Profile of Andrew Neil on Famous Like Me

Andrew Neil (born May 21, 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Neil made his name at The Sunday Times where he was editor for 11 years. He is currently the editor-in-chief and Publisher of the Press Holdings group of newspapers, owner of The Scotsman, for which he writes.

Early life and career

Neil was educated at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow University. After graduation he briefly worked for the Conservative Party as a research assistant before joining The Economist as a correspondent in 1973. He was later promoted to British editor of that news magazine before being offered the chair of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times. He was editor there from 1983 until 1994.

His editorship was controversial. Neil, it was argued, was appointed over more experienced colleagues, such as Hugo Young. The Sunday Times during this period promoted a fringe and later discredited argument, that in Africa, AIDS was a quite separate condition from HIV.

The newspaper also lost a libel case over claims it had made concerning a witness interviewed in the Death on the Rock documentary on the Gibraltar shootings. Neil lost a second defamation case when he sued Peregrine Worsthorne over claims that he was unfit to edit a serious newspaper. He also employed Holocaust denier David Irving in 1992 on the dubious assertion that Irving was one of the few people who could read German gothic typography.

Sky

In 1988 he also became founding chairman of Sky TV, also part of Murdoch's News Corporation. Neil was instrumental in the company's launch, overseeing the transformation of a down market, single channel satellite service into a four channel network in less than a year. Neil and Murdoch stood side by side at Sky's new headquarters in west London on February 5, 1989 to witness the launch of the service at 18.00. Sky was not an instant success, the uncertainty caused by the competition provided by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) and the initial shortage of satellite dishes were early problems.

The failure of BSB in November 1990 led to a merger, although few programs acquired by BSB found their way to Sky One and BSB's satelites were sold. The new company was called British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). The merger may have saved Sky financially; despite its popularity, Sky had very few major advertisers to begin with, and was also beginning to suffer from embarrassing breakdowns. Acquiring BSB's healthier advertising contracts and equipment apparently solved these problems. BSkyB would not make a profit for a decade but is now one of the most profitable and successful television companies in Europe.

Break with News Corp

He eventually parted company with Murdoch on bad terms and became a writer for the Daily Mail. In 1996 he became editor-in-chief of the Barclay brothers Press Holdings group of newspapers, owner of The Scotsman, Sunday Business (now just The Business) and The European. Neil has not enjoyed great success with the circulations of the newspapers (indeed The European folded shortly after he took over).

As well as Neil's newspaper activities he has also maintained a television career. While working at The Economist he provided news reports, for example to American networks. When at The Sunday Times he contributed to BBC radio and television as well as commenting on the various controversies provoked by the paper in his role as Editor. During the 1990s Neil fronted political programmes for the BBC, notably Despatch Box on BBC Two. Following the revamp of the BBC's political programming in early 2003 Neil has been the presenter of the BBC One weekly political roundup show, This Week, and co-presenter of The Daily Politics which broadcasts Tuesday to Thursday while Parliament sits. In November 2004 it was announced that Neil was to become Chief Executive of The Spectator. Neil served as Lord Rector of St Andrews University from 1999 - 2002.

Andrew Neil and Private Eye

Neil is not married. A photograph of him dressed in a vest and baseball cap, embracing a much younger woman, ran over several consecutive editions of satirical magazine Private Eye, after it became known that he found the picture embarrassing. It still surfaces periodically, on the flimsiest of excuses.

The photograph is apparently of a woman Neil was briefly involved with while in the United States in the early nineties. Neil has found "fascinating", what he sees as an example of "public school racism" on the part of the Eye's editorial staff. The magazine has also nicknamed him Brillo Pad, after his unusual hair, which is said to resemble a scouring pad. In addition, it often misspells his surname with an extra L - which also annoys him - in memory of Neil's affair with the former call-girl Pamella Bordes, whose name is also written with an unusual number of Ls.

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