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Documents relating to the dispute between the Al Fayed brothers and The Observer over the paper's calls for a Department of Trade and Industry inquiry into the purchase of Harrods.

File 1 includes press cuttings from various newspapers reporting the dispute, including those published by the Observer; notes by Derek Mitchell on the case; correspondence between the Independent Directors; copies of legal documents from the High Court of Justice for the case between the Al Fayeds and The Observer; publications; booklet entitled 'A fool and his money..' accounting the life of Mohamed Fayed; booklet regarding the case between Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and The Observer Limited & Lonrho PLC in the High Court of Justice; booklet entitled 'Sinking in corruption', and copies of letters sent by Francesca Pollard to Tiny Rowland.
Also includes list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of employees, Independent Directors and representative lawyers.

File 2 includes an account of Derek Mitchell on his experience of the publication of the special mid-week edition of The Observer (Thursday 30th March 1989); press cuttings from various newspapers covering the publication of the special issue and political fall-out afterwards; copy of the Special Edition and copies of Donald Trelford's affidavits to the Court of Appeal regarding the injunction against The Observer.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Sir Derek Mitchell

Manuscript and typescript diaries covering the following topics and dates:
1951 - Visit to France in 1951
1960 - On a bus in London
1960-1962 (1 volume) - Visiting friends including Christopher Brown; EM Forster; Simon Gray; teaching; Paris; girlfriends; the last half of volume mostly contains notes, short stories, Mr Fang notes, sketches, poems and book lists
1961 - Train journey from Halmstad to Madrid
c1961 - Visit to Berlin
March 1965 - Paris
October 1966 - Work and visiting friends in London
July 1967 - Poetry event
1968 (end of) - Visit to Amsterdam and working in London
1969 - Work; Blue Train journey; stay in Fanghetto, Italy; life in London
1968/69 - Peter Grahan, Peter Lenon, Anne Boston
1970 (2 volumes) - Visit to Ligny, France; visiting friends and family; attending conference in Holland; death of General Charles de Gaulle
1973 (2 volumes) - Visit to Hay-on-Wye; comments on article in the Observer; Hastings; bicycles; notes on pubs, breweries and beer;
1987 - Work and personal matters
1988-1989 - Osbert Lancaster; Guardian work
1989 - Publication of Osbert book; meeting friends including Simon Gray and Simon Rae
June 1989-May 1990 (1 volume) - Cheltenham Literary Festival; Comics Festival; personal matters e.g. health, death of Richard Boston's mother
1991 - Visit to Aix en Provence
1992 - Writing about Biggles, Arthur Taylor
1993-1994 - Visit to France
1994 - Talk of dreams, general events
1995 - Recollections of Clive Goodwin theatrical agent; Black Dwarf magazine; Adrian Mitchell to write obituary of his adopted daughter (daughter of Clive Goodwin)
1996 - Radio interview regarding Guardian article on anarchism; Ian Mayes request for article on Cezanne and Zola; Canary Wharf bombing; John Falcke; articles for the Guardian; visit to France; reprint of Bussman's Prayer in Dodopad by Milly Peak,
1997 - Starkness at Noon; articles for the Guardian; Simon Gray' marriage to Victoria Rothschild; Mohammed al-Fayed and Tiny Rowland; Neil Hamilton
1998 - Reflections on the past and work at the Guardian; Thames research for book; Zola and Dreyfus affair; visit to France
1999 - Personal matters; Guardian; Clive James; Peter Porter at Guardian Fiction Prize party; Guardian Weekend; CAMRA; Jill Dando murder; poet laureate award to Andrew Motion
nd. Losing wallet in London
Creator: Boston, Richard (1938-2006), journalist

Cuttings from a number of sources on a variety of Lonrho matters including Mohammed Fayad and Lonrho relationship, the sale of Harrods, Observer reporting on Department of Trade report into takeover of House of Fraser, resignation of Sir Edward du Cann, House of Lords Contempt proceedings, Tiny Rowland relations with Africa, Lonrho dealings in Libya, and Observer and Lonrho relationship. Also includes files containing cuttings submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry inspectors enquiring into the purchase of the House of Fraser plc.

Also includes the Observer special issue on Mohammed Fayad and purchase of Harrods and House of Fraser.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

Donald Trelford's correspondence with individuals and organisations beginning with F.

Correspondents include: Baroness Falkender, Mohamed Fayed, Ranulph Fiennes, Rodney Fitch, Michael Foot, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Paul Fox, William Frankel, Michael Frayn, Clement Freud.

Subjects covered: job applications, publication and serialisation of books, complaints about articles, suggestions for articles, corrections and clarifications, invitations to lunches, dinners and events.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

Found loose among other board papers.

Includes memoranda/notes from: Donald Trelford; Douglass Cater; John Cole; John Cornwell; Pat Ferguson; John Silverlight; Brian Nicholson; Jennie Beck; Nick Morrell; Stephen Pritchard; Jeremy Hunt; Alan Johnstone; Karen White; Brian Blelloch; Paul Bridges; Jess Watts; John Nuttall-Smith; Adam Raphael.

Subjects covered include: Aspen meeting 1978; autumn campaign 1988; strategy; perceptions of The Observer and its readers; production; sales; budgetry matters; salary reviews; tabloid research; management committee matters.

Also includes: lists of board lunch guests; pages from report on Mohamed Fayed; marketing plan from January 1988; paper on The Observer brand; 'A business plan for The Observer' meeting agendas, 15 December 1988 and 5 January 1989; forward planning meeting minutes and agendas, 12 January 1989; memorandum on editorial investment by Adrian Hamilton; note on editorial budget meeting, 3 April; list of retained contributors and staff, 1989; advertising ratio, February 1990; magazine schedule, May 1990; ABC figures, 1990 and January 1991; circulation report, February 1991; contributions summary, March 1992; management committee agenda papers, 28 October 1992; reader panel papers, 21 and 28 February 1993; circualtion report, 16 May 1993; letter from various members of staff disagreeing with editor's decision to publish Tiny Rowland's story; miscellaneous undated budgetry and other papers.
A small section of this file concerning staff salaries remains closed.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

Correspondence and documents regarding contempt of court proceedings by Mohamed Fayad against The Observer and Donald Trelford following publication of story about Mark Thatcher's connection with the Sultan of Brunei and Mohamed Fayad. Also including press cuttings.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

12 x 16" (3 prints)

Donald Trelford's correspondence with or concerning Lonrho
Correspondents include: Donald Trelford, Tiny Rowland, David Astor, T J Robinson, Jack Lundin, Francesca Pollard

File 1:
Memorandum of Agreement between the Observer and Lonrho, the report of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on the proposed merger between Lonrho Limited and House of Fraser (1981), Tiny Rowland's character and past, Lonrho News releases, invitations to meetings and lunches, NUJ motions, topics of articles, the Observer's editorial independence, circulation of the Observer, independent directors' statement in reply to the NUJ Chapel motion of June 7 1989.

Also includes: A print of Tiny Rowland at the Albert exhibition dated 14 December 1983, editor's report November 1981, a copy of The Media Reporter vol. 5.3 (1981) on 'Rowland at the Observer', internal audit report of the Observer April 1983, Opinion on the Memorandum of Agreement by Michael Hunt June 1989.

File 2:
Richard Hall's book 'My life with Tiny', job applications, requests for support and sponsorship, complaints about articles published in the Observer (including letter from Adnan Kahshoggi), Lonrho News Releases, the report of the Department of Trade and Industry on the acquisition of Harrods by the House of Fraser, Donald Trelford's complaints about articles on the Observer by other publications, copies of Tiny Rowland's correspondence regarding Mohamed Fayed and Harrods, the Observer's articles on various African countries such as Malawi and Kenya, the official opening of the Observer building at Chelsea Bridge House, Lonrho's sale of the Observer in 1993, Trelford's termination of employment.

Also includes: Follow up on May 1983 and July 1985 internal audit reports dated 26 August 1986, 'Pitch, pool, rink, ...court? Judicial review in the sporting world' by Michael J Beloff (1988).

File 3:
Monopolies and mergers commission including copy of evidence supplied by Conor Cruise O'Brien and submission by David Astor, research on Tiny Rowland's profile and history, complaint by Jack Lundin to Richard Hall regarding his portrayal in the book 'My Life with Tiny', and campaign against Tiny Rowland by Francesca Pollard.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

File contains correspondence and press cuttings relating to the leaked report of the Department of Trade and Industry into the takeover of the House of Fraser by the Fayed brothers which included a chapter on the Observer's coverage of the Fayed controversy. It also includes internal documents and court records relating to the Observer's mid-week special edition 'Exposed: the Phoney Pharaoh' on 30 March 1989 about the leaked report and allegations against the Fayed's.

Subjects covered: readers' and organisations' reaction to the Observer's publication of a special mid-week edition which consequently had an injuction imposed on it, Trelford's responses to articles about the report in other publications, allegations that the Observer compromised its editorial independence in the coverage of the Fayed case, internal memos regarding the decision to publish the leaked DTI report, Alan Rusbridger's review of the special issue on 'What the papers say', press cuttings, background material on the Fayed's, charges of contempt laid in relation to the publication of the Observer's special edition of 30th March 1989, the case Regina and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry against Lonrho Plc and in the matter of contempt of the House of Lords.

Also includes: a statement concerning the involvement of the Observer circulation department in the publication of the special report by Lee Simpson, a photocopy of the actual special report from 30 March 1989, original and copy of the Observer from 2 April 1989, first and second affidavit of Donald Trelford, draft copy of an article by Steven A Martindale titled The Swami of Irangate', an article entitled 'A trade union in chains: Scargill unbound - the legal constraints of receivership and sequestration' by Gavin Lightman.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford