Darius Guppy

Darius Guppy was born June 1964 in London to the English writer Nicholas Guppy (1925-2012) and Iranian author and singer Shusha, née Assār (1935-2008), daughter of the philosopher and theologian Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammed Kazem Assar, who held the chair of philosophy at Tehran University. Thomas Guppy, the engineer and business partner of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the explorer Amelia Guppy, Sir Francis Dashwood and the Plantagenet family. Guppy was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In his second year, he became a member of the Piers Gaveston Society, as well as the Bullingdon Club. He was the best man at Earl Spencer's wedding to model Victoria Lockwood, his first wife; He was a close friend of Boris Johnson, who later became the mayor of London and British prime minister, as well as of Count Gottfried von Bismarck. ==Personal life==

He married Patricia Holder in 1991. ==Boris Johnson and journalist from News of the World==

During a telephone call in 1990, Guppy asked Boris Johnson (then a journalist at The Telegraph) to provide the home address of News of the World journalist Stuart Collier. Collier had been making enquiries into Guppy's background, and in response, Guppy wanted to send someone to physically assault Collier. A tape of the conversation was leaked to the press in June 1995. ==Insurance and VAT fraud==

In February 1993, Guppy was jailed for staging a faked jewel robbery and claiming £1.8 million from the insurers. Guppy claimed this was intended as retribution against Lloyd's of London, since his father had lost money in Lloyd's financial crisis of the 1990s. Guppy also pleaded guilty in March 1993 to three separate charges, relating to illegal VAT claims on gold bullion later smuggled into India between October 1989 and July 1990. ==Writing==

Guppy has written for The Spectator, the Asia Times, the Independent on Sunday and The Independent, The Sunday Telegraph, and the New Statesman. Guppy has also published poetry. His autobiography, Roll the Dice, was issued by Blake Publishing in 1996. ==Bibliography==