Richard John Mayne (2 April 1926 – 29 November 2009) was a British journalist, broadcaster, writer and advocate for closer European integration.
Towards the end of the war, because of his linguistic abilities, he was chosen for the Special Operations Executive (SOE),[1] but spent most of his time in the armed forces with a signals unit.
In 1947, he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge,[2] where he read History, gaining a starred first-class degree.
[3] He succeeded François Duchêne as director of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe in 1963, and served as Monnet's personal assistant.
He stepped down from working for the Commission in London when his outlook towards Europe clashed increasingly with that of Margaret Thatcher, following her government's election to power in 1979.