Adrian Foley, 8th Baron Foley

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Adrian Gerald Foley, 8th Baron Foley (born August 9, 1923 in London , † February 12, 2012 in Kidderminster , Worcestershire , England ) was a British peer , film composer and pianist .

Life

Family and education

Foley was the son of Gerald Henry Foley, 7th Baron Foley (1898-1927) and his wife Minoru Barrie († 1968). His father had served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and died of meningitis at the age of 29 . His mother was from Johannesburg and was the daughter of a South African mine owner; she was considered eccentric. Adrian Foley inherited the title of Baron Foley , of Kidderminster in the County of Worcester, after the death of his father on April 3, 1927 at the age of three .

He was raised by private tutors and learned Russian and piano from the age of five under the supervision of the Russian Princess Magaloff, mother of the Russian pianist Nikita Magaloff . With his mother he undertook extensive trips to South Africa; there mother and son were regular guests of Prime Minister Jan Smuts .

Activity as a composer and pianist

In 1940 Foley composed his first song, London I Cannot Leave You , which was inspired by the German air raids on London . His other successful songs included Let Your Smile Say Goodbye (interpreted by Anne Shelton ), One Night in Old Seville , Love Me and How Late is Too Late? from the film Bond Street (1948) and How Could I Know? , written for the film Piccadilly Incident (1946).

He often accompanied the singer Gracie Fields as a pianist . During the Second World War , he hosted a music show on radio , An Hour with Adrian Foley . In the 1950s he could be heard as a pianist at Radio Luxemburg .

Foley made several recordings (long-playing records and 45 'records); he played songs by Irving Berlin , George Gershwin , Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein on the piano . An album with a photo of Foley in ceremonial regalia was released in the United States under the title Lord Adrian Foley at the Piano .

In 1958 he appeared on Broadway in New York City as an actor and pianist. In a stage version of the novel Jane Eyre , he took on the role of Lord Ingram and also played the piano accompaniment (behind the scene).

Membership in the House of Lords

At the age of 21, Foley became an official member of the House of Lords. He gave his inaugural address on June 26, 1946. He was briefly a member of the Labor Party . In the Hansard , Foley's contributions from 1946 to 1993 are documented. In July 1993, he last spoke in the House of Lords. His membership in the House of Lords ended in 1999 with the House of Lords Act 1999 .

Private

Foley was married a total of three times. In December 1958, after a stormy romance, he married the California- born society beauty Patricia Meek in Las Vegas ; he had met these during his rehearsals on Broadway. Best man was the actor Michael Wilding . The marriage produced two children: a son, Thomas Henry Foley, 9th Baron Foley (* 1961), and a daughter (Alexandra Mary, * 1960). The marriage ended in divorce in 1971.

In 1972 Foley married Ghislaine Dresselhuys († 2000, as Lady Ashcombe, the former wife of the 6th Earl of Caledon and the 4th Lord Ashcombe). The couple lived in Nassau , later in Rome and finally in Marbella . Foley also spent his old age there. He was lodge master of two Masonic lodges in Marbella ; he was also President of the Conservative Association on the Costa del Sol . His sporting hobbies included table tennis , billiards and snooker .

Foley led a lavish social life in Marbella. His guests at his home in Marbella in the 1970s included Sean Connery , Arthur Rubinstein and Liza Minnelli . Accompanied by Foley himself on the piano, the singer and entertainer Shirley Bassey also performed in private.

In December 2003, at the age of 81, he married Hannah (Bebe) Steinberg for the third time.

Foley died on February 12, 2012 at the age of 88. Heir to the title is his son, Thomas Henry Foley, 9th Baron Foley.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FOLEY obituary in: The Daily Telegraph ; Retrieved March 10, 2012
  2. ^ A b c Adrian Gerald Foley, 8th Baron Foley of Kidderminster on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.
  3. ↑ In the obituary of the newspaper The Daily Telegraph it is stated differently that Foley made his inaugural address "at the age of 21 years", see Lord Foley
predecessor Office successor
Gerald Foley Baron Foley
1927-2012 		Thomas Foley
personal data
SURNAME Foley, Adrian, 8th Baron Foley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Foley, Adrian Gerald, 8th Baron Foley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer, film composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2012
Place of death Kidderminster , Worcestershire , England