Norman Reddaway
{{Short description|British civil servant and diplomat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
George Frank Norman Reddaway {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (2 May 1918 – 12 October 1999) was a British civil servant and diplomat.
{{cite news
|title=Obituary: Norman Reddaway
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-norman-reddaway-1122084.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-norman-reddaway-1122084.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live
|date=November 3, 1999
|work=The Independent
|author=Michael Adams
}}
Career
The younger son of William Fiddian Reddaway (1872-1949), Professor of History at Cambridge University, Norman Reddaway attended King's College School,{{Cite book|title=A History of King's College Choir School Cambridge|author=Henderson, RJ|year=1981|isbn=978-0950752808}} Oundle School, and later gained a Double First in Modern Languages at Cambridge. He joined the British army as a private on the outbreak of war in 1939. He spent most of the wartime years with the GHQ Liaison Regiment, leaving in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1946, after serving with the Allied Control Commission, he joined the British Foreign Office.
Under Under-Secretary of State Christopher Mayhew, Reddaway co-founded the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret Cold War propaganda department of the British Foreign Office.{{cite web |last1=Lashmar |first1=Paul |last2=Gilby |first2=Nicholas |last3=Oliver |first3=James |title=Slaughter in Indonesia: Britain's secret propaganda war|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/slaughter-in-indonesia-britains-secret-propaganda-war |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518080216/https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/slaughter-in-indonesia-britains-secret-propaganda-war |archive-date=18 May 2022 |date=17 October 2021}} Mayhew and Reddaway had served together in GHQ Liaison Regiment.
Reddaway was also instrumental in providing anti-Communist propaganda in Indonesia during the 30 September Movement. The Foreign Office gave Reddaway a budget of £100,000 and told him "to do anything [he] could do to get rid of Sukarno". At the end of his career in the UK Foreign Office, he took charge of its information departments, which involved liaising with the BBC overseas services.
From 1974 to 1978, Reddaway was British Ambassador to Poland.{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Alan |title=Norman Reddaway |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/oct/25/guardianobituaries1 |website=the Guardian |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116231110/https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/oct/25/guardianobituaries1 |archive-date=16 January 2022 |language=en |date=25 October 1999}}
Personal
Norman Reddaway's son David also became an ambassador.{{cite web |url=https://www.professionaljeweller.com/the-goldsmiths-company-appoints-sir-david-reddaway-as-new-clerk/|title=The Goldsmiths' Company appoints Sir David Reddaway as new clerk |publisher=The Goldsmiths' Company, England |author=Stacey Hailes|date=13 January 2016 |accessdate=19 August 2019}}
References
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Category:People educated at Oundle School
Category:Reconnaissance Corps officers
Category:British anti-communist propagandists
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Poland
Category:Information Research Department
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
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