Lord Thompson, Don McCullin and Zhou Enlai in Peking, 1972

Posted: October 11th, 2023 | No Comments »

Roy Thomson (aka Lord Thomson of Fleet), was a Canadian entrepreneur and businessman best known for being a newspaper mogul and owner of The Times and The Sunday Times as well as The Scotsman newspaper. Thomson had acquired four tour operators – Skytours, Riviera, Luxitours, Gaytours – and the airline Britannia Airways. In 1965 he merged them all to form the Thomson Travel Group and, in 1971, they became known as simply Thomson Holidays.

At the personal invitation of Premier Zhou Enlai Thomson made a visit to China in 1972. The legendary British photographer Don McCullin was appointed the official photgrapher. In his autobiography, Unreasonable Behaviour, he recalls the trip to Peking…

McCullin missed the big shot of Zhou meeting Thompson due to trying to deal with a very bloody shaving cut;

Thompson prepared for the trip on the 19 hour flight to Peking by reading an Alistair Maclean thriller on the plane;

Thompson never quite managed to master hitting dead centre in the spitoons proviced in the Great Hall of the People;

Zhou En-lai was not overly impressed with the fact trhat McCullin had been embedded with US troops in Vietnam previously.

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