Gareth Jones was a remarkable man by anyone’s standards, highly talented, fearless and determined to uncover the truth whatever the risks. He was a campaigning journalist, one-time advisor to Lloyd George, an expert linguist, and travelled widely. He was a prolific, and much in demand writer, and knew many of the movers and shakers of his time. In particular he is remembered for his exposé of the Holodomor in Ukraine, an exposé that might have contributed to his murder, as not surprisingly it gained him many enemies in the Soviet Union. His untimely end came on the eve of his 30th birthday when he was captured and held to ransom by bandits in Inner Mongolia. His murder is still shrouded in mystery. Yet in spite of his many achievements he faded from public view. His niece Margaret Siriol Colley was determined to right this wrong and after her retirement compiled this compelling biography, based on letters, diaries and articles by Jones himself and those he met. This is a new and revised edition and makes for some absorbing reading. Not only is it a thorough and comprehensive biography, but also gives a fascinating insight into the world of international relations and the journalism of the era. Now rescued from obscurity, not least by the issue of the recent film Mr Jones, Gareth Jones lives again as he so much deserves to. Highly recommended.

More Than a Grain of Truth
The official true story behind the film 'Mr. Jones'
by Dr. Margaret Siriol Colley

Endeavour Media


Biographies & Memoirs , History

Pub Date 07 Feb 2020


I am reviewing a copy of More Than a Grain of Truth through Endeavour Media and Netgalley:


Garreth Jones was a young Welsh Journalist who was born in 1905 and died under mysterious circumstances on the eve of his thirtieth birthday in 1935. He had also been the foreign affairs to Lloyd Jones. He had been captured by bandits in Mongolia and held for ransom, but it is uncertain who murdered him.



In February of 1933 he flew Hitler in February of 1933 and a month later he became the first journalist to expose the famine that had been raging throughout the Soviet Union. Telling the truth at the time meant that instead of being feted by other Moscow Correspondents he was denigrated by Moscow Correspondence blackballed by the British Establishment and blackballed by the Soviet Secret Police.



Using her uncles, letters, diaries and articles, Margaret Siriol Colley creates a picture of a man who was not afraid to tell the truth, even at the cost of his own life.



I found More Than A Grain of Truth, five out of five stars.



Happy Reading!

Sometimes important and influential figures from the past may for whatever reason become somewhat forgotten and overlooked. Until comparatively recently this was perhaps the case with the Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who was the first person to unequivocally publish and make known in his own name the existence of the catastrophic Soviet famine of 1932-33 which included the Holodomor, a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians and has had a lasting effect still felt today in Ukraine - Russian relations.

The recent interest in Gareth Jones which has included a recently released film is in no small measure due to this stunning biography, the product of 20 years work by his then retired doctor niece Margaret Siriol Colley and later added to by her late son. Through letters, diary entries and newspaper articles written by Jones we get a picture of a man determined to tell the truth at a time when there were many who sought to deny it and denigrate him for this.

A brilliant student who not only mastered Russian among several languages, he also had an appreciation of its history, culture and politics. Although he died on the eve of his 30th birthday he saw at first hand many of the momentous happenings of the early 1930's. He met with such figures as Goebbels (even travelling on a plane with Hilter), Litvinov, de Valera and Randolph Hearst.

This new and revised edition of More Than a Grain of Truth gives the reader a wonderful insight into the complexities and often murky world of international relations at this time. His untimely death in Inner Mongolia having been captured and held for ransom by bandits is itself shrouded in mystery and speculation persists that either the Soviets or the Japanese authorities or indeed a combination of both were behind it.

Its sometimes wrong to extrapolate the past into the present but one cannot but think how we could do with such a liberal minded internationalist who believed in the League of Nations and warned of such things as the dangers of tariffs and war reparations in today's world. Strongly recommended.

Sometimes true stories read better than fiction and this is one of those times. The author brilliantly lays out the facts of the time period and the sacrifices her uncle made by telling the truth about what was going on in the Soviet Union after flying with Hitler. He was the first journalist to expose the truth about what was going on and he suffered for it and thanks to him the world was able to see the horrors that were occurring. This was an incredible man that literally gave his life to ensure that the truth got out to save those that had no way to save themselves.