Overview
For just over a decade, from 1963 to the mid 1970s, Arnold Goodman was the most powerful non-elected figure in Britain. His power was based on access to the top political and social figures in the age of Harold Wilson and Edward Heath. He was skilled at extracting the most fulsome apologies in libel cases, and even more skilled in stopping unwelcome stories before they appeared. He also chaired the Arts Council, brokered for the Observer, and performed several other notable services. Brian Brivati's study is fair-minded and often sympathetic, as he tracks Goodman's many acts of kindness and personal patronage, and his genuine and pervasive sense of humor. But also included is a full account of Goodman's financial dealings with the Portman family funds, and of his acting as "middleman" when Mohammed Fayed paid for Norman Tebbit, then Secretary of State for Industry, to have a new car for his wife.