Louis Heren

Louis Philip Heren (6 February 1919 – 26 January 1995) was a foreign correspondent. He spent his entire career on The Times and was an author of political theory, memoirs and autobiography.

Early life Heren was born in the East End of London. His father, a printer on The Times, died when Heren was four years old. As it was a paternalistic company in those days, Heren was able to leave school at 14 to begin work as a messenger on the newspaper. He moved up to work in various departments before the onset of the Second World War. He joined the British Army as a private soldier in 1939. After being commissioned, he served in France, the Western Desert, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) raising to the rank of major. According to his son, Patrick, he served as an agent of Force 136 during the Battle of Surabaya. He initially believed that he and other British troops had arrived in Surabaya to restore order and return the city to normalcry, but after learning that Brigadier AWS Mallaby had been murdered by Indonesian militants, he "took no chances."

Career Foreign correspondent In 1946 Heren returned to The Times and was made a foreign correspondent. He made his mark covering Indian independence in 1947, creating a furore in Britain and India with graphic eyewitness accounts of communal massacres in the Punjab.

Death Heren died in London on 26 January 1995.

Legacy Heren was one of a dwindling number of true foreign correspondents, able to spend years at their posts, embedded in the local cultures, and rarely able to return 'home'. His career mirrored the changing nature of The Times, from the years of Lord Astor's ownership, when stories were filed 'from our own correspondent' through to the years under Lord Thompson, and finally to the takeover by Rupert Murdoch when much to his dismay, society gossip was allowed into its pages and so beginning the end of its reputation as 'The Thunderer'.

Heren was a fierce defender of the independence of the press, and was unafraid of authority. He objected to being called a journalist, preferring to be described as a reporter. He said it was crucial to go out to where the story was and to speak directly to those involved. He is remembered by journalists for many stories and sayings, but the one that is still quoted today is: "When a politician tells you something in confidence, always ask yourself 'Why is this lying bastard lying to me?'" Although, as the man from The Times, he was able to relay the ideas and actions of the powerful to the world, his heart was really in reporting how the news affected ordinary people. He gave himself one last assignment in 1981 when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was threatening the British coal industry with closure. He travelled to Yorkshire and went underground with a shift of pit miners.