Early life and education Eddy Shah was born in
Cambridge. His mother was English and his father was Iranian. Shah was educated at
Karachi Grammar School, the Scottish co-educational independent boarding school of
Gordonstoun, and at both
Haywards Heath Grammar School and Haywards Heath Secondary Modern School, at
Haywards Heath in Sussex. He then attended a Brighton
cram school, where he obtained seven
GCE 'O' Levels. Shah held various jobs, amongst which was
floor manager for
Granada's television studio. One show he worked on was
Coronation Street.
Publisher After he was fired from the
Manchester Evening News in 1976, he decided to launch into newspaper publishing on his own and started with the proceeds of
£14,000 from the sale of his first home, in
Sale, which he had bought for £4,000. As the owner of six local newspapers, Shah employed anti-trade union laws introduced by the
Margaret Thatcher governments to defeat the print unions after national strikes that went on for seven months, despite receiving death threats. The
Wapping dispute followed three years later. Shah first confronted the trade unions in July 1983 at his
Warrington print works and the Manchester news offices as the owner of the
Warrington Messenger, he sacked six workers when they went on strike. They had been ordered to strike by the NGA in protest against the employment of non-union members, Shah believed this to be an illegitimate reason after recent laws passed by the Thatcher government. In response, the
National Graphical Association (NGA) began
mass picketing of the
Messenger's offices. On 29 November the courts sequestered the NGAs bank accounts to force payment, and kept them frozen as long as the NGA continued illegal action. When other newspapers reported on picketers charged with violence, the NGA shut down those newspapers too. In November, 1983, over four thousand trade unionists attended a mass picket. The police brought in riot-trained
Police Support Units from five surrounding areas and the confrontation became physical. Baton charges were used to clear the road and allow newspaper deliveries to leave. Bottles and bricks were thrown at police, 23 police and 13 picketers were injured, 86 picketers were arrested, one of whom had a replica pistol. In January 1985 the NGA agreed to abide by the court orders, and removed support for the picket. The strike ended entirely in May. In 1986 he launched
Today, selling it in 1987 to
Tiny Rowland's conglomerate
Lonrho. He then launched
The Post, which ran five weeks before shutting down. Shah sold his newspapers in 1988 and set up an independent TV company. == Personal life and death ==