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Former Editor of "The London Evening Standard" Sir Max Hastings to Speak April 20

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Former Editor of "The London Evening Standard" Sir Max Hastings to Speak April 20

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British journalist, historian, author, and former editor of The London Evening Standard, Sir Max Hastings, will speak at the Frank J. and Sylvia T. Pasquerilla Lecture Series being held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in the Living/Learning Center on the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown campus.

The lecture and 6:30 p.m. reception are free of charge and open to the public.

Educated at Charterhouse and Oxford University, Sir Hastings became a foreign correspondent and reported from more than 60 countries and 11 wars for the BBC-TV and The London Evening Standard.  After 10 years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph he returned to The Evening Standard as editor in 1996 until his retirement in 2001.  He was knighted in 2002.

He spent most of his early years as a foreign correspondent, reporting from 11 conflicts, notably including Vietnam and the Falklands.

When in the Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment as part of the British press corps reporting the Falklands War, the troops were ordered to stop but Sir Hastings received no order and walked on, becoming the first man with the Falklands Task Force to arrive in the capital, Port Stanley.  He then arranged an interview with the commanding officer of the Argentine forces who had occupied the islands.  It was this audacity that won him a double award in 1982, Journalist of the Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year.

Sir Hastings has won many other awards for his journalism, including Editor of the Year in 1988. 

He has presented historical documentaries for BBC-TV, and is the author of 19 books, including his most recent, ARMAGEDDON: The Battle for Germany 1944-45.  His other books include Bomber Command which earned the Somerset Maugham Award for nonfiction in 1980.  Both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.

Sir Hastings presented many television documentaries, including the Channel 4 series Winston’s War.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, London, and was made President of the Council for the Protection of Rural England in 2002.

He currently writes a column for The Guardian.

A question-and-answer session with book signing will follow the lecture. 

The Frank J. and Sylvia T. Pasquerilla Lecture Series was established in 1999 to bring speakers of renown in all academic disciplines to the area.  Upon announcing the gift, Mark E. Pasquerilla said, “Our endowment for a lecture series should enable large intellectual personalities to visit the area.  Imagine Stephen Hawking or a Nobel Prize laureate speaking in Johnstown for the first time.  It is important to fill one’s life with inspiring, unforgettable moments.  Hopefully, our gift will do this for some of the students at UPJ.”

Past speakers in the lecture include journalist and editor, Atlantic Monthly Robert D. Kaplan; economic historian Niall Ferguson; internationally-known author Charles McCarry; best-selling author Robert Kagan; veteran case officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and author Robert Baer; author and journalist Peter Bergen; political consultant David Garth, and author and critic Stanley Crouch.

Advance interviews may be arranged by contacting the Office of Marketing and Public Relations at 814-269-2080.

Founded in 1927, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown is a four-year, degree-granting college of the University of Pittsburgh with an enrollment of approximately 3,200.  The university offers more than 40 majors and is known for its engineering technology, education, humanities, natural and social sciences degree programs.  UPJ has been ranked “Third in the North” among public comprehensive colleges and universities, northern region, by U.S. News and World Report, America’s Best Colleges, 2006.
Posted by Shook, Kimberly on 3/22/2006 5:00:00 AM


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