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Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997), a member of the prominent Goldsmith family, was an Anglo-French billionaire financier, tycoon, 〔Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith by Ivan Fallon〕 and latterly a magazine publisher and politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived eurosceptic Referendum Party in the United Kingdom. He was known for his many romantic relationships and for the various children he fathered with his wives and many girlfriends. Goldsmith was the inspiration for the character of the corporate raider ''Sir Larry Wildman'' in Oliver Stone's ''Wall Street''. On his death, Tony Blair stated: "He was an extraordinary character and though I didn't always agree with his political views, obviously, he was an amazing and interesting, fascinating man;" while Margaret Thatcher had said: "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."〔(BBC Obituary )〕 ==Early life and family background== 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 Moulier,〔(www.moulier-vendat.notaires.fr )〕 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 values). 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."〔(The Telegraph )〕 Goldsmith was later commissioned in the British Army.〔(Obituary, National Review, 1 Oct 1997 )〕 His father Frank Goldsmith changed the family name from the German ''Goldschmidt'' to the English ''Goldsmith''. The Goldschmidts, neighbours and rivals to the Rothschild family, were a wealthy, Frankfurt-based, Jewish family, who had been influential figures in international merchant banking since the 16th century. James's great-grandfather was Benedict Hayum Salomon Goldschmidt, banker and consul to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. James's grandfather Adolphe Benedict Goldschmidt (1838–1918), a multi-millionaire, came to London in 1895.〔 His father had had to flee France with his family when the Nazis overran the country, and only just managed to escape on the last over-loaded ship to get away, leaving behind their hotels and much of their property. His father and grandfather had lived in great style, and there was little left of the family fortune by the time Goldsmith started out in business. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Goldsmith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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