John Charles Griffiths is a former British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, author and media entrepreneur.

Griffiths worked for Thomson Newspapers and the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 while becoming active in the Liberal Party. Chairman of the National League of Young Liberals. He stood unsuccessfully in Ludlow

Ludlow (UK Parliament constituency)

Ludlow is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 at the 1964 UK general election, then in Wanstead and Woodford

Wanstead and Woodford (UK Parliament constituency)

Wanstead and Woodford was a constituency in north-east London, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 in 1966, and Bedford

Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)

Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...

 at the February and October 1974 UK general elections. A post at the Press Association

Press Association

The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...

 in the late 1960s led him to a career in public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

, while he also wrote the first of a large number of books, The Survivors, Afghanistan and Modern Iceland.

In 1982–1983, Griffiths served as President of the Liberal Party

President of the Liberal Party (UK)

This is a list of people who served as President of the British Liberal Party. The Liberal Party merged into the Liberal Democrats in 1988.The post was established in 1877 as President of the National Liberal Federation...

, where he launched a full review of all the party's structures. He continued to write books, including The Science of Winning Squash and further work on Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. In 1986, he founded the Arts Channel and ran the Minerva Vision production company. Griffiths continues to write, and is also a Trustee of Asthma UK.