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Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) was a British journalist, author, satirist, media personality, soldier-spy and writer. Initially attracted by Communism, Muggeridge and his wife travelled to Moscow in 1932, where he was to be a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. Having come into conflict with the paper's editorial policy, Muggeridge turned to novel-writing, describing conditions in the 'socialist utopia' and satirizing Western journalists uncritical view of the Stalin regime in Winter In Moscow (1934). During World War II he was part of the British Secret Intelligence Service operation in Brussels. After the war, Muggeridge worked on various papers, including the Calcutta Statesman, Evening Standard, and Daily Telegraph. He was editor of Punch magazine from 1953 to 1957. By the 1960s, his spiritual beliefs began to become more significant in his professional career. He became a figure of some ridicule and satire as he took to frequently denouncing the new sexual lassitude of the swinging sixties on radio and television. He particularly railed against "Pills and Pot" - birth control pills and cannabis. He was contemptuous of fellow countrymen the Beatles. In a 1968 article in Esquire magazine, he called them "four vacant youths... dummy figures with tousled heads (and) no talent."

The following article on Brautigan also appeared in Esquire:

Muggeridge, Malcolm. "Review of A Confederate General From Big Sur." Esquire April 1965: 58-60.