Muggeridge The Biography

In this long-awaited biography, journalist Richard Ingrams penetrates the many layers of Malcolm Muggeridge’s private and public personas to reveal the real man: his fiercely independent opinions, deep religious faith, unerring humor, and a dedication to nonconformity that led him to champion many a lost cause. From his earliest years as witness to his father’s politically charged parlor chats to his transformative encounters with Gandhi and Mother Teresa to his highly public joining of the Catholic Church, Muggeridge draws a compelling portrait of one of Britain’s most remarkable modern figures. Muggeridge first stepped into the public eye as a young Guardian journalist, establishing the forthright and outspoken style that marked his later career. His controversial reports from Moscow led him to break ties with both the Guardian and the Russian press, and Muggeridge moved on to an independent career, writing, traveling, and getting himself into hot water, taking to heavy drinking and affairs with other men’s wives. After assuming editorship of the British magazine Punch, Muggeridge made his foray into the new world of television and became the flamboyant host of his own show, luring to it such guests as Eleanor Roosevelt, Somerset Maugham, Billy Graham, and Salvador Dali. In his calmer sixties, Muggeridge, deeply moved by his encounter with Mother Teresa during the filming of Something Beautiful for God, began to rediscover Christianity. The highly public and evangelical St. Mugg was born, who campaigned against abortion, euthanasia, and pornography. Finally, at seventy-nine, Muggeridge and Kitty were received into the Catholic Church in a ceremony praised by Mother Teresa and besiegedby publicity.