SAMPSON, Anthony (Terrell Seward) 1926-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 3, 1926, in Billingham-on-Tees, Durham, England; died December 18, 2004, in Wardour, Wiltshire, England. Journalist and author. A former editor and writer for such publications as the Observer and New Statesman, Sampson is often remembered for his biography of Nelson Mandela, his opposition to apartheid, and his studies of British political power and capitalism. Originally a student of mathematics, he later studied literature, especially Shakespeare. After serving as a junior officer in the British Navy, he took his master's degree at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1950. While watching a play, he happened to sit next to Jim Bailey, the son of the owner of Drum, and Bailey recruited Sampson to be the Drum magazine's editor. Traveling to Johannesburg, Sampson met many of the leaders and associates of the African National Congress, including then-attorney Nelson Mandela, who would later become president of South Africa after the apartheid system was overthrown. While editing the Drum through the early 1950s, Sampson gained great sympathy for the anti-apartheid movement, writing about it for many years after he returned to England in 1955. Sampson joined the Observer staff in 1955, serving as editor of its Colour Magazine from 1965 to 1966. He left the Observer in 1966, but returned briefly as chief American correspondent from 1973 to 1974. An expert on political issues, Sampson later wrote a regular column for the London Independent and founded and edited the Sampson Letter, which covered financial and political issues from 1984 to 1986. From 1979 until 1983, he was director of the New Statesman. Sampson published many volumes about European politics, capitalism, and society, as well as on Africa. Of the former, his most highly regarded work is Anatomy of Britain (1962), which has gone through many editions, including 2004's Who Runs This Place?: The Anatomy of Britain in the Twenty-first Century. Other books about European politics include Anatomy of Europe: A Guide to the Workings, Institutions, and Character of Contemporary Western Europe (1968) and The Midas Touch: Why the Rich Nations Get Richer and the Poor Stay Poor (1989). Widely admired for his 1999 work, Mandela: The Authorized Biography, Sampson also wrote about Africa and apartheid in Drum: A Venture into New Africa (1957), Common Sense about Africa (1960), and Black and Gold: Tycoons, Revolutionaries, and Apartheid (1987).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, December 22, 2004, section 1, p. 12.

Guardian (London, England), December 21, 2004, p. 19.

Independent (London, England), December 21, 2004, p. 28.

International Herald Tribune, December 22, 2004, p. 5.

Los Angeles Times, December 24, 2004, p. B10.

New York Times, December 21, 2004, p. A25.

Times (London, England), December 21, 2004, p. 48.

Washington Post, December 21, 2004, p. B6.