Attallah was born in Haifa, in the
British Mandate of Palestine in 1931 to a Catholic family. At the age of 18 (n 1949) he was sent to the UK to complete an engineering degree at
Battersea Polytechnic, London.This was cut short in 1951 when the Israeli government imposed financial restriction. Leaving university with no means of support he worked a range of jobs, some--steeplejack, bouncer, factory worker--low waged, but eventually moving for a short period into banking. He began working as a foreign exchange dealer in 1957, and a financial consultant in 1969. In 1967 Atallah incorporated Namarah, an umbrella firm that he would use for his later acquisitions. Attallah joined Asprey in the 1970s. In 1992, he became joint managing director of jewellers,
Asprey. He became Chief Executive in 1992. Attallah left Asprey in 1995.
The Standard reporter, Penny Perrick wrote, "In his native Palestine Naim Attallah was an only son, sharing a house with his mother, three sisters, his grandmother and aunt, 'Which is perhaps why I feel so at home with them in my working life.' From 1976 Naim Attallah was the publisher of Quartet Books (David Elliot was the editorial director) and from 1977 the joint owner of
The Women's Press with
Stephanie Dowrick. Attallah also became a film producer, known for
The Slipper and the Rose (1976),
Brimstone and Treacle (1982), and
Hier is... Adriaan van Dis (1983). Atallah, through his company Namara, also financed the stage adaptation of J. P. Donleavy's,
The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1981). In 1991 he acquired the Theatre PR company, Theo Cowan Ltd. The
Palestinian-born entrepreneur was described by
The Guardian in 2000 as a "legendary adorer of beautiful women" This 'adoration' led to his appointment of many women to important roles. Attallah appointed a young
Sabrina Guinness to run a new book club,
Anna Pasternak to a role at Quartet Books, and broadcaster and columnist
Emma Soames, as editor of the
Literary Review (followed later by
Auberon Waugh. Other mentees included journalist and novelist Candida Crewe, writer and broadcaster
Rebecca Fraser, food writer
Nigella Lawson, columnist
Sophia Sackville-West, and journalist and novelist
Daisy Waugh. Attallah was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the
2017 New Year Honours for services to literature and the arts. According to
Jennie Erdal's 2005 memoir
Ghosting, she was the ghostwriter of “speeches, newspaper articles, a dozen works of nonfiction and two novels” in addition to “hundreds of letters” The last part of her book’s dedication states that he “inspired this story and allowed it to be told.” Attallah died in his sleep on 2 February 2021, after contracting
COVID-19. == Publishing ==