Darius Guppy Explained
Darius Guppy |
Birth Place: | Westminster, London, England |
Nationality: | British |
Children: | 3 |
Darius Guppy (born June 1964)[1] is a British businessman resident in South Africa.[2] He was formerly a close friend of Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In 1993 he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for insurance fraud.
Early life and education
Darius Guppy was born June 1964 in London to an Iranian mother and British father. Guppy's mother was the author and singer Shusha Guppy (1935–2008).[3] His grandfather on his mother's side was the philosopher and theologian Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammed Kazem Assar, who held the chair of philosophy at Tehran University.[4]
His father was the writer Nicholas Guppy (1925–2012).[5] On his father's side, he is a descendant of Lechmere Guppy, the naturalist who discovered the eponymous fish, as well as the inventor Sarah Guppy,[6] Thomas Guppy, the engineer and business partner of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the explorer Amelia Guppy, Sir Francis Dashwood and the Plantagenet family.[7]
Guppy was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In his second year, he became a member of the Piers Gaveston Society, as well as the Bullingdon Club.[8] He was the best man at Earl Spencer's wedding to model Victoria Lockwood, his first wife; Lord Spencer was his best man in return.[9] He was a close friend of Boris Johnson, who later became the Mayor of London and British Prime Minister,[10] as well as of Count Gottfried von Bismarck.[11]
Personal life
He married Patricia Holder in 1991. The couple had a daughter and twin sons, and lived in Cape Town, South Africa.[12] In 2021, Holder filed for divorce, accusing Guppy of physical and verbal abuse. Guppy referred to the accusations as ranging from "inflammatory to untrue".[13]
Boris Johnson and journalist from News of the World
During a telephone call in 1990, Guppy asked Boris Johnson (then a journalist at The Telegraph) to provide the home address of News of the World journalist Stuart Collier. Collier had been making enquiries into Guppy's background, and in response, Guppy wanted to send someone to physically assault Collier. A tape of the conversation was leaked to the press in June 1995.[14] [15] [16] [12]
Insurance and VAT fraud
In February 1993, Guppy was jailed for staging a faked jewel robbery and claiming £1.8 million from the insurers. Guppy claimed this was intended as retribution against Lloyd's of London, since his father had lost money in Lloyd's financial crisis of the 1990s.
Guppy and a business partner, Benedict Marsh, hired a man to fake a robbery, discharge a firearm and tie them up. They were both convicted of conspiracy involving fraud, theft and false accounting at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Guppy was sentenced to five years in prison.[17] [18] Guppy also pleaded guilty in March 1993 to three separate charges, relating to illegal VAT claims on gold bullion later smuggled into India between October 1989 and July 1990.[19] [18]
Writing
Guppy has written for The Spectator, the Asia Times, the Independent on Sunday and The Independent,[20] The Sunday Telegraph,[21] and the New Statesman.[22] Guppy has also published poetry.[23] [24] [25] His autobiography, Roll the Dice, was issued by Blake Publishing in 1996.[26]
Bibliography
- Book: Guppy, Darius . Roll the Dice . 1996 . Blake Publishing . 1-85782-159-9. [27]
- Book: VAT 1 The Story of VAT Fraud on Gold in the early 1990s BigFoot . Amazon Direct Publishing . 2013 . 978-1536881219 .
Notes and References
- Web site: Index entry. 14 September 2017. FreeBMD. ONS.
- Web site: Reporter who Boris Johnson conspired to have beaten up demands apology. TheGuardian.com. 14 July 2019.
- News: Shusha Guppy. https://web.archive.org/web/20081121190328/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3619908.ece. dead. 21 November 2008. 26 March 2008. The Times . London. Charles. Bremner.
- News: Obituary: Shusha Guppy. The Guardian. Scruton. Roger. 24 March 2008. 15 April 2020.
- News: Nicholas Guppy. 10 June 2012. The Daily Telegraph . London. subscription.
- News: The female engineer behind Bristol's iconic bridge: Mum-of-six handed plans to Brunel because she said women must 'not be boastful'. The Telegraph . 30 May 2016 . London . subscription . 16 April 2020.
- Book: Child of the Tropics . Yseult Bridges . 1980 . Aquarela Galleries . 976-8066-05-9 . registration .
- News: The Daily Telegraph. Oxford hellraisers politely trash a pub. Richard Alleyne. 4 December 2004 . London . subscription . 16 April 2020.
- News: A man who knew exactly what he was saying. The Irish Times. 8 September 1997. 15 April 2020.
- News: John-Paul Flintoff. 16 March 2008. Boris Johnson: Maybe it's because he's a ponderer. The Sunday Times. London. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080515192351/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3537554.ece. 15 May 2008.
- News: Obituaries » Count Gottfried von Bismarck. The Telegraph. 4 July 2007. subscription. 15 April 2020.
- News: The truth about my friend Boris and my feud with Earl Spencer. Jane Flanagan. 20 February 2010. The Daily Telegraph . London. subscription. 15 April 2020.
- Web site: Cape Town Divorce Involving Boris Johnson Friend Makes UK Headlines. 3 July 2021. www.sapeople.com. 11 September 2021.
- News: Darius, Boris and a blast from the past. Andy. McSmith. The Independent. 30 March 2009. 9 July 2017.
- News: Darius Guppy: 'If we go to war with Iran, I'm in trouble'. The Independent. 11 June 2011. 15 April 2020.
- News: Darius Guppy: 'That element of madness was always there'. Peter. Stanford. The Daily Telegraph. 29 March 2013. 16 April 2020. subscription.
- News: Guppy 'going to prison for a very long time' in pounds 1.8m gems fraud . Arlidge. John. 14 February 1993. The Independent. 3 July 2009 . London.
- News: Two jailed over gems firm fraud: Guppy and partner sentenced to five years. The Independent. 26 March 1993. 5 September 2017.
- News: Guppy spun 'web of deceit' in bullion fraud. 5 March 1993. The Scotland Herald.
- News: Darius Guppy . Growth: it ain't happening . The Sunday Independent . 12 June 2011 . London.
- News: Darius Guppy . Our world balances on a sea of debt. The Counterfeiter and the Bankster . The Telegraph . 21 February 2010 . subscription . 16 April 2020 . London.
- News: Darius Guppy . In Praise of Walls. The Spectator . 31 July 2016.
- Book: First Set: Blue Jade. John Adlam . Darius Guppy . 1984 . Libanus Press . 978-0948021008.
- Book: Second Set: Nomads . John Adlam . Darius Guppy . 1986 . Pendulum Press . 978-1869800000.
- News: Oxford Poets then and now. The Spectator. 15 August 1985. Elizabeth Jennings . London.
- Book: Guppy, Darius . Roll the Dice . 1996 . Blake Publishing . 1-85782-159-9. Described in Publishers Weekly, 27 January 1997 vol. 244 no. 4, p. 93
- Described in Publishers Weekly, 27 January 1997 v244 n4 p93