John Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim

Who is John Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim?

Colonel John Douglas Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim OBE, DL, FRGS is a British peer and soldier. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords, elected to remain after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. In 1970, he succeeded to his father's title. He sits as a crossbencher.

The son of the 1st Viscount Slim, he was educated at Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College in Dehra Dun in India. In 1944, Slim joined the British Indian Army 6th Gurkha Rifles and was transferred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1948. He entered the Special Air Service in 1952. From 1961, he was instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, and from 1964 at the Joint Services Staff College. In 1972, he retired from the armed forces at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel with a later honorary promotion to Colonel. He was appointed OBE the following year.

Slim was chairman of Peek plc from 1976 to 1991, deputy chairman from 1991 to 1996, and eventually consultant from 1996 to 2003. He was further director of Trailfinders travel company and Trustee of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. Since 1971, he is president of Burma Star Association and since 2000 president of SAS Association. He is also Patron of Prospect Burma, a London based charity that offers higher education scholarships to Burmese students as well as the Graham Layton Trust, a British charity which helps to raise money for eyecare in Pakistan. Having been chairman in the past, he is now vice-president of the Britain–Australia Society. From 1977 to 1996, he was vice-chairman of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. In 1983, Slim was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Between 1995 and 1996, he was also Master of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers. He serves as an honorary chairman of The OSS Society.