Levin, Bernard
LEVIN, BERNARD
LEVIN, BERNARD (1928–2004), British newspaper columnist. Levin was one of the best-known and most controversial newspaper columnists in contemporary Britain. He was educated at the London School of Economics and became prominent in bbc's television satire programs of the 1960s. He is best remembered for his biweekly columns in the London Times. Originally on the left, and a lifelong liberal opponent of censorship and excessive punishment, after about 1970 he became nationally known as one of the most vocal champions in the British press of Soviet Jews and dissidents. Renowned for his biting wit, Levin was critical of aspects of Israel's policies and regularly championed the playing of Richard *Wagner's music. His history of Britain in the 1960s, The Pendulum Years (1971), is a standard account.
[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]