Vidal Sassoon, the legendary anti-fascist, has died:
Born in Britain to Sephardi Jewish parents from Greece and Spain, his father abandoned the family when he was a young child and Mr Sassoon spent seven years living at the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Orphanage in Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale.
After starting as an apprentice hairdresser in London’s East End, he opened his first salon on Bond Street in 1954, expanding his business across the Atlantic and developing a successful line of hair products.
During the Second World War he joined the 43 Group, fighting fascists alongside former servicemen, and later served in the Palmach fighting for the fledgling Israeli state.
Also see Left Foot Forward:
As soon as I showed an interest I was assigned to a particular group, like everyone else. My guv’nor in the East End group was Jackie Myerovitch, and from him we would get a phone call to be in a certain place at certain time to disrupt a Mosley speech, or one of the pubs. There was even a plot to kidnap the quisling himself, strip him and dump him naked in Piccadilly Circus. Then these incidents, or actions, would begin. It was pretty terrifying. I remember Jackie being badly slashed, but there was no time to worry about such things.
… and this long piece from 2008 in the Daily Mail, a goodie in The JC, plus a shorter appreciation in Hope not Hate.