Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch ; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor and politician. [1] [2] Of Jewish descent , he escaped the Nazi occupation of his native Czechoslovakia and joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile during World War II . He was decorated after active service in the British Army . In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major academic publisher. After six years as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) during the 1960s, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation , Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Inc. , among other publishing companies.
