Former British prime minister Harold Wilson spoke in a parliamentary debate in the 1970s about the need to protect UK shipping from the “mysterious Signor Vlasov, a White Russian recluse, now an Italian citizen, living in Monte Carlo”. But Crawford’s memories of Boris Vlasov are warmer and more vivid.
The Shipping Industrial Holdings takeover battle of which Wilson was speaking was Crawford’s introduction to Vlasov as a lawyer turned businessman.
