Media Monkeys Diary: BBC traitors, the Sun, John Ryley and Robert Peston

Professor Jean Seaton, the BBCs official historian, has at last agreed a title with it for her volume on the 1974-87 period, due in January. These were years of endless friction with the Thatcher government over reporting of Northern Ireland, the Falklands War and the bombing of Libya, and ended with the sacking of director general Alasdair Milne by BBC chairman Marmaduke Hussey, a Tory appointment. The book was delivered last summer, but the BBC threw away about 15 titles, until I thought it would be called The BBC In Slightly Difficult Times she told Monkey last week. Then I went to see Tony Hall, suggested Pinkos and Traitors, and he said yes. A glance at Amazon indicates one of the titles thrown away was Under Siege: The BBC in the Crisis Years, while Seatons academic profile still has the title as Holding the Line; which together suggest the BBC is determined to resist anything conveying the idea of it as beleaguered even 25-40 years ago. But a hotbed of leftwing subversives and people willing to betray their country? Not a problem. Posted free to 22m homes, last Thursdays supplement to the Sun a paper edited by a Scot, owned by an Australian-born American, and part of a division run by another Australian based in the US was a celebration of Englishness, featuring a Sgt Pepper cover-style front page collage of faces headlined as This Is Our England. How many, though, would have been happy to find themselves selected by the Sun as among the nations finest. Among the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Rows, bloopers and scoops: John Humphrys’ 32 years at Today

The veteran presenter, feared and respected by all sides, is hanging up his mic. We look at his career highs and lowsFor good or ill, after 32 years serving on the frontline of radio news presentation for the Today programme, John Humphrys has become an emblem of BBC journalism. One of the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-09-14 16:45:01 UTC ]
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'Biting' Ian McEwan satire on Brexit to be released this month

Ian McEwan is releasing a new novella at the end of this month, a “biting political satire” on Brexit about a man’s metamorphosis into the Prime Minister, hellbent on carrying out the will of the people. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 00:26:24 UTC ]
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Olivia Laing calls out Boris Johnson, splits £10,000 literary prize with fellow nominees.

Celebrated British writer and cultural critic Olivia Laing has been widely praised for her decision to split her James Tate Black award winnings with her fellow shortlisted authors. “I said in Crudo that competition has no place in art and I meant it,” Laing told the gathered crowd upon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-19 15:39:24 UTC ]
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Biteback bags Big Book of Boris from Dale

Biteback Publishing has bagged a book by its founder and broadcaster Iain Dale with radio producer Jakob Szweda, containing some of Boris Johnson’s most memorable quotes and gaffes. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-01 08:28:28 UTC ]
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Less ado: Boris Johnson's Shakespeare book delayed for 'foreseeable future'

The incoming prime minister’s Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius was scheduled for October 2016, but has been pushed back multiple timesThe riddle of Shakespeare’s genius must remain unsolved, for now at least, after Boris Johnson’s publisher said on Wednesday morning that the new prime... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-24 13:09:42 UTC ]
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Boris Johnson spoof teenage diary scooped by Quercus

Quercus will publish the spoof teenage diary of "thatch-headed wasteman" Boris Johnson, from comedy writer Lucien Young. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 11:59:37 UTC ]
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Boris Johnson urged to support creative industries in open letter

Boris Johnson has been urged to support a second EU referendum rather than a no-deal Brexit in order to support the UK's creative industries and protect the sector's public investment, just hours after he was elected leader of the Conservative Party.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 11:05:44 UTC ]
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Boris Johnson Shakespeare book shelved 'for foreseeable future' after leadership win

Hodder and Stoughton has shelved plans to publish Boris Johnson’s long-delayed book on Shakespeare “for the foreseeable future” after he was announced as the next Prime Minister.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 01:30:30 UTC ]
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The return of cool? The Face is back after 15 years

The style magazine that defined the 80s has been relaunched online – with a print version to come in SeptemberAfter a hiatus of 15 years, the Face, the style magazine known for its striking covers that helped launch the careers of Kate Moss, Alexander McQueen, Juergen Teller and Phoebe Philo, is... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins stands by autumn publication date for Cameron's memoir

HarperCollins insists it will publish David Cameron's memoir this autumn as planned, amid reports the former prime minister is pushing back publication due to a promise he made to Theresa May. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biteback to publish Bernard Ingham’s Thatcher diaries

Biteback will publish Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham’s diaries, charting the downfall of the former prime minister, this summer.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The problem with Hairy Maclary: Meet the Rebel Girls putting women into picture books

Women are half the world's population and the majority of university graduates. They are most of the young doctors, lawyers and accountants. A girl can grow up to be a prime minister, a priest, a prison guard, and yes, even a princess. There's a million and one ways to be a woman in today's... Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2018-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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School pupils bring the fight for school libraries to Theresa May

A group of school pupils are to petition the prime minister to save school libraries arguing that "knowledge is not a privilege". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing Morgan Tsvangirai - next PM of Zimbabwe?

Dan Hiscocks, publisher of Morgan Tsvangirai's autobiography At the Deep End, reflects on his relationship with the man being touted as the next Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On my radar: Eddie Mair’s cultural highlights

The broadcaster on the joys of LBC’s Steve Allen, home cinema and Alec Baldwin’s contacts bookBorn in Dundee, Eddie Mair turned down a place at university to work at Radio Tay, a local station where he started presenting aged 17. In 1987 Mair joined the BBC, working on Good Morning Scotland,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Examination of Boris Johnson's 'built legacy' to Repeater

Repeater is to publish Nincompoopolis: The Follies of Boris Johnson, a new book by writer and architect Douglas Murphy examining the built legacy of Boris Johnson's tenure as Mayor of London. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Blair reveals he 'toyed with Marxism' after reading book on Trotsky

Former prime minister tells BBC Radio 4 that learning about the Russian revolutionary was ‘like a light going on’Tony Blair has said that he “toyed with Marxism” as a young man after being inspired by a biography of Leon Trotsky that detailed “extraordinary causes and injustices”.The former... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook blocks Pulitzer-winning reporter over Malta government exposé

Temporary censorship of Matthew Caruana Galizia – who worked on the Panama Papers – raises concern over Facebook’s power to shape the newsFacebook has censored a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist for publishing a series of posts alleging corruption by the prime minister of Malta and his... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Guardian view on Brexit and publishing: a hardcore problem | Editorial

London book fair has shown how upbeat the literary world can be – and how worried our cultural businesses have become at the thought of losing old certaintiesThe mood at this week’s London book fair appeared upbeat, with hotly contested auctions leading to the return of the six-figure publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Slovenian prime minister signs deal for historical novel

Former prime minister and leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party, Janez Janša, has signed to London-based publisher IndieBooks for his new historical novel White Panther. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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