Anthony Parsons

Sir Anthony Derrick Parsons ( * September 9, 1922, † August 12 1996 in Ashburton, Devon ) was a British diplomat, lecturer and author.

Life

Parsons attended the King's School in Canterbury and Balliol College, Oxford University, where he earned a degree in Arabic and Turkish. He joined the Royal Army, which he left after 14 years as a military attaché to enter the diplomatic service.

His diplomatic career began in 1955 to 1959 in Ankar. From 1959 to 1960 worked in Amman, employed until 1965 in Khartoum from 1960 to 1961 and in Cairo in 1964. He was from 1965 to 1969 in Bahrain Political Agent.

From 1969 to 1971 he was Counsellor at the United Nations Building, 1971-1974 Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom. From 1974 to 1979 he was ambassador in Tehran, 1979-1982 British Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the 1982/83 Special Adviser to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs. From 1984 to 1987 he was a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

He married 1948 Sheila Baird and had with her two daughters and two sons.

Publications

• They Say the Lion. In 1986.
• From Cold War to Hot Peace: U.N. Interventions 1947-1994.

Awards

• Order of St Michael and St George
• Royal Victorian Order