HE'S Anglo French or perhaps Franco Anglais. He is a billionaire businessman who believes today's business ethic is bad for society. He says he's pro European, but his latest political moves could scupper not only the single currency, but either John Major or Kenneth Clarke, or both. He is also Imran Khan's father in law.
Sir James Goldsmith's life has been colourful to say the least. He has been a trapper in Canada, a very serious gambler and the owner of a business which sold a cure for rheumatism.
He retired to a luxurious estate on Mexico's Pacific coast until he turned politician, was elected in France to the European Parliament in 1994, founded the Europe des Nations group in Strasbourg, took a distinct dislike to the Eurocrats and became determined to scupper what he saw as their plans to launch a European super state.
The Europe des Nations group may not be a major force in Strasbourg, but Goldsmith has learned over the years to use every ounce of leverage he can muster. His formation of "The Referendum Party" with its threat to contest 25 Tory marginal seats in the next British general election has made the Westminster government sit up and take notice.
Mr John Major's double edged statement that he might hold a referendum on the single currency, but then again he might not, may not have been a great victory for Sir James, but it certainly did indicate that the Conservative Party's leadership, already looking over its shoulder at its own Eurosceptics, was beginning to wobble.
If the Prime Minister goes for a referendum he could lose his Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke; if he doesn't he could lose the general election.
Born in Paris in 1933, Goldsmith escaped with his family to England when France fell to the Nazis in 1940. After that it was on to the Bahamas where young James was a "could do better" at school. At seven he was a slow reader, but in his own mind had sorted out the way to solve that little problem. "When I grow up I'm going to be a millionaire and hire someone to read for me," he is reported to have said.
Sent to school in Canada when he was nine, he set up in business trapping small furry animals such as rabbits, skunk and mink. He left school at 17 and took over a business in Paris from his brother Teddy, which sold a cure for rheumatism and electrical plugs and sockets.
His first marriage took place in dramatic circumstances which were to turn tragic when he was just 20. He became hopelessly infatuated with Isabel Patino, whose father happened to be a Bolivian tin magnate. Senor Patino was opposed to the match. A great chase began. Goldsmith followed Isabel to Casablanca in a hired plane. Isabel, not knowing her prince was in hot pursuit, was whisked away to Paris by her father, the Tin Man.
Jimmy finally made contact with Isabel and the couple headed for Scotland where, following attempts in the courts by Senor Patino to have the marriage stopped, they finally wed. Some months later Isabel, who was pregnant, suffered a brain haemorrhage. Their child was delivered by Caesarean before Isabel's life support machine was turned off.
The tragedy concentrated Goldsmith's mind on business. He got involved in pharmaceuticals; after that it was mother and baby care products; then the slimming business in France. Now quite wealthy, he finally had found the launching pad to make himself a billionaire. He went into takeovers at a time when stock market regulations were not the constraining factor they are today.
The money came rolling in, but Goldsmith's lifestyle was far from the reclusive one led by so many of those in his earnings bracket. He married Ginette Lery in France, while in his English incarnation he fell for Lady Annabel Birley.
For some time he commuted between his French wife and English mistress. Then he divorced Ginette to marry Lady Annabel, but by that time Laure Boulay de la Meurthe had arrived on the scene.
Goldsmith set up his 18,600 acre Rancho Grande in Mexico with Laure at his side. But money isn't everything and Goldsmith's plans to set up houses on the estate for Ginette and Annabel, while he and Laure shared the master bedroom, didn't quite go down a treat with the other two ladies.
He had been less than successful in other ventures, too. Having won libel actions against Private Eye, which had dubbed him "Goldenballs", he set up his own British news magazine Now which quickly bit the dust.
In 1990 he came out of retirement and into politics as an ally of the extreme right wing French aristocrat, Philippe de Villiers, and was elected to Strasbourg. His energies are now devoted to squashing the Brussels bureaucracy and telling the world that the new style of business ethics is bad, bad, bad.
On a visit to Dublin last year he put it this way: "In modern business, what is good for a company is almost by definition bad for the company's country of origin.
