Ian Sayer

Ian K. T. Sayer (born 30 October 1945) is an entrepreneur, World War II historian, author and investigative journalist. His Sayer Transport Group (established in 1967 and sold in 1979) became part of the British and European overnight door to door express parcels delivery industry.

He is a World War II historian and studies Third Reich documentation. He is co-author of Nazi Gold, The Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery and claims to remain the only private individual to have been responsible for the location and restitution of looted Nazi gold. That claim remains unchallenged. As a Nazi hunter, he has also tracked down a number of Nazi war criminals including SS General Wilhelm Mohnke whose wartime activities were subsequently investigated by the British, Canadian, American and German governments.

He currently acts as curator to the ‘Ian Sayer Archive’, a collection of contemporary World War II documentation which assists in providing new information to institutions, other historians, authors and researchers of the period.

Ian Sayer was born in Norwich, Norfolk two months after the end of World War II. His father, Leslie, had found it difficult to find work (as a commercial artist) in the 1930s and moved to West London to secure employment shortly before the war. Ian and his two older brothers were brought up in Feltham, Middlesex. He was educated at Sunbury Grammar School where he obtained General Certificates of Education in English Economic History and English.

During the 1950s he became an avid ‘spotter’ recording the registration marks of everything from steam locomotives, warships, buses and finally aeroplanes. It was this last interest which led to the 15-year-old Sayer’s first commercial venture – the purchase and sale of old aircraft magazines and books.

...
Wikipedia