Guy Kewney

Guy Johan Kewney (30 April 1946 – 8 April 2010) was a British journalist, regarded by some as the first UK technology journalist.[1]

Guy Kewney
Born
Guy Johan Kewney

(1946-04-30)30 April 1946
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Died8 April 2010(2010-04-08) (aged 63)
OccupationAuthor, journalist
Years active1970s–2010
Spouse(s)Mary Kewney (1972-2010; his death)
Children2

Early life

Kewney's original goal was to become a civil engineer, but he did not complete his university course. In 1965, he started work as a programmer for English Electric LEO Marconi, on the world's first business computer. He soon realised he was not cut out to be a programmer, so decided to switch to his other passion, writing.[2]

Career

He was best known as a personal computing pundit, starting with Personal Computer World (PCW), writing a monthly column for the magazine from its launch in 1978 until its closure in June 2009. He launched the blog NewsWireless.Net in 2002 and was a founding partner of AFAICS Research. One of his daughters, Lucy Sherriff, was on the staff of The Register until 2007.

At the peak of the fame and influence of PCW, Kewney was widely regarded as one of the UK's most influential writers and broadcasters on microcomputing technology,[1] founding and editing trade publications Microscope and PC Dealer, co-presenting Computer Trade Video and working as a TV presenter for five years on Thames TV's Database and Channel 4's 4 Computer Buffs before helping launch Ziff-Davis in Britain as the star columnist of PC Magazine (UK), PC Direct, Computer Life, IT Week, and ZDNet UK.[2]

BBC interview mix-up

On 8 May 2006, BBC News 24 journalist Karen Bowerman interviewed Congolese job applicant Guy Goma live on air, after a producer had brought him on set, mistakenly believing him to be Kewney. Mr Goma was asked questions about the Apple Corps v. Apple Computer court case, which he struggled to answer. Kewney initially did not take the mix-up well and wrote a response on his blog, 'NewsWireless' in which he commented "[a]nd the fact that a few hundred thousand people in the world are now under the impression that I'm an ignoramus who knows nothing about technology or Apple or iPods, and has a very poor command of English? – well, that's not the Beeb's problem, is it? After all, is a journalist going to sue the BBC and get blacklisted? Of course not!"[3] However, according to a blog post by Kewney, the two had since met.[4]

Death

Kewney was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2009, which was found to have spread to the liver,[5][6] and wrote about it in his blog, The Hunky Mousehole.[7] He died on 8 April 2010.

References
  1. Manek Dubash, "Guy Kewney: Integrity in socks and sandals", The Register, 12 April 2010
  2. Schofield, Jack (27 April 2010). "Guy Kewney obituary". The Guardian.
  3. Guy Kewney (10 May 2006). "Really, what matters is that the BBC doesn't look stupid". newswireless.net blog. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Guy Kewney (7 July 2007). "Finally! Guy Goma and Guy Kewney manage to get into the same frame..." newswireless.net blog. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "Obituary: Guy Kewney". BBC News. 14 April 2010.
  6. "Guy Kewney dies at 63". The Register. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  7. Kewney, Guy (29 March 2010). "Winding down? or just a slow day? (Kewney's final blog entry)". The Hunky Mousehole. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
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