Vernon Bartlett

Born at Westbury, Wiltshire, Bartlett was educated at Blundell's School, then joined the British Army during the First World War, from which he was invalided out.

He did not have his BBC contract renewed after his coverage of Hitler's decision to leave the League of Nations in 1933 was deemed too sympathetic ("not beastly enough").

[1] In 1933, he joined the News Chronicle and was its diplomatic correspondent for twenty years, including a period in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

[2] Bartlett was elected to the House of Commons for the Somerset seat of Bridgwater as a Popular Front candidate opposed to appeasement in a by-election held on 18 November 1938.

In 1954, Bartlett also retired from his work with the News Chronicle and moved to Singapore, where he was both political commentator for The Straits Times and also South East Asia correspondent for The Manchester Guardian.