Nigel Farndale
Nigel Farndale (born 1964) is a British author and journalist, known for his broadsheet interviews and his novel The Blasphemer.
He has written six books: three novels, two biographies and a collection of interviews. His latest novel is The Road Between Us.
The Blasphemer was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Book Awards and selected for the WH Smith Richard and Judy Bookclub.[1][2] His biography Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce was published in 2005 and shortlisted for that year's Whitbread Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
As a journalist he has written for various magazines and newspapers including The Observer, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and Spectator. He is currently obituaries editor of The Times, a paper for which he also writes columns and interviews.
He has won a British Press Award for his interviews and was the joint subject of a programme about interviewing on Radio 4 when he and Lynn Barber compared notes on Between Ourselves.[3] His interview subjects have included Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Woody Allen, the Dalai Lama, Prince Charles, Elton John, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Paul McCartney, George Best, Jimmy Savile and Stephen Hawking.
Farndale grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, was educated at Barnard Castle School, read philosophy for a master's degree at Durham University and worked as a farmer before becoming a journalist — he wrote an abusive letter to Auberon Waugh, who then asked him to write for Literary Review.[4] After that he worked on Punch magazine and Country Life magazine before moving to the Sunday Telegraph, where he remained for twenty years as a feature writer and columnist.
He is married with three sons and lives on the border between Hampshire and Sussex.
Publications
- The Road Between Us. London, 2013. ISBN 0-385-61913-8
- The Blasphemer. London, 2010. ISBN 0-385-61779-8
- Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce. London, 2005. ISBN 0-333-98992-9
- Flirtation, Seduction, Betrayal: Interviews with Heroes and Villains. London, 2002. ISBN 1-84119-644-4
- Last Action Hero of the British Empire: Commander John Kerans 1915–1985. London, 2001. ISBN 0-571-20825-8
- A Sympathetic Hanging. London, 2000. ISBN 0-7043-8141-9
References
- Shilling, Jane (31 January 2010). "The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale". Telegraph. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
- "Best of British press rewarded", BBC News, 22 March 2000
- "The season's grievings", Sunday Telegraph, Nigel Farndale, 31 December 2006