Sebastian Faulks gave his former Sunday Telegraph boss, John Thompson, a warm send-off in his tribute yesterday, "A nurturing force in the final days of Fleet Street".It reinforced the picture drawn of Thompson in the more formal Daily Telegraph obituary following Thompson's death, aged 93, on 24 November.Thompson, who edited the Sunday Telegraph for 10 years from 1976, was mild of manner and ran a kindly regime but had "an inner steel", wrote Faulks. This characteristic was necessary, as both Faulks and the obituary pointed out, because of the difficulties he faced in producing a paper in Fleet Street's final days of continual union disputes.Faulks pointed out that it was difficult to know Thompson well because "he was a diffident man who did not invite intimacy." It reminded me of a description of him by Henry Porter as "retiring to the point of joining a trappist order." But Faulks and the Telegraph's obituarist overlooked Thompson's most extraordinary, and disastrous, decision as an editor. In 1978, the Sunday Telegraph negotiated the serialisation of an autobiography by a former Liberal MP, Peter Bessell, who was a chief prosecution witness in the trial of Jeremy Thorpe, his party's leader. Thorpe was accused of conspiring to murder a male model, Norman Scott, who was said to have blackmailed him over their alleged gay relationship.Two months after Thorpe was charged, Thompson agreed a contract with Bessell which stated that he would receive £50,000 for extracts... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#public life
Hot Key Books has signed a one-book deal to publish Sally Gardner's latest title Maggot Moon... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hot key
#one-book deal
Michael Morpurgo's War Horse (Egmont) was comfortably the bestselling book in the UK last... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bestselling book
#michael morpurgo
Stationery retailer Viking has reported a “promising” start to its bookselling... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#promising start
World Book Night is continuing its international spread, with Germany now set to join the UK... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Waterstones has launched a "book club" promotion, with the strapline: "Books you... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#waterstones launches
#book club
The earnings of German book retailer Thalia's parent group Douglas Holding will be hit by the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Independent publisher Saqi Books is to launch a new non-fiction imprint, with plans to publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#non-fiction imprint
Print books sales in the US fell 9% in 2011, with strong growth in digital sales appearing to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#borders collapse
#ebook growth
#strong growth
A group of Chinese writers has filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company's App Store sells pirated versions of the authors' works. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Hodder & Stoughton has acquired music star Sir Elton John's first book, Love is The Cure... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hodder stoughton
#elton john
Ever since Algonquin used the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute to get booksellers to read and fall in love with Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, which sold more than a million copies before being turned into a film, publishers have been using the winter bookselling confab to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#winter institute
#sara gruen
#million copies
#bookseller attendance
#chris cleave
"The TV Book Club" returns to More4 on Sunday 29th January with author S J Watson's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Harper has scored two of the eight spots in Richard & Judy's Spring Book Club, with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#richard judy
At least one publisher is looking to capitalize on some last-minute changes to Wael Ghonim's upcoming book tour to promote Revolution 2.0. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#wael ghonim
"The TV Book Club" returns to More4 on Sunday 29th January with author S J Watson's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Hot Key Books has signed two-books by journalist Dawn Porter, as the author follows her editor... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#dawn porter
Physical book sales in the final week of the year totalled £22.5m — down 70% week on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#final week
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has won the Costa Poetry Award for The Bees (Picador), and debut... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#costa book
At just five years old, the Savannah Book Festival, in the genteel coastal city of Savannah, Ga., is carving a space for itself among the book festival big leagues, boasting not one but two of the nation’s current #1 bestselling authors: Stephen King (for 11/22/63) and Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#stephen king
The parody of the classic children's book "Goodnight Moon," which got a hilarious analog update for the digital generation is a holiday hit. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#perfect book
#goodnight ipad
#classic children
#goodnight moon