Michael Cole | |
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Born | 1943 (age 80–81) |
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Michael Cole (born 1943) is a former BBC television journalist and royal correspondent. After leaving the BBC, he worked as director of public affairs for Harrods, and thus also as a spokesman for its owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
Cole began his career in newspapers, before moving to television. [1] After a period with the local news programme for Anglia Television, he worked on the BBC's Look East from the beginning of 1969. [2] In 1973 he was one of three correspondents sent by the BBC to cover the Yom Kippur War from the Israeli side, [3] his first assignment after becoming permanently based in London following brief periods in Northern Ireland. [2] The reforms brought about by then BBC director- general Hugh Greene benefited news coverage according to Cole, but were accompanied by the heavy drug use in some BBC departments. [4]
Cole covered Margaret Thatcher's career following her election as Conservative Party leader in 1975, told her on camera that Airey Neave MP had been assassinated in 1979, and was on hand at the rescue of Norman Tebbit after the Brighton's Grand Hotel was bombed by the IRA in 1984. [5]
Cole served as a BBC Royal Correspondent. In 1987, Cole inadvertently revealed to a press correspondent's lunch some of that year's forthcoming Queen's Christmas message, apparently her reference to the Enniskillen bombing on Remembrance Day. [6] [7] [8] According to Cole, he immediately told his employer what had happened, and found the "Cole the Mole" headlines which followed inappropriate. [9] Cole's friend and fellow royal reporter James Whitaker, later said that Cole had spoken only in general terms and did not convey anything which was secret. [10] The BBC apologised to the Queen for the lapse. Cole was not dismissed and was moved to a media and arts remit, remaining with the corporation for another 10 months. [10]
Cole first met Mohamed Al Fayed while working on a BBC programme about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, [11] The Uncrowned Jewels in 1987. [12] He joined Harrods after leaving the BBC in 1988, [1] telling journalist Nick Cohen days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales that he loved Al Fayed like a father. However, Cole was also a victim of bugging because his boss did not trust many of his employees. [13] He stepped down in 1998 to take early retirement at the age of 55, [1] [14] but continued to work for Al Fayed.[ citation needed ]
In 2008, Cole gave evidence to the inquest into the deaths in 1997 of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed, Mohamed Al Fayed's son. [15]
In 2012, he jointly delivered, with Vernon Bogdanor, a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association lecture, The Crown and the Commonwealth: An emblem of dominion or a symbol of free and voluntary association? at Westminster Hall, part of the Palace of Westminster. [16] [17]
He is the chair of Michael Cole & Company, his own public relations and broadcasting company. [18] He has also written a column for the East Anglian Daily Times , [4] and appeared in 1999 as a panellist on the BBC's satirical quiz, Have I Got News for You . [19]
Mohamed Al-Fayed was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and chief business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel Ritz Paris, and Harrods department store and Fulham Football Club, both in London. At the time of his death in 2023, Fayed's wealth was estimated at US$2 billion.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon, and earned her enduring popularity.
Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed, commonly known as Dodi Fayed, was an Egyptian film producer and the eldest child of the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.
Martin Henry Bashir is a British former journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's Panorama programme, for which he gained an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales under false pretences in 1995. Although the interview was much heralded at the time, it was later determined that he used forgery and deception to gain it.
Harrods is a luxury department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is owned by Harrods Ltd, a company currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies, including Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods. Recognised as one of the world's leading department stores, it is visited by 15 million people per year.
Michael Mansfield is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights.
Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC, is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom until 2004, when Baroness Hale was appointed to the House of Lords. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. She stood down from that task with effect from that date, and the inquest was conducted by Lord Justice Scott Baker.
During the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained earlier that night in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Diana's partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were found dead inside the car. Dodi's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured and was the only survivor of the crash.
Operation Paget was the British Metropolitan Police inquiry established in 2004 to investigate the conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris in 1997. The inquiry's first report with the findings of the criminal investigation was published in 2006. The inquiry was wound up following the conclusion of the British inquest in 2008, in which a jury delivered its verdict of an "unlawful killing" due to the "gross negligence" of both the driver of Diana's car and the pursuing paparazzi.
The image of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms and Head of the Commonwealth from 1952 to 2022, was generally favourable throughout her years as a reigning monarch. Conservative in dress, she was well known for her solid-colour overcoats and matching hats, which allowed her to be seen easily in a crowd. She attended many cultural events as part of her public role. Her main leisure interests included horse racing, photography, and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh corgis. She ate jam sandwiches every day since childhood. Some of her other favorite foods were fish and chips, chocolate perfection pie, scones with jam and clotted cream, salmon from the River Dee and Morecambe Bay potted shrimp. Her views on political issues and other matters were largely subject to conjecture. She never gave a press interview and was otherwise not known to discuss her personal opinions publicly.
Events from the year 2008 in the United Kingdom.
Paul Burrell is a former servant of the British Royal Household and latterly butler to Diana, Princess of Wales.
There are many conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997. Official investigations in both Britain and France found that Diana died in a manner consistent with media reports following the fatal car crash in Paris. In 1999, a French investigation concluded that Diana died as the result of a crash. The French investigator, Judge Hervé Stephan, concluded that the paparazzi were some distance from the Mercedes S280 when it crashed and were not responsible for manslaughter. After hearing evidence at the British inquest, a jury in 2008 returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" by driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi pursuing the car. The jury's verdict also stated: "In addition, the death of the deceased was caused or contributed to by the fact that the deceased were not wearing a seat belt and by the fact that the Mercedes struck the pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel rather than colliding with something else."
Unlawful Killing is a 2011 British documentary film about the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed on 31 August 1997 directed by Keith Allen and financed by Dodi's father Mohamed Al-Fayed at a reported cost of £2.5m. It had a single trade screening during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, also known as Villa Windsor, is a historic villa in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, within the northwest section of the Bois de Boulogne, close to the southern edge of Neuilly-sur-Seine. The house from 1929 is owned by the City of Paris and leased to the family of Mohamed Al-Fayed. From 1952 until 1986, it was the Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
A plaster and resin sculpture of Michael Jackson stood outside Craven Cottage in Fulham, London, the ground of Fulham Football Club, from 2011 until 2013. Commissioned by the club's chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, it was removed by his successor Shahid Khan. From 2014 to 2019 the statue was on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
Innocent Victims is a copper statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, which was on display at the Harrods department store in London, England, between 2005 and 2018. It was commissioned by Dodi's father Mohamed Al-Fayed when he owned Harrods, and designed by William Mitchell.
The sixth and final season of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was released by Netflix in two volumes. The first volume of four episodes was released on 16 November 2023, and the second, consisting of six episodes, was released on 14 December. The season began production shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022.
The fifth season of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was released by Netflix on 9 November 2022. It was the first season of the series to be released following both the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 9 April 2021 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022.
Fayed: The Unauthorised Biography is a 1998 biography by Tom Bower of the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.