SEARCHLIGHT BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES
Staff, Assets, And Associates

The following are literally brief biographies. For more information about the individuals concerned, follow the links. Significant dates are not linked but references to them can be found in the relevant section of the Searchlight Critical Bibliography.

For example, Searchlight photographer Michael Cohen was convicted of attempted burglary in August 1966, so see under Searchlight Critical Bibliography 1962-74.

The Searchlight Association was formed in 1965; it published four issues of a broadsheet from Spring 1965 (issue 1). The last issue was 1967 (undated) but published May 1967. * There is no incontrovertible documentation in the public domain to show what if anything it did between May 1967 and October 1975, when it was dissolved by notice in the London Gazette. However, it is fairly certain that Searchlight or people associated with it published at least two pamphlets in that time: the anonymous THE MONDAY CLUB A danger to British Democracy (c1972), and the Guide To Extremism In Britain, (1973).

In 1974, Maurice Ludmer and Gerry Gable published a polemical pamphlet, A Well-Oiled Nazi Machine, and in February 1975 the first issue of the new Searchlight was published.

In March 1999, the hate-sheet expanded, and from January 2000 styled itself INTERNATIONAL Searchlight. The revamped publication included a wider number of named contributors, especially foreign correspondents.

This directory was first published in September 2002, and at the time of writing all the information therein is, to the best of my knowledge, accurate, although by no means comprehensive.

Alexander Baron,
Sydenham,
South London

September 7, 2002

* FASCISM IN BRITAIN An Annotated Bibliography, by Philip Rees, published by Harvester Press, Sussex, (1979), page 213.

Ardent, John:

An early contributor to the magazine, he may not have existed. Nothing further known.

Atkinson, Graeme

Long time European Editor of Searchlight, Graeme Atkinson is living proof that Jews do not have a monopoly of either nasties or Communist scumbags. In November 1975, Atkinson was the victim of a horrific attack when National Front supporters stormed a political meeting he was attending. This may have contributed to his political outlook, although he was an active leftist sometime before that.

Atkinson was employed by the Morning Star in the 1980s, and in September 1986 lost an unfair dismissal case against the paper.

A REVISIONIST HISTORY OF THE 1960s SYNAGOGUE ARSONS
GERRY GABLE LIES FOR HIS HERO

Searchlight photographer Michael Cohen was born July 24, 1935. Like Gable he was a former member of the 62 Group, In August 1966, he pleaded guilty to a politically motivated attempted burglary; his co-defendant was Manny Carpel. Although he obviously had an ideological commitment to Searchlight's poison and even held the position of Company Secretary, he is not considered an important player.

Cohen died of pneumonia on October 2, 2002. An obituary - written by Gable - appeared in the Jewish Chronicle, October 25; a photographic obituary based on this piece was published in the December 2002 issueof Searchlight.

Cohen's photographic work - not all of it without merit - has appeared in many publications besides Searchlight, in particular the Morning Star and the New Worker.

Collins, Matthew

Yet another Searchlight "mole", the fantasist Collins was given prominent coverage in the media when he "came out". He is alleged to have worked for Searchlight between 1989 and 1993, although we only have his word for it. And Gable's, of course! Matthew's main claim to fame is that he was never a member of the BNP! He has since relocated to Australia, having fled Britain in fear of his life. Yeah, sure. He contributes to the magazine from there.

In 1998, it was announced with great fanfare that he would be publishing a book about his heroic exploits. In view of his successful libel actions against Gerry Gable, the current writer was contacted by a leading member of the BNP; subsequently a strongly worded pre-emptive letter was mailed to bookshops and distributors across the country, and the book failed to materialise.

Edgar, David

Edgar is, or has been, a Searchlight shareholder. Born in 1948, he had written at least 40 plays by 1983; upper class communist Edgar has contributed to or appeared in the Stage, presumably many times, written for the Listener and appeared on radio.

It would be tiresome to list every recorded review of David Edgar's plays. There are many listings for Nicholas Nickleby in the READERS' GUIDE to periodical literature (UNABRIDGED), March 1981-February 1982, page 534, published by H.W. Wilson, New York, (1982). A number of his plays are also listed in the Play Index 1973-1987, published by H.W. Wilson, New York, (1988).

A biography of Edgar (by Elizabeth Swain) was published in 1986. He is an even more prolific journalist.

Ford, James Glyn

According to his entry in WHO'S WHO 1997, former Searchlight columnist Glyn Ford was born January 1950; he is a graduate of Reading University and became a Member of the European Parliament in 1984. Among other things he sat on the Committee of Inquiry into Growth of Racism and Fascism in Europe, 1984-86. Although most definitely a fellow traveller, Ford is one of the very few people associated with Searchlight who has ever done anything useful, including some sterling work on exposing state surveillance.

Freeson, Reginald

Reginal Freeson MP edited the first three issues of the original Searchlight. A Zionist Jew, he stepped down on receiving a government appointment and was replaced by the Gentile MP Joan Lestor.

According to his entry in Who's Who (1994 for example), Freeson was born in 1926 and was "Editor: Searchlight, against fascism and racialism, 1964-67". He was also a member of Poale Zion (ie Labour Zionists). Exactly how he (or anyone else for that matter) can reconcile Zionism with opposition to "fascism and racialism" has never been made clear.

Gable, Gerry

Gerald Clark Gable was born January 27, 1937. According to the man himself, his father was of Dublin Protestant stock; his mother a Jewess. Gable has been married four times, apparently every time to Jewish women (or women of Jewish origin). He is one of the founders of Searchlight magazine and since the death of Maurice Ludmer in 1981 he has been the driving force behind it.

More detailed information about Gable - his personal life, his methodology and his fellow travellers - can be found in various articles on this site and throughout the bibliography.

Sonia Kathleen Emma Gable (nee Hochfelder) was born November 19, 1952. Sweet Sonia is by far the most eclectic member of the Searchlight team. During her youth she was attracted to the far right, in spite of her Jewish origins, although she was also both a Conservative and a Maoist! The subsequent claim that she was some sort of Kosher Mata Hari (following the current writer's (exposés ) do not hold water any more than the ludicrous (and defamatory!) claims by Larry O'Hara that while at university she set up Republican students for assassination by Loyalist Death Squads.

According to Sam Swerling, * Sonia Hochfelder attended a lot of meetings of the Young Conservatives in 1974-5, including the 1974 Brighton Conservative Conference.

Her career with Searchlight has seen her as sub-editor and company secretary. She is or has also been responsible for the company's accounts. On occasion she has had letters published in the Times, most notable in May 1991 concerning manipulative moggies!

* Telephone conversation January 24, 1995.

Gladstone Smith, Peter

Peter Gladstone Smith was a Telegraph journalist, a Quaker, a liberal, and as gullible as they come. He was fed stories about Column 88 by Maurice Ludmer, and it was his uncritical coverage which led to the legend of the Nazi Underground as much as the sensational nonsense that was published in Searchlight.

Graves, Ken

Said in the April 1976 issue to be their man in the Midlands. It may be that he did not exist.

Click here for a scan of the Target article.

Hepple, Tim

After Ray Hill (see below) Tim Hepple was Searchlight's next mole to surface from the far right, although in comparison with Hill, his revelations were extremely tame.

Hepple's meanderings through almost the entire political spectrum have been documented by Larry O'Hara and his team. Although O'Hara is seldom to be trusted on interpretation, * the facts he has unearthed about Hepple (and others) are generally reliable.

After his jaunts in the extreme right and becoming an "anti-fascist", Hepple took to ufology. He claims to have turned over a new leaf, and may well be sincere. At the time of writing (September 2002) he has used the name Tim Matthews for some time.

* O'Hara accuses all and sundry of working for the ubiquitous "Secret State", including, I am reliably informed, the current writer!

Most definitely a Gentile, Ray Hill is perhaps the most worthless member of the Searchlight team. The current writer's 1994 biography of Hill, Liars Ought To Have Good Memories, is a damning critique, thoroughly documented mostly from the public domain, and totally irrefutable.

After coming out as a "mole", reformed "Nazi" Hill put his name to a regular slot in Searchlight (and was undoubtedly paid for the privilege). He cried off though when along with his puppetmaster Gerry Gable he was sued for libel by Morris Riley. In February 2000 however he was held jointly responsible for a defamatory article in the magazine's Hill Street News column, an article which ironically he almost certainly never wrote.

During the 1980s, Hill was Searchlight's star catch, although the evidence indicates that he had already sold out to Organised Jewry in South Africa. Hill is a member of a very select club, perhaps the only man in history to have fled two continents while on bail for different offences.

Hochfelder, Sonia

The maiden name of Mrs Sonia Gable.

Hoffman, David

David Hoffman is a freelance photographer whose snaps have appeared in many left wing publications, the March 1996 edition of Peace News for example. He has on occasion supplied prints for Searchlight, but although he is Jewish he is not part of the cabal. A self-styled "litigious bastard" he has taken on the Metropolitan Police on more than one occasion, and has left them with egg on their faces. In the early 1990s, he was sometimes mistaken for the somewhat older Michael Cohen.

Ludmer was as much as Roberts the instigator of the Column 88 "Nazi Underground" hoax.

Luft, Mike

Yet another racial Jew, Michael Avril Luft has been around Searchlight since the 1970s. Nothing much is known about him.

Matthews, Tim

See under Hepple

Moss, Baron (1923-98)

Baron Moss was an East End Jew, like Gerry Gable. His obituary (unsigned but written by Gable) appeared in the November 1998 issue of Searchlight. According to this, he was the Chairman of the 62 Group.

He appears to be the only person connected directly (by a paper trail) with both the original Searchlight Association and the new Searchlight; he was a director of both the Searchlight Association Limited and the Searchlight Educational Trust. He died February 6, 1998 so his obituary was somewhat belated.

Purkiss, Robert

Purkiss is the Searchlight Organisation's token black, he is or has been a Commissioner for the misnamed Commission for Racial Equality.

He is an active trade unionist and is or was a director of both Ocean Sound Radio and the Searchlight Educational Trust.

Riley, Morris (1945-2001)

Morris Riley was recruited by Gerry Gable in the 1980s to spy on the far right. One of the good guys; click on one of the links below for more information about him.

Morris Riley note
Morris Riley obituary
Photograph of Morris Riley

Richard David Roberts was Searchlight magazine's first "mole". A dedicated Communist, Roberts joined the National Front in the Midlands under the pseudonym Ralph Marshall. In March 1976, he was convicted of conspiracy to assault the staff of an Indian restaurant. His co-defendants were two members of the West Midlands lunatic fringe. Together with Maurice Ludmer he was the author of the Column 88 "Nazi Underground" hoax. After Ludmer's death in April 1981, the magazine disowned him, and his own premature death went unreported by the left wing and "anti-racist" press.

Sometime in the early nineties, the current writer was informed by Steven Brady that Roberts actually edited two issues of Searchlight; whether or not that was the case, he was certainly employed by the magazine, contrary to Gable's later assertions.

Robson, Tony

One of the backroom boys, nothing much is known about this character, apparently a Gentile, he has been quoted occasionally in the press.

According to Searchlight, Vaughan was the kingpin of Column 88, the "Nazi Underground". He received prominent coverage in the magazine for many years and was literally demonised by Gable and his gang. Later, Column 88 was said to have been a state "honey-trap" and is now as good as forgotten. In 1994, the current writer was given Vaughan's address by a far right contact. After I wrote to him I heard nothing, but sometime later, to my total surprise, my letter found its way into the documents Gable served on me in his defence of my ultimately successful libel action. Vaughan had clearly passed it on to Gable, and he had probably stupidly passed it on to his lawyers along with much other (and for the most part innocuous) correspondence. Vaughan's actions beg an enormous question about the entire "Nazi Underground" scam.

Ware, Veronica

Also known as Vron Ware, she is apparently a Gentile. Ware took over the editorship of Searchlight on the death of Maurice Ludmer in 1981. Later she emigrated to the United States and in 1992 published a book about white women and racism which is obviously the product of a sick mind. In 1979, she published - or her name was put to - a pamphlet called Women And The National Front. From its style this pamphlet was almost certainly written by - or at least heavily influenced by - Maurice Ludmer.

Most tellingly, in 1990 she published a book (co-authored with Sue Cavanagh) about women's public toilets.

Wells, Darren

Darren Wells was active in the far right for many years. In the December 2001 issue of Searchlight he "came out" as another Searchlight "mole". The story was front page news, but on pages 4-6 his interview with Nick Lowles was remarkably tame. Apart from the claim that he stopped a riot in June 2001, it is not only believable but Wells comes across as a decent human being who has made and faced up to a mistake. One can hardly have imagined Gable writing a piece like this ten or fifteen years ago, or indeed then.

Wooler, Leslie

He appears to have worked for Searchlight prior to the founding of the magazine. He is the co-author of the Guide to Extremism in Britain, a short pamphlet published by the (non-existent) Circle for Democratic Studies in 1973.

Zeskind, Lenny

Leonard Zeskind is to the United States what Gable is to Britain. A long time US correspondent for Searchlight, he runs his own "anti-racist" organisation. He was at the House of Commons in December 1993 when three men said to be from the Searchlight Organisation (Gable, Silver and himself) were set to give evidence to a House Committee. The current writer was ejected at this point because as Gable stood up I hit him with a libel writ!

Zeskind is nowhere near as odious as Gable, but that is hardly a compliment. He is a former organiser for the Marxist-Leninist Sojourner Truth Organization. His Center for Democratic Renewal was known as the National Anti-Klan Network until 1986. * As might be expected from his name, he is yet another racial Jew.

* Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: POLITICAL EXTREMISM IN AMERICA, by John George and Laird Wilcox, published by Prometheus, Buffalo, New York, (1992), pages 407-8.

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