Bernard Marshall began work in the American department of the Foreign Office where five years earlier they had arranged John Kennedy’s 1963 visit to Britain.
Born in a British military hospital in Austria, his career took him to British Embassies in Moscow, Bonn and Bucharest from where he saw and reported on the dramatic events of the 1989 Romanian Revolution from the streets around the Embassy.
He combines an insider’s view of life under Communist dictatorships with a diplomat’s interest in the global benefit of a “special relationship” with America. Fortunate to have worked with remarkable people and colleagues in his diplomatic career, he has met a number of inspirational leaders, including Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Britain’s Foreign Secretary during the Kennedy presidency.
On early retirement, he took part in the Foreign Office Chevening scholarship programme identifying graduate students overseas as potential national leaders.