Julia Hobsbawm

Julia Hobsbawm and father Eric Hobsbawm

Julia Hobsbawm (born 1965) is chief executive of Hobsbawm Media and Marketing, which coined the phrase "integrity PR" and became renowned for turning away clients it didn't believe in.

The daughter of Marxist historian Professor Eric Hobsbawm, she is is the world's first professor of Networking, having been made Honorary Visiting Professor by London's Cass Business School.

David Blunkett and Kimberly Fortier first met at one of her parties.

In 1991, Julia Hobsbawm persuaded the De Beers diamond mining and marketing conglomerate to become a major donor to the Labour Party. In 1992, Julia Hobsbawm Associates did the fundraising and PR for the charity premiere of the film "Chaplin", which raised £40,000 for One World Action.

My life in Media

At home, what do you tune in to?

Jamie's School Dinners and, if I'm awake, then always Newsnight and This Week with Andrew Neil. I've also discovered The West Wing and have watched every episode. I really like Steve Wright on Radio 2.

What is your Sunday paper, favourite magazine?

I cram in as many as possible. The Observer and The Independent on Sunday media sections are very good. I'm addicted to Vanity Fair's Dominick Dunne. I nurse an occasional habit for the National Enquirer and like Grazia and Easy Living.

Name the one career ambition

To take the antagonism out of the relationship between PRs and journalists and develop media businesses that help to provide more transparency and better information traffic between them.

If you didn't work in the media what would you do?

Try to be the most active parent at my children's school - and teach more PR.

Who in the media do you most admire and why?

I admire people who campaign well in the media, particularly Jamie Oliver and Liberty's Shami Chakrabarti. Also Chris Evans, for his elegant comeback.

Curriculum Vitae

1982-86

Leaves the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster) without a degree after she fails to transfer from French and Italian to media studies. Joins publishing house Martin Duntz, where she files and types invoices. Moves to Penguin and then Virago as a publicist.

1987-88

Joins Thames TV as a researcher for Books By My Bedside.

1989-90

Becomes a researcher on BBC1's Wogan.

1991

High-value donor (De Beers) fundraiser for the Labour Party.

1992

Founds Julia Hobsbawm Associates in her living room.

1993-2001

Julia Hobsbawm + Sarah Macauley = Hobsbawm Macauley Communications

Firm becomes Hobsbawm Macauley Communications; her co-founder is Sarah Macauley, wife of Gordon Brown.

2002-03

Firm becomes Hobsbawm Media + Marketing Communications, as Sarah Macauley leaves to work part-time.

2004

Starts Editorial Intelligence Ltd, a media publishing company tackling poor pitching by PRs.

2005

Editing "Where the Truth Lies", a collection of essays on the media.

Charity premiere of "Chaplin"

Charity premiere of "Chaplin"

Julia Hobsbawm Associates' reply to Patrick Haseldine

Letter to The Guardian 'copy takers'

On 17 December 1992, the charity premiere of Richard Attenborough's film "Chaplin" took place in London at the Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square. Glenys Kinnock hosted the event which was organised by the PR firm, Julia Hobsbawm Associates, and which raised £40,000 for the charity One World Action.

Suggested souvenir programme entry

Three weeks earlier, Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine had written to Julia Hobsbawm Associates asking if the latest of his letters to The Guardian could be reproduced in the "Chaplin" souvenir programme. The PR firm's Caroline Hanson replied by letter dated 3 December 1992:

Dear Mr Haseldine,

Thank you for your letter dated 28th November 1992, and addressed to Dear Fundraisers. It has been passed onto me and I received it this morning.

Thank you also for your ticket application form and for the cheque of £100 in support of One World Action. You will be pleased to know that your tickets for "Chaplin" will be sent to you in the post next week.

Regarding your enclosed letter, I have consulted with One World Action as to how to proceed with your request. They feel that in view of the fact that there are many conflicting theories on the Lockerbie disaster, they cannot support the publication of your letter in their souvenir programme without first consulting the families of all the victims of Lockerbie. Unfortunately, this is simply not possible in the time we have. Our print deadline for advertisements is tomorrow, Friday 4th December.

Hence, I shall not be pursuing this further and I shall not be contacting Jeannette Page of The Guardian "Letters" page.

Thank you once again for your generous support and interest in One World Action.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Hanson

Julia Hobsbawm Associates

Finger of suspicion

On 4 December 1992, Patrick Haseldine faxed this reply (copying to Jeannette Page at The Guardian):

Dear Caroline,

Richard Attenborough's charity gala: 17 December 1992

Many thanks for your reply dated 3 December. I fully appreciate the concern of One World Action about the printing in the souvenir programme of my letter published in The Guardian on 22 April 1992. Clearly the Lockerbie victims' families must not be offended in any way and that is my concern too.

The letter in question is the latest of seven concerning Bernt Carlsson and Lockerbie that I sent to The Guardian for publication. As a result, I am in touch with Dr Jim Swire of UK Families Flight 103 (see following letter dated 7 August 1991 from The Guardian) and with Marina de Larracoechea of the US Hudson group of families. Their overriding aim is to discover the truth about Lockerbie and I am sure they would encourage One World Action to print any of my letters.

Enclosed is the first letter published on 7 December 1989. You may consider this less controversial and therefore more suitable to go into the souvenir programme.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine

De Beers: OWA benefactor

On 20 December 1992, Patrick Haseldine telephoned The Guardian and dictated to the 'copy takers' the following letter for publication:

Last Thursday's gala premiere of the film "Chaplin", which I attended, raised a creditable £40,000 for the charity One World Action, founded in memory of Swedish UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson. The souvenir programme briefly described Mr Carlsson's life and reported that he died on December 21, 1988 but failed to make any mention of the Lockerbie disaster and that he was the most prominent of its 270 victims.

Why?

Of course, the explanation might have nothing to do with the fact that the gala's benefactor and biggest advertiser in the programme was De Beers, who control the mining, marketing and pricing of the world's diamonds; nor that Namibia, which did not manage to shrug off the illegal occupation of most of its territory by South Africa until late 1989, is the source of some of the best diamond gemstones; nor that Mr Carlsson was in fear of his life in the seven days leading to Lockerbie; nor that Mr Carlsson made a last-minute, unscheduled trip from Belgium on December 21, 1988 to meet De Beers in London, just prior to boarding the fateful flight Pan Am 103.

Far be it from me (an ex-diplomat) to point an accusatory finger, but it was only a few months ago in these columns that two former UN diplomats, George Ivan Smith and Conor Cruse O'Brien, accused mining interests of responsibility for the plane crash in which Swedish UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in Rhodesia 31 years ago.

Plus ça change......

Patrick Haseldine

(Address Supplied)

Family

Julia Hobsbawm is married with five children.

Social media

Julia Hobsbawm (Bamping) is on Facebook and on Twitter .

See also

• The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds
• The how, why and who of Pan Am Flight 103

External links

• "Profile: Julia Hobsbawm, founder, Editorial Intelligence"