=Three kids, no cash, and a billionaire boyfriend on the run from Putin|newspaper=The Sunday Times|location=London, UK|first=Clara|last=Silver|date=21 February 2016|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1669835.ece}} {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>Richard Eden. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6234948/Alexandra-Tolstoy-the-oligarch-Sergei-Pugachev-and-a-juicy-story.html "Alexandra Tolstoy, the oligarch Sergei Pugachev and a 'juicy' story"] The Telegraph, 26 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref><ref>Richard Kay. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007439/RICHARD-KAY-Miss-Tolstoy-counts-2bn-fortune.html "Miss Tolstoy counts her £2bn fortune"], ''Daily Mail'', 2 November 2011; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref> |
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* Anastasia (born 1975),<ref name=carson/> married to John Elliott, with whom she has |
* Anastasia (born 1975),<ref name=carson/> married to John Elliott, with whom she has sons Thomas and James and daughters Elizabeth and Sophie. <ref name=walker/> |
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* Dmitri (born 1978),<ref name=carson/> who received a PhD in medieval history in 2008 from the University of London<ref name=hellenic>{{cite web|title=MPhil/PhD Research|author=The Hellenic Institute|publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London|year=2016|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/Study/Thesis.html|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831161511/https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/Study/Thesis.html|archivedate=31 August 2016}}</ref><ref name=hellenicnews>{{cite web|editor-first=Charalambos|editor-last=Dendrinos|date=31 January 2009|title=Friends of the Hellenic Institute: Newsletter 2008|publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/News-and-events/News08.html|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519003830/https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/News-and-events/News08.html|archivedate=19 May 2015}}</ref> |
* Dmitri (born 1978),<ref name=carson/> who received a PhD in medieval history in 2008 from the University of London<ref name=hellenic>{{cite web|title=MPhil/PhD Research|author=The Hellenic Institute|publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London|year=2016|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/Study/Thesis.html|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831161511/https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/Study/Thesis.html|archivedate=31 August 2016}}</ref><ref name=hellenicnews>{{cite web|editor-first=Charalambos|editor-last=Dendrinos|date=31 January 2009|title=Friends of the Hellenic Institute: Newsletter 2008|publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/News-and-events/News08.html|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519003830/https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/hellenic-institute/News-and-events/News08.html|archivedate=19 May 2015}}</ref> |
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* Xenia, Lady Buckhurst (born 1980),<ref name=carson/> married since 2010 to the elder son and heir of the [[William Sackville, 11th Earl De La Warr|Earl De La Warr]],<ref name=walker>Tim Walker. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6228037/Jeweller-Xenia-Tolstoy-receives-her-gem-from-Lord-Buckhurst.html "Jeweller Xenia Tolstoy receives her gem from Lord Buckhurst"], ''The Telegraph'', 24 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref> [[William Sackville, Lord Buckhurst]], with whom she has two children<ref name=sackville>{{cite news|title=Births: Sackville|type=Announcements|first=Xenia|last=Buckhurst|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/173128/sackville|accessdate=30 January 2014|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=London, UK|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115906/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/173128/sackville|archivedate=4 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=victoria-birth>{{cite news|title=Births: Buckhurst|type=Announcements|first=William|last=Buckhurst|date=9 June 2016|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|location=London, UK|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/203522/buckhurst|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610175058/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/203522/buckhurst|archivedate=10 June 2016}}</ref> |
* Xenia, Lady Buckhurst (born 1980),<ref name=carson/> married since 2010 to the elder son and heir of the [[William Sackville, 11th Earl De La Warr|Earl De La Warr]],<ref name=walker>Tim Walker. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6228037/Jeweller-Xenia-Tolstoy-receives-her-gem-from-Lord-Buckhurst.html "Jeweller Xenia Tolstoy receives her gem from Lord Buckhurst"], ''The Telegraph'', 24 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.</ref> [[William Sackville, Lord Buckhurst]], with whom she has two children Hon. William and Hon. Victoria <ref name=sackville>{{cite news|title=Births: Sackville|type=Announcements|first=Xenia|last=Buckhurst|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/173128/sackville|accessdate=30 January 2014|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=London, UK|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115906/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/173128/sackville|archivedate=4 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=victoria-birth>{{cite news|title=Births: Buckhurst|type=Announcements|first=William|last=Buckhurst|date=9 June 2016|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|location=London, UK|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/203522/buckhurst|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610175058/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/births/203522/buckhurst|archivedate=10 June 2016}}</ref> |
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==His books== |
==His books== |
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* ''The Oldest British Prose Literature: The Compilation of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi'' (New York, 2009), ISBN 978-0-7734-4710-3. This was awarded the Adele Mellen Prize, and was runner-up for the Wales Book of the Year Prize in 2010. |
* ''The Oldest British Prose Literature: The Compilation of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi'' (New York, 2009), ISBN 978-0-7734-4710-3. This was awarded the Adele Mellen Prize, and was runner-up for the Wales Book of the Year Prize in 2010. |
||
* Reprint of ''Victims of Yalta'' (New York, 2012), ISBN 978-1-60598-362-2 (with new preface describing the Aldington trial and its aftermath). |
* Reprint of ''Victims of Yalta'' (New York, 2012), ISBN 978-1-60598-362-2 (with new preface describing the Aldington trial and its aftermath). |
||
* ''The Mysteries of Stonehenge: Myth and Ritual at the Sacred Centre'' (Stroud, 2016), ISBN 978-1-4456-5953-4. |
|||
* Tolstoy has contributed chapters to the new ''History of the Twentieth Century'' published in Moscow, which is a prescribed text for all Russian high schools. |
* Tolstoy has contributed chapters to the new ''History of the Twentieth Century'' published in Moscow, which is a prescribed text for all Russian high schools. |
||
Revision as of 12:50, 30 November 2016
![]() | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (July 2015) |
Nikolai Dmitrievich Miloslavsky Count Tolstoy | |
---|---|
Count Tolstoy on Hart Fell Mountain, Scotland, 2015 | |
Chancellor of the IML | |
Assumed office 1987 | |
Preceded by | Kenneth McLennan Hay |
Personal details | |
Born | London, United Kingdom | 23 June 1935
Political party | UK Independence Party (1996–present) |
Spouse | Georgina Brown |
Children | 4 children |
Alma mater | University of Dublin |
Profession | Historian, writer |
Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (Russian: Николай Дмитриевич Толстой-Милославский; born 23 June 1935) is an Anglo-Russian author who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. Current head of the senior line of the Tolstoy family, he is a former parliamentary candidate of the UK Independence Party.
Early life
Born in England in 1935, Tolstoy is of part Russian descent and is the stepson of the author Patrick O'Brian. On his upbringing he has written:
Like thousands of Russians in the present century, I was born and brought up in another country and was only able to enter the land of my ancestors as a visitor in later years. It was nevertheless a very Russian upbringing, one which impressed on me the unusual nature of my inheritance. I was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church and I worshipped in it. I prayed at night the familiar words Oche nash, attended parties where little Russian boys and girls spoke a mixture of languages, and felt myself by manner and temperament to be different than my English friends. I think I was the most affected by those melancholy and evocative Russian homes where my elders, for the most part people of great charm and eccentricity, lived surrounded by the relics – ikons, Easter eggs, portraits of Tsar and Tsaritsa, family photographs, and émigré newspapers – of that mysterious, far-off land of wolves, boyars, and snow-forests of Ivan Bilibin's famous illustrations to Russian fairy-tales. Somewhere there was a real Russian land to which we all belonged, but it was shut away over distant seas and space of years.[1][2]
Tolstoy holds dual British and Russian citizenship. He was educated at Wellington College, Sandhurst and Trinity College, Dublin.
Literary career
Tolstoy has written a number of books about Celtic mythology. In The Quest for Merlin he has explored the historical and mythological background of Merlin, and his Arthurian novel The Coming of the King draws on his research into ancient British history. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1979.
He has also written about World War II and its immediate aftermath. In 1977 he wrote the Victims of Yalta,[3] which criticised the British forced handover of Soviet citizens to Joseph Stalin in direct violation of the 1929 Geneva Convention.[4] In 1986 he wrote The Minister and the Massacres which criticised British repatriation of anti-Communist troops to Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslav government, it received much critical praise, as well as criticism by Macmillan's authorised biographer.[5][6]
Controversy
He has written of the forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and others during and after World War II. As a result, he was called by the defence as an expert witness at the trial of John Demjanjuk in Israel. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph (21 April 1988), Tolstoy said the trial and the court's procedures struck "at the most vital principles of natural justice". He condemned the use of especially bussed-in audiences, who were repeatedly permitted by Judge Levin to boo and hiss at appropriate moments. He called Levin's conduct "an appalling travesty of every principle of equity", and said that it was "a show trial in every sense of the word", even being conducted in a theatre. When eventually the United States Justice Department was found to have collaborated with the Soviet authorities in suppressing evidence that he had been falsely identified, the case against Demjanjuk was dismissed.[7]
In 1989, Lord Aldington, previously a British officer (chief-of-staff to Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley, commanding British forces in Austria), former Chairman of the Conservative Party, and then Chairman of Sun Alliance insurance company, commenced a libel action over allegations of war crimes made by Tolstoy in a pamphlet distributed by Nigel Watts, a man in dispute with Sun Alliance on an insurance matter. Although Tolstoy was not the initial target of the libel action, he insisted in joining Watts as defendant because, Tolstoy later wrote, Watts was not a historian and so would have been unable to defend himself.[8] Tolstoy lost and was ordered to pay £2 million to Lord Aldington (£1.5 million in damages and £0.5 million in costs). This sum was over three times any previous award for libel.[9] After Tolstoy had appealed in vain to successive courts in Britain and Europe, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the size of penalty violated his right to freedom of expression.[10] Documents subsequently obtained from the Ministry of Defence shewed that, under Government instructions, files that could have had a bearing on the defence case were withdrawn from the Public Record Office and retained by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office throughout the run-up to the trial and the trial itself.[11] Tolstoy sought to appeal on the basis of new evidence which he claimed proved Aldington had perjured himself over the date of his departure from Austria in May 1945. This was ruled inadmissible at a hearing in the High Courts of Justice, from which the press and public were barred, and his application for an appeal was rejected.[12]
In July 1995, the European Court of Human Rights decided unanimously that the British Government had violated Tolstoy's rights in respect of Article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights. This decision referred only to the amount of the damages awarded against him and did not overturn the guilty verdict of the libel action. The Times commented:
"In its judgment yesterday in the case of Count Nikolai Tolstoy, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Britain in important respects, finding that the award of £1.5 million levelled against the Count by a jury in 1989 amounted to a violation of his freedom of expression. Parliament will find the implications of this decision difficult to ignore."[citation needed]
Tolstoy refused to pay anything in libel damages to Lord Aldington while he was alive; it was not until 9 December 2000, two days after Aldington's death, that Tolstoy paid £57,000 to Aldington's estate.[13]
Political activity
A committed monarchist, Tolstoy is Chancellor of the International Monarchist League. He was also Chairman of the London-based Russian Monarchist League, and chaired their annual dinner on 6 March 1986, when the Guest-of-Honour was the MP John Biggs-Davison. He was also in the chair for their Summer Dinner on 4 June 1987, at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall. Tolstoy was a founding committee member (January 1989) of the now established War and Peace Ball, held annually in London, which raises funds for White Russian charities.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/International_Monarchist_League_-_12_March_1990.jpg/300px-International_Monarchist_League_-_12_March_1990.jpg)
In October 1987, he was presented with the International Freedom Award by the United States Industrial Council Educational Foundation: "for his courageous search for the truth about the victims of totalitarianism and deceit." [citation needed] In October 1991, Tolstoy joined a Conservative Monday Club delegation,[14] under the auspices of the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, and travelled to observe the war between Serbia and Croatia, the first British political delegation to observe that conflict. Conservative MPs Andrew Hunter, and Roger Knapman, then a junior minister in the Conservative government (and from 2002 to 2006 leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)), were also part of the delegation which, after going to the front lines in the Sisak region, was entertained by President Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian government in Zagreb. On 13 October the group held a Press Conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Zagreb, which apart from the media, was also attended by delegates from the French government. A report on the conflict was agreed and handed in to 10 Downing Street by Andrew Hunter MP.[citation needed]
Tolstoy has stood unsuccessfully for the Eurosceptic and right-wing populist United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) as a parliamentary candidate in four British general elections, having first been asked by UKIP founder Alan Sked in November 1996.[15] Tolstoy was subsequently UKIP's candidate for the Barnsley East by-election in 1996; where he received 2.1% of the vote,[16] and for Wantage in the 1997 (0.8%),[17] 2001 (1.9%)[17] and 2005 general elections (1.5%).[17] Tolstoy stood for UKIP in Witney at the 2010 general election and received 3.5% of the vote.[18]
Family
Tolstoy is the head of the senior branch of the Tolstoy family, being descended from Ivan Andreyevich Tolstoy (1644–1713). His relationship to the famous author Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) is that of a distant cousin, as Leo Tolstoy was descended from Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy (1645–1729), the younger brother of Ivan. Tolstoy's great-grandfather, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, was Chamberlain to the last reigning Emperor. Tolstoy's father, Count Dimitri Tolstoy, escaped from Russia in 1920 and settled in England. He entered the legal profession, was called to the bar and was appointed a Queen's Counsel.[citation needed]
Tolstoy himself is married and has four children:
- Alexandra (born 1973),[19] mistress of Sergei Pugachev, a married Russian tycoon with whom she has three children: Alexei, Ivan, and Maria [20][21][22]
- Anastasia (born 1975),[19] married to John Elliott, with whom she has sons Thomas and James and daughters Elizabeth and Sophie. [23]
- Dmitri (born 1978),[19] who received a PhD in medieval history in 2008 from the University of London[24][25]
- Xenia, Lady Buckhurst (born 1980),[19] married since 2010 to the elder son and heir of the Earl De La Warr,[23] William Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, with whom she has two children Hon. William and Hon. Victoria [26][27]
His books
- The Founding of Evil Hold School, London, 1968, ISBN 0-491-00371-4
- Night of the Long Knives, New York, 1972, ISBN 0-345-02787-6, concerning the Nazi purge of 1934
- Victims of Yalta, originally published in London, 1977. Revised edition 1979. ISBN 0-552-11030-2, published in the US as The Secret Betrayal, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977, ISBN 0-684-15635-0
- The Half-Mad Lord: Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (1775–1804), London, 1978, ISBN 0-224-01664-4
- Stalin's Secret War, London, 1981, ISBN 0-224-01665-2
- The Tolstoys — 24 Generations of Russian History, 1353–1983 by Nikolai Tolstoy, London, 1983, ISBN 0-241-10979-5
- The Quest for Merlin, 1985, ISBN 0-241-11356-3
- The Minister and the Massacres, London, 1986, ISBN 0-09-164010-5
- The Coming of the King, London, 1988, ISBN 0-593-01312-3
- Patrick O'Brian – The Making of the Novelist, London 2004, ISBN 0-7126-7025-4 – the first volume of a biography of his late stepfather, Patrick O'Brian, the novelist famous for the Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels.
- 'The Application of International Law to Forced Repatriation from Austria in 1945', in Stefan Karner, Erich Reiter, and Gerald Schöpfer (ed.), Kalter Krieg: Beiträge zur Ost-West-Konfrontation 1945 bis 1990 (Graz, 2002), ISBN 3-7011-7432-6.
- 'The Mysterious Fate of the Cossack Atamans’, in Harald Stadler, Rolf Steininger, and Karl C. Berger (ed.), Die Kosaken im Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieg (Innsbruck, 2008), ISBN 978-3-7065-4623-2.
- ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Merlin Legend’, in Arthurian Literature XXV (Cambridge, 2008), ISBN 978-1-84384-171-5.
- ‘When and where was Armes Prydein Composed?’, Studia Celtica (Cardiff, 2008), xlii, pp. 145–49.
- ‘Cadell and the Cadelling of Powys’, Studia Celtica (Cardiff, 2012), xlvi, pp. 59–83.
- The Oldest British Prose Literature: The Compilation of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (New York, 2009), ISBN 978-0-7734-4710-3. This was awarded the Adele Mellen Prize, and was runner-up for the Wales Book of the Year Prize in 2010.
- Reprint of Victims of Yalta (New York, 2012), ISBN 978-1-60598-362-2 (with new preface describing the Aldington trial and its aftermath).
- The Mysteries of Stonehenge: Myth and Ritual at the Sacred Centre (Stroud, 2016), ISBN 978-1-4456-5953-4.
- Tolstoy has contributed chapters to the new History of the Twentieth Century published in Moscow, which is a prescribed text for all Russian high schools.
References
- ^ Nikolai Tolstoy, The Tolstoys; Twenty-Four Generations of Russian History 1333–1983, page 8.
- ^ Nikolai Tolstoy, 'Я Англичанин но в глубине души Русский', in N.V. Makarova and O.A. Morgunova (ed.), Русское Присутствие в Британии (Moscow, 2009), ISBN 978-5-8411-0277-9
- ^ http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1980jun-00089 "Victims of Yalta", by Nikolai Tolstoy, Encounter, June 1980, page 89-92 – Peregrine Worsthorne, in a review, declared that, "More than enough has now emerged about the Russian deportations to stir the national conscience, and the matter cannot be left as it is. If a new war crime on this scale had suddenly come to light in Germany, Britain would be the first to agitate for an inquiry; indeed for much more than that . . . if honour, at this late stage, can never be redeemed, at least dishonour can be squarely faced."
- ^ 'The Application of International Law to Forced Repatriation from Austria in 1945', in Stefan Karner, Erich Reiter, and Gerald Schöpfer (ed.), "Kalter Krieg: Beiträge zur Ost-West-Konfrontation 1945 bis 1990" (Graz, 2002)
- ^ Horne, Alistair (5 February 1990). "The unquiet graves of Yalta". National Review. 42: 27. ISSN 0028-0038.
- ^ Pavlowitch, Stevan K. (January 1989). "The Minister and the Massacres review". The English Historical Review. 104 (410): 274–276. doi:10.1093/ehr/civ.ccccx.274.
- ^ Willem A. Wagenaar, "Identifying Ivan: A Case Study in Legal Psychology" ISBN 0-7450-0396-6; Yoram Sheftel, "The Demjanjuk Affair: The Rise and Fall of a Show-Trial" ISBN 0-575-05795-5; Hans Peter Rullmann, "Der Fall Demjanjuk: Unschuldiger oder Massenmörder?" ISBN 3-925848-02-9; Jim McDonald, "John Demjanjuk: The Real Story" ISBN 0-915597-79-9
- ^ Nikolai Tolstoy "Close Designs and Crooked Purposes: Forced Repatriations of Cossacks and Yugoslav Nationals in 1945", London 2012, p15
- ^ Nigel Nicolson, "The final verdict on Lord Aldington". The Telegraph, 10 December 2000.
- ^ "Lord Aldington". The Guardian. London. 9 December 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ The Sunday Times, 7 April 1996
- ^ The Guardian, 28 May 1992, p.19, and 8 June 1992, p.4
- ^ Alleyne, Richard (9 December 2000). "Tolstoy pays £57,000 to Aldington's estate". The Telegraph.
- ^ See The Times, 15 November 1996, for a major interview with Tolstoy on p.18
- ^ "Wielding a sabre for the freedom of England." The Times, London, 15 November 1996: pg 18.
- ^ "Guardian Politics - Barnsley East". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ a b c "Guardian Politics - Wantage". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ "Guardian Politics - Witney". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d Carson, Douglas (1990). Darwin, Kenneth (ed.). "The Fat Family and the Ridge of the Cow". Familia: Ulster Geneological Review. 2 (6): 77.
- ^ Silver, Clara (21 February 2016). "Three kids, no cash, and a billionaire boyfriend on the run from Putin". The Sunday Times. London, UK. (subscription required)
- ^ Richard Eden. "Alexandra Tolstoy, the oligarch Sergei Pugachev and a 'juicy' story" The Telegraph, 26 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ Richard Kay. "Miss Tolstoy counts her £2bn fortune", Daily Mail, 2 November 2011; retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ a b Tim Walker. "Jeweller Xenia Tolstoy receives her gem from Lord Buckhurst", The Telegraph, 24 September 2009; retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ The Hellenic Institute (2016). "MPhil/PhD Research". Royal Holloway, University of London. Archived from the original on 31 August 2016.
{{cite web}}
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{{cite web}}
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- Daily Express, 24 September 1992
- Weekend Telegraph, 25 September 1992, book review
- The Times, 15 November 1996, major interview with Tolstoy on p. 18
External links
- 1935 births
- Living people
- Russian monarchists
- Russian nobility
- Tolstoy family
- English people of Russian descent
- UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates
- People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
- Alumni of Trinity College, Dublin
- Historians of Russia
- British military writers
- Russian military writers
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
- Recipients of the Order pro merito Melitensi
- British monarchists
- English Eastern Orthodox Christians
- Arthurian scholars