Adam Fergusson

Adam Dugdale Fergusson (born 10 July 1932) is a British journalist, author and Conservative Party politician who served one term in the European Parliament as an MEP. He has remained involved in the field of European Union affairs since, as a Special Adviser to Conservative governments and as a business consultant. Among other books, he wrote When Money Dies, a classic account of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.

Early career Fergusson is the second son of Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet of Kilkerran and the younger brother of Sir Charles Fergusson, the present 9th Baronet of Kilkerran. His sister, Alice, is married to Baron Renton of Mount Harry. He attended Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read History, graduating in 1955. He went into journalism on the Glasgow Herald, working as a Leader-writer in 1957–58 and as Diplomatic Correspondent from 1959 to 1961.

The Times Leaving the Herald, Fergusson moved to The Statist, a journal for economists and businessmen. He was Foreign Editor of the Statist from 1964 until it ceased publication in 1967, afterwards joining The Times as a feature-writer specialising on political, economic and environmental matters. He was at the Times for ten years, also using his time to write fiction, including Roman Go Home (1969) and The Lost Embassy (1972), as well as the non-fiction The Sack of Bath (1973).

Remaining fully committed to the European ideal, Fergusson derided the Conservative Party's approach to the 1999 European Parliament elections in a joint letter which wished for a manifesto "more like that of the Pro-Euro Conservative Party".

Literary career Fergusson's most notable book is When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany. It deals with not only the economic impacts that hyperinflation had upon society in the Weimar Republic, but also the way that society itself changed. Societal norms were broken down in the wake of hyperinflation, and Fergusson approaches this topic. First published by W. Kimber in 1975, When Money Dies was hailed as a cult classic during the 2008 financial crisis, with copies selling on eBay for up to $1,000. As a result, When Money Dies was republished in July 2010, becoming an internet sensation after allegedly being commended by financier Warren Buffett.

Other works Fergusson has published in his later years include a novel, Scone, a political satire on the effects of devolution in Scotland, which was published in 2005. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009.

Personal life He was married for 44 years to Penelope Hughes (d.2009), with whom he has four children, James, Petra, Lucy and Marcus, and thirteen grandchildren. He lives in London.