James Goldsmith
| Sir James Goldsmith | |
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Photo of Sir James Goldsmith
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| Member of the European Parliament for France | |
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In office 1994–1997 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
James Michael Goldsmith 26 February 1933 Paris, France |
| Died | 18 July 1997 (aged 64) Benahavís, Spain |
| Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
| Nationality | French and British |
| Spouse(s) |
Doña María Isabel Patiño y Borbón (m. 1954; her death 1954) Ginette Christiane Léry (m. 1956; div. 1978) Lady Annabel Goldsmith (m. 1978; his death 1997) |
| Domestic partner | Laure Boulay de La Meurthe |
| Children | 8, including Jemima Goldsmith, Zac Goldsmith, and Ben Goldsmith |
| Relatives | See Goldsmith family |
| Alma mater | Millfield, Eton College |
| Occupation | Financier and politician |
| Known for | Finance, Eurosceptic politician |
| Website | sirjamesgoldsmith |
Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997), a member of the prominent Goldsmith family, was a British financier, tycoon and politician.
In 1994 he was elected to represent a French constituency as a Member of the European Parliament. He founded the short-lived Eurosceptic Referendum Party in the United Kingdom, and was one of the key power-brokers in British political circles that initiated party political opposition in that nation to its membership of the European Union.
Goldsmith was allegedly the inspiration for the fictional character of the corporate raider Sir Larry Wildman in the American cinema film Wall Street.
Margaret Thatcher said of him: "Jimmy Goldsmith was one of the most powerful and dynamic personalities that this generation has seen. He was enormously generous, and fiercely loyal to the causes he espoused".
Born in Paris, Goldsmith was the son of luxury hotel tycoon and former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Major Frank Goldsmith and his French wife Marcelle Mouiller, and younger brother of environmental campaigner Edward Goldsmith.
Goldsmith first attended Millfield and then later Eton College, but dropped out in 1949 aged 16, after he had bet £10 on a three-horse accumulator at Lewes, winning £8,000 (equivalent to about £257,000 in 2015). With his winnings he decided that he should leave Eton immediately; in a speech at his boarding house he declared that, "a man of my means should not remain a schoolboy." Goldsmith served in British Army's Royal Artillery under the National Service requirements, during which time he received a commission as an officer.
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