Roy MacGregor-Hastie

Roy MacGregor-Hastie (28 March 1929[1] – 12 February 1994)[2] was a British author, journalist, political commentator, poet, and translator from and into Romanian.

MacGregor-Hastie was born in Manchester in 1929. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he was a regular contributor to the Sunday Express, and his columns were syndicated worldwide by London Express features. He spoke seven languages, including Russian, was one of the most widely read commentators on Communist affairs, and reported from Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Bucharest. He also broadcast on radio and TV.[3]

He published many books, including biographies of Nikita Khrushchev, Mao Zedong, Charles George Gordon, and Mircea Snegur. His biography of Nikita Khrushchev sold over 150,000 copies, and has been translated into many European languages and Turkish.

He taught at Kingston upon Hull College of Education (now called Hull College of Education) when Cyril Bibby was Principal (1959-1977). MacGregor-Hastie died in 1994.[4]

He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 27 July 1964.[5]