Robert Vansittart

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Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart GCB GCMG MVO PC (25 June 1881 – 14 February 1957), known as Sir Robert Vansittart between 1929 and 1941, was a senior British diplomat in the period before and during the Second World War. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1928 to 1930 and Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1930 to 1938 and later served as Chief Diplomatic Adviser to the British Government. He is best remembered for his opposition to appeasement and his strong stance against Germany during and after the Second World War. Vansittart was also a published poet, novelist and playwright.

Vansittart was a close friend of producer Alexander Korda. He helped Korda with the financing of London Films. His full title, awarded to him after World War II, was Baron Vansittart of Denham, after the town where London Films had its studio. Vansittart contributed to four motion pictures.

He wrote the screenplay for Wedding Rehearsal (1933), contributed dialogue to Sixty Glorious Years (1938) and, under the pseudonym "Robert Denham," provided song lyrics for Korda's The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and "The Jungle Book" (1942), in collaboration with the noted Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa with whom he also wrote the concert musical work for voices, "Beast of Burden" (1940).