Matthew d'Ancona
Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona[2] (born 27 January 1968[3]) is an English journalist. A former deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, he was appointed editor of The Spectator in February 2006, a post he retained until August 2009.
Matthew d'Ancona | |
|---|---|
 Matthew d'Ancona | |
| Born | Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona 27 January 1968 |
| Education | St Dunstan's College Magdalen College, Oxford All Souls College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | Editor of The Spectator Columnist for The Sunday Telegraph |
Early life and education
D'Ancona's father, a Maltese tennis champion of Italian descent, moved to England to study and played youth football for Newcastle United[4] before becoming a civil servant. His mother was an English teacher.
D'Ancona was educated at St Dunstan's College, an independent school for boys (now co-educational) in Catford in south London, where he was head boy. He also won an essay-writing competition run by The Observer on the subject of the future of British industry. He went to Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where he took the top First in Modern History for his year in 1989. The same year, he was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Life and career
After a year studying medieval confession, d'Ancona joined the magazine Index on Censorship, before proceeding to The Times as a trainee. There he rose swiftly to become education correspondent and then assistant editor at the age of 26.
He joined The Sunday Telegraph in 1996 as deputy comment editor and columnist, before becoming deputy editor. He wrote a weekly political column in The Sunday Telegraph for a decade, in which role he was "treated as the best insight into Cameronism by Conservative MPs".[5] He succeeded Boris Johnson as editor of The Spectator. On 28 August 2009 it was announced that d'Ancona would be stepping down as editor to be replaced by Fraser Nelson.
While not himself a believer,[6] d'Ancona is also the co-author of two books on early Christian theology, The Jesus Papyrus and The Quest for the True Cross. He has written three novels, Going East, Tabatha's Code and Nothing to Fear. D'Ancona has also written several articles for the British political magazine Prospect.
In January 2015, d'Ancona joined The Guardian as a weekly columnist.[7] He left the paper in 2019.[8] He also writes columns for the Evening Standard, GQ and The New York Times.
He is chairman of the liberal Conservative think tank, Bright Blue, a trustee of the Science Museum and a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London.
Bibliography
- D'Ancona, Matthew; Thiede, Carsten (1997). The Jesus Papyrus. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1857999587.
- D'Ancona, Matthew; Thiede, Carsten (2000). The Quest For The True Cross. Phoenix. ISBN 978-0753810828.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2004). Going East. Sceptre. ISBN 978-0340828472.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2006). Tabatha's Code. Alma Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1846880124.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2009). Nothing to Fear. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0340828496.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2014). In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government. Penguin. ISBN 978-0670919956.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2017). Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-1785036873.
- D'Ancona, Matthew (2021). Identity, Ignorance, Innovation: Why the old politics is useless - and what to do about it. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1785036873.
References
- "Search Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006 | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk.
- "Matthew Robert Ralph D'ANCONA - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
- "He is wise not scatty, a thoughtful intelligent man" the Guardian (17 February 2006). Retrieved 21 June 2010.
- "Diary". The Spectator.
- "Top 100 political journalists 2011". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014.
- Discussed briefly on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics program, 24 October 2011.
- "Matthew d'Ancona to join the Guardian as columnist", Guardian News and Media press release, 18 December 2014
- D'Ancona, Matthew [@MatthewdAncona] (14 December 2019). "Hey Rob. Thanks for asking. I am not writing for the Guardian any longer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
External links
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Kim Fletcher |
Deputy Editor of the Sunday Telegraph 1998–2006 |
Succeeded by Richard Ellis |
| Preceded by Boris Johnson |
Editor of The Spectator 2006–2009 |
Succeeded by Fraser Nelson |
Authority control  |
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