Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (19 May 1879 - 30 September 1952) was a British politician and newspaper proprietor.A member of the prominent Astor family, Waldorf was born in New York City. He was the son of William Waldorf Astor and Mary Dahlgren Paul (1858 - 1894); his brother was John Jacob Astor, later the first Baron Astor of Hever. He spent much of his life traveling and living in Europe before his family settled in Great Britain in 1889. There Waldorf attended Eton College and New College, Oxford, where he did not distinguish himself academically but excelled as a sportsman, earning accolades for both fencing and polo.