Eddy Shah
Encyclopedia
Selim Jehan Shah commonly known as Eddy Shah or Eddie Shah, is a Manchester
-based businessman, the founder of the then technologically-advanced UK
newspaper
Today
in 1986, and of the extremely short-lived tabloid The Post, and current owner of the Messenger Group.
Shah was born in Cambridge of an English mother with Spanish and Irish blood, and a father of Persian origin, but brought up in India. Shah was educated at a Scottish co-educational independent boarding school, Gordonstoun
, and at both Haywards Heath Grammar School and Haywards Heath Secondary Modern School, at Haywards Heath in Sussex. He then attended a Brighton crammer, where he obtained seven GCE 'O' Levels.
He confronted the trade unions at his Warrington print works and Manchester news offices in 1983. As the owner of six local newspapers, he defeated the print unions after national strikes that went on for seven months - despite receiving death threats. He was the first person to invoke Margaret Thatcher
's Anti-Union Laws to force the unions to the bargaining table. The Wapping dispute
followed three years later.
Shah is also the author of several novels including The Lucy Ghosts (1991), Ring of Red Roses (1992), Manchester Blue (1993), and Fallen Angels (1994). After a break from writing, he returned in 2008 with a thriller entitled Second World.
He now owns and runs golf courses, leisure centres and hotels, including the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club, Royal Wootton Bassett. He is building 44 holiday homes with his wife, actress Jennifer White Shah with whom he has three children., at the Wiltshire.
On September 21 2011, he was arrested with four other individuals by the Metropolitan Police
"in relation to allegations of sex with an underage girl eight years ago".
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
-based businessman, the founder of the then technologically-advanced UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
Today
Today (UK newspaper)
Today was a national newspaper in the United Kingdom, which was published between 1986 and 1995.-History:Today, with the American newspaper USA Today as inspiration, launched on Tuesday, 4 March 1986, with the front page headline, "Second Spy Inside GCHQ". At 18 pence, it was a middle-market...
in 1986, and of the extremely short-lived tabloid The Post, and current owner of the Messenger Group.
Shah was born in Cambridge of an English mother with Spanish and Irish blood, and a father of Persian origin, but brought up in India. Shah was educated at a Scottish co-educational independent boarding school, Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray in North East Scotland. Named after the estate originally owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 1600s, the school now uses this estate as its campus...
, and at both Haywards Heath Grammar School and Haywards Heath Secondary Modern School, at Haywards Heath in Sussex. He then attended a Brighton crammer, where he obtained seven GCE 'O' Levels.
He confronted the trade unions at his Warrington print works and Manchester news offices in 1983. As the owner of six local newspapers, he defeated the print unions after national strikes that went on for seven months - despite receiving death threats. He was the first person to invoke Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's Anti-Union Laws to force the unions to the bargaining table. The Wapping dispute
Wapping dispute
The Wapping dispute was, along with the miners' strike of 1984-5, a significant turning point in the history of the trade union movement and of UK industrial relations...
followed three years later.
Shah is also the author of several novels including The Lucy Ghosts (1991), Ring of Red Roses (1992), Manchester Blue (1993), and Fallen Angels (1994). After a break from writing, he returned in 2008 with a thriller entitled Second World.
He now owns and runs golf courses, leisure centres and hotels, including the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club, Royal Wootton Bassett. He is building 44 holiday homes with his wife, actress Jennifer White Shah with whom he has three children., at the Wiltshire.
On September 21 2011, he was arrested with four other individuals by the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
"in relation to allegations of sex with an underage girl eight years ago".