George Mikes (Hungarian: Mikes György, pronounced [ˈmikɛʃ ɟørɟ]; 15 February 1912 – 30 August 1987) was a Hungarian-born British journalist, humorist and writer, best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries.
George Mikes (Hungarian: Mikes György) was born in 1912, in the small town of Siklós, in the southwest of Hungary.[1] His father, Alfréd Mikes, was a successful lawyer, a profession he wanted his son to follow. Mikes graduated in Budapest in 1933; he studied law and received his doctorate at Budapest University, after that he worked as a lawyer[2] but at the same time he became a journalist and started to work for Reggel ("Morning"), a Budapest newspaper. For a short while he was the columnist of Intim Pista for Színházi Élet ("Theatre Life"), another newspaper in Budapest.[3]
In 1938 Mikes became the London correspondent for two Hungarian newspapers, Reggel and 8 Órai Ujság ("8 o'clock News") and he worked for the former until 1940. The experience of the German Jewish refugees coming to his home in Hungary for help after 1933 had left an abiding impression upon him. So in 1938, when Mikes had originally been sent to London to cover the Munich Crisis and expected to stay for only a couple of weeks, just one year before the outbreak of World War II he decided not to return to Hungary, and instead remained in England. He worked for the BBC's Hungarian Service from 1939 onwards, interrupted only by his internment as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man in 1940.[4]
Living in exile in England, he broadcast to Hungary for the BBC during World War II, and also collaborated with the Hungarian emigration[clarification needed], and wrote political cabaret for the London Podium, a Hungarian theatre in London at that time, in collaboration with the Hungarian born composer Matyas Seiber. From 1939 he also made documentaries for the BBC Hungarian section, at first as a freelance correspondent and, from 1950, as an employee.[5] He was naturalised as a British citizen in 1946. In 1956, he went back to Hungary to cover the Hungarian Revolution for BBC TV. From 1975 until his death on 30 August 1987 he also worked for the Hungarian section of Radio Free Europe.
He was president of the London branch of PEN, and a member of the Garrick Club.[6]
He married twice and had a son called Martin by his first marriage, and a daughter called Judith by his second. He died in London on 30 August 1987. On 15 September 1991, a memorial plaque was unveiled at his childhood home.
Publications
His first book, published in 1945, was We Were There To Escape – the true story of a Jugoslav officer about life in prisoner-of-war camps. The Times Literary Supplement praised the book for the humour it showed in parts, which led him to write his most famous satiric book, How to be an Alien, which proved a great success in post-war Britain in 1946. This book poked gentle fun at the English, including a one-line chapter on sex: "Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles." In his subsequent books Mikes blended local jokes into his own humour, dealt with (among others) Japan (The Land of the Rising Yen), Israel (Milk and Honey, The Prophet Motive), the US (How to Scrape Skies), the United Nations (How to Unite Nations), Australia (Boomerang), the British again (How to be Inimitable and How to be Decadent, both collected with How to be an Alien as How to be a Brit), and South America (How to Tango). Other subjects include God (How to be God), his cat (Tsi-Tsa), wealth (How to be Poor) and philosophy (How to be a Guru).
Apart from his commentaries, he wrote humorous fiction (Mortal Passion; The Spy Who Died of Boredom) and contributed to the satirical television series That Was The Week That Was.
He wrote his ironic autobiography with the title How to be Seventy, published in 1982.[9]
Every now and then Mikes ventured into the territory of serious literature: his serious writing included a book about the Hungarian secret police and he narrated a BBC television report of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.[10]
According to Thomas Kabdebo, himself a Hungarian immigrant writer, Mikes' favourite comic device was to place himself as an inveterate yet vulnerable traveller; an ardent rationalist with European values, where he discovers national pretensions behind proud phraseology. Thus, he was able to flesh out national stereotypes with comic characteristics.[11]
Mikes wrote over forty books, thirty-five of them humorous; however, in some way, it was a pity that his How to be an Alien was a long-lasting best seller. It pushed him into the category of critic who was viewed with benign fondness but not considered a serious thinker.[12] In the preface to the 24th impression of his book How to be an Alien, he reflects on the book's success:[13]
Since then I have actually written about a dozen books but I might as well have never written anything else. I remained the author of How to be an Alien even after I had published a collection of serious essays.
Selected bibliography
How to be an Alien: a handbook for beginners and more advanced pupils (1946)
How to Scrape Skies: the United States explored, rediscovered and explained (1948)
Wisdom for Others (1950)
Milk and Honey: Israel explored (1950)
Down with everybody (1951)
Shakespeare and Myself (1952)
Uber Alles: Germany explored (1953)
Little Cabbages (1955)
Italy for Beginners (1956)
How to Be Inimitable: coming of age in England (1960)
How to Tango: a solo across South America (1961)
Switzerland for Beginners (1962)
How to Unite Nations (1963)
Mortal Passion (1963), a novel
Germany Laughs at Herself: German cartoons since 1848 (1965)
Eureka!: Rummaging in Greece (1965)
How to Be Affluent (1966)
Boomerang: Australia Rediscovered (1968)
The Prophet Motive: Israel today and tomorrow (1969)
The Land of the Rising Yen: Japan (1970)
Humour in Memoriam (1970)
Any Souvenirs?: Central Europe revisited (1971)
The Spy who Died of Boredom (1973)
How to Be Decadent (1977)
Tsi-Tsa: the biography of a cat (1978)
English Humour for Beginners (1980)
How to Be Seventy: an autobiography (1982)
How to Be Poor (1983)
How to Be a Guru (1984)
How to Be God (1986)
The Riches of the Poor: who's WHO (1987)
Non-fiction
Wikiquote has quotations related to George Mikes.
The Epic of Lofoten (1941)
Eight humorists (1954)
We Were There to Escape: the true story of a Jugoslav officer (1945)
The Hungarian Revolution (1957)
A Study in Infamy: the operations of the Hungarian Secret Police (AVO) (1959)
Arthur Koestler; the story of a friendship (1983)
References
^How to be poor – about the author. London: Andres Deush and Penguin books. p. 4. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^Hungarian Biographical Encyclopedia (in Hungarian)
^Fairclough, Pauline (17 February 2016). Twentieth-Century Music and Politics: Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds edited by Pauline Fairclough Page 226., 222., 225. ISBN9781317005803.
^"George Mikes, 75; Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works", New York Times, 4 September 1987; retrieved 16 May 2017.
^Thomas Kabdebo (1996). "Mikes, George". In Steven H. Gale (ed.). Encyclopedia of British humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. ISBN9780824059903. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
^Firth Marsden, Kathleen (9 January 2015). "15 minuts amb... Doireann MacDermott" [15 Minutes with...] (in Catalan). Retrieved 9 July 2018. (Interview in English)
^"George Mikes, 75; Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works", New York Times, 4 September 1987; retrieved 16 May 2017.
^Mikes, George (1 January 1982). How to be Seventy: An Autobiography. London: A. Deutsch. ISBN0233974539. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^. files.osa.ceu.hu. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
^Thomas Kabdebo (1996). "Mikes, George". In Steven H. Gale (ed.). Encyclopedia of British humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 764. ISBN9780824059903. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
^Albert H. Friedlander (23 November 2004). "Mikes, George". In Sorrel Kerbel (ed.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century. p. 703. ISBN9781135456078. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
Penguin Readers Factsheet on How to be an Alien for teachers
Thomas Kabdebo (1996). "Mikes, George". In Steven H. Gale (ed.). Encyclopedia of British humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. ISBN9780824059903. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
Hungarian Biographical Encyclopedia (in Hungarian)
"George Mikes, 75; Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works", New York Times, 4 September 1987; retrieved 16 May 2017.
Sorrel Kerbel: The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century, Taylor & Francis Books Inc., 2003. ISBN0-203-01000-0
March 20, 2023
george, mikes, native, form, this, personal, name, mikes, györgy, this, article, uses, western, name, order, when, mentioning, individuals, hungarian, mikes, györgy, pronounced, ˈmikɛʃ, ɟørɟ, february, 1912, august, 1987, hungarian, born, british, journalist, . The native form of this personal name is Mikes Gyorgy This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals George Mikes Hungarian Mikes Gyorgy pronounced ˈmikɛʃ ɟorɟ 15 February 1912 30 August 1987 was a Hungarian born British journalist humorist and writer best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries George MikesBornMikes Gyorgy 1912 02 15 15 February 1912Siklos Kingdom of Hungary Austria HungaryDied30 August 1987 1987 08 30 aged 75 London EnglandLanguageEnglishNationalityHungarianCitizenshipBritish from 1946 GenreHumour journalismNotable worksHow to be an AlienChildrenMartin first marriage Judith second marriage Contents 1 Life 2 Publications 3 Selected bibliography 3 1 Non fiction 4 References 5 SourcesLife EditGeorge Mikes Hungarian Mikes Gyorgy was born in 1912 in the small town of Siklos in the southwest of Hungary 1 His father Alfred Mikes was a successful lawyer a profession he wanted his son to follow Mikes graduated in Budapest in 1933 he studied law and received his doctorate at Budapest University after that he worked as a lawyer 2 but at the same time he became a journalist and started to work for Reggel Morning a Budapest newspaper For a short while he was the columnist of Intim Pista for Szinhazi Elet Theatre Life another newspaper in Budapest 3 In 1938 Mikes became the London correspondent for two Hungarian newspapers Reggel and 8 orai Ujsag 8 o clock News and he worked for the former until 1940 The experience of the German Jewish refugees coming to his home in Hungary for help after 1933 had left an abiding impression upon him So in 1938 when Mikes had originally been sent to London to cover the Munich Crisis and expected to stay for only a couple of weeks just one year before the outbreak of World War II he decided not to return to Hungary and instead remained in England He worked for the BBC s Hungarian Service from 1939 onwards interrupted only by his internment as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man in 1940 4 Living in exile in England he broadcast to Hungary for the BBC during World War II and also collaborated with the Hungarian emigration clarification needed and wrote political cabaret for the London Podium a Hungarian theatre in London at that time in collaboration with the Hungarian born composer Matyas Seiber From 1939 he also made documentaries for the BBC Hungarian section at first as a freelance correspondent and from 1950 as an employee 5 He was naturalised as a British citizen in 1946 In 1956 he went back to Hungary to cover the Hungarian Revolution for BBC TV From 1975 until his death on 30 August 1987 he also worked for the Hungarian section of Radio Free Europe He was president of the London branch of PEN and a member of the Garrick Club 6 Mikes wrote in both Hungarian and English for The Observer The Times Literary Supplement Encounter Irodalmi Ujsag Nepszava the Viennese Hungarian language Magyar Hirado and Vilag His friends included the Hungarian writer Arthur Koestler whose biography Mikes wrote Arthur Koestler the story of a friendship J B Priestley academic Doireann MacDermott 7 and Andre Deutsch whose publishing house promoted Mikes as a writer 8 He married twice and had a son called Martin by his first marriage and a daughter called Judith by his second He died in London on 30 August 1987 On 15 September 1991 a memorial plaque was unveiled at his childhood home Publications EditHis first book published in 1945 was We Were There To Escape the true story of a Jugoslav officer about life in prisoner of war camps The Times Literary Supplement praised the book for the humour it showed in parts which led him to write his most famous satiric book How to be an Alien which proved a great success in post war Britain in 1946 This book poked gentle fun at the English including a one line chapter on sex Continental people have sex lives the English have hot water bottles In his subsequent books Mikes blended local jokes into his own humour dealt with among others Japan The Land of the Rising Yen Israel Milk and Honey The Prophet Motive the US How to Scrape Skies the United Nations How to Unite Nations Australia Boomerang the British again How to be Inimitable and How to be Decadent both collected with How to be an Alien as How to be a Brit and South America How to Tango Other subjects include God How to be God his cat Tsi Tsa wealth How to be Poor and philosophy How to be a Guru Apart from his commentaries he wrote humorous fiction Mortal Passion The Spy Who Died of Boredom and contributed to the satirical television series That Was The Week That Was He wrote his ironic autobiography with the title How to be Seventy published in 1982 9 Every now and then Mikes ventured into the territory of serious literature his serious writing included a book about the Hungarian secret police and he narrated a BBC television report of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 10 According to Thomas Kabdebo himself a Hungarian immigrant writer Mikes favourite comic device was to place himself as an inveterate yet vulnerable traveller an ardent rationalist with European values where he discovers national pretensions behind proud phraseology Thus he was able to flesh out national stereotypes with comic characteristics 11 Mikes wrote over forty books thirty five of them humorous however in some way it was a pity that his How to be an Alien was a long lasting best seller It pushed him into the category of critic who was viewed with benign fondness but not considered a serious thinker 12 In the preface to the 24th impression of his book How to be an Alien he reflects on the book s success 13 Since then I have actually written about a dozen books but I might as well have never written anything else I remained the author of How to be an Alien even after I had published a collection of serious essays Selected bibliography EditHow to be an Alien a handbook for beginners and more advanced pupils 1946 How to Scrape Skies the United States explored rediscovered and explained 1948 Wisdom for Others 1950 Milk and Honey Israel explored 1950 Down with everybody 1951 Shakespeare and Myself 1952 Uber Alles Germany explored 1953 Little Cabbages 1955 Italy for Beginners 1956 How to Be Inimitable coming of age in England 1960 How to Tango a solo across South America 1961 Switzerland for Beginners 1962 How to Unite Nations 1963 Mortal Passion 1963 a novel Germany Laughs at Herself German cartoons since 1848 1965 Eureka Rummaging in Greece 1965 How to Be Affluent 1966 Boomerang Australia Rediscovered 1968 The Prophet Motive Israel today and tomorrow 1969 The Land of the Rising Yen Japan 1970 Humour in Memoriam 1970 Any Souvenirs Central Europe revisited 1971 The Spy who Died of Boredom 1973 How to Be Decadent 1977 Tsi Tsa the biography of a cat 1978 English Humour for Beginners 1980 How to Be Seventy an autobiography 1982 How to Be Poor 1983 How to Be a Guru 1984 How to Be God 1986 The Riches of the Poor who s WHO 1987 Non fiction Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to George Mikes The Epic of Lofoten 1941 Eight humorists 1954 We Were There to Escape the true story of a Jugoslav officer 1945 The Hungarian Revolution 1957 A Study in Infamy the operations of the Hungarian Secret Police AVO 1959 Arthur Koestler the story of a friendship 1983 References Edit How to be poor about the author London Andres Deush and Penguin books p 4 Retrieved 24 June 2014 Preface to the 24th impression of How to be an Alian ISBN 0 14 00 2514 6 Hungarian Biographical Encyclopedia in Hungarian Fairclough Pauline 17 February 2016 Twentieth Century Music and Politics Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds edited by Pauline Fairclough Page 226 222 225 ISBN 9781317005803 George Mikes 75 Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works New York Times 4 September 1987 retrieved 16 May 2017 Thomas Kabdebo 1996 Mikes George In Steven H Gale ed Encyclopedia of British humorists Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese Vol 1 Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9780824059903 Retrieved 30 January 2010 Firth Marsden Kathleen 9 January 2015 15 minuts amb Doireann MacDermott 15 Minutes with in Catalan Retrieved 9 July 2018 Interview in English George Mikes 75 Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works New York Times 4 September 1987 retrieved 16 May 2017 Mikes George 1 January 1982 How to be Seventy An Autobiography London A Deutsch ISBN 0233974539 Retrieved 24 June 2014 1956 01 files osa ceu hu Archived from the original on 17 October 2007 Retrieved 15 January 2022 Thomas Kabdebo 1996 Mikes George In Steven H Gale ed Encyclopedia of British humorists Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese Vol 1 Taylor amp Francis p 764 ISBN 9780824059903 Retrieved 30 January 2010 Albert H Friedlander 23 November 2004 Mikes George In Sorrel Kerbel ed The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century p 703 ISBN 9781135456078 Retrieved 24 June 2017 Preface to the 24th impression of How to be an Alien ISBN 0 14 00 2514 6Sources EditPenguin Readers Factsheet on How to be an Alien for teachers Thomas Kabdebo 1996 Mikes George In Steven H Gale ed Encyclopedia of British humorists Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese Vol 1 Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9780824059903 Retrieved 30 January 2010 Hungarian Biographical Encyclopedia in Hungarian George Mikes 75 Wrote Gentle Satires And Serious Works New York Times 4 September 1987 retrieved 16 May 2017 Sorrel Kerbel The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century Taylor amp Francis Books Inc 2003 ISBN 0 203 01000 0 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title George Mikes amp oldid 1145169614, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
