Felix Dennis

Felix Dennis (born 1947 in Kingston-upon-Thames, England) is a British magazine publisher, poet, and philanthropist. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times the company has added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week, which is published in Britain, the United States and Australia.

Biography

Felix Dennis is one of Britain's best known self-made entrepreneurs. He was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1947. After leaving Harrow College of Art, Dennis claims to have wasted a great deal of time playing in R&B bands. In 1971 he was imprisoned as a co-editor of Oz magazine at the culmination of the longest conspiracy trial in English history. Dennis at this time recorded a single with John Lennon to raise money for a legal defence fund.

Following acquittal by the Court of Appeal, Dennis went on to found his own magazine publishing company in 1973. Success came early with Kung Fu monthly making over £60,000 (a small fortune in 1974) aided by the rising popularity of martial artist Bruce Lee. The then small company also managed to break into the US where others had failed.

For Dennis, a crucial observation was the emergence of personal computers. He set up Personal Computer World which he later sold to VNU, and MacUser which he sold to Ziff Davis Publishing in the mid-eighties. He also co-founded MicroWarehouse, a $2 billion computer mail order company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ and formed the bulk of his personal wealth.

In 2001, following a second life-threatening illness, Dennis took up poetry. Within a year, he wrote his first book of verse A Glass Half Full, published by Hutchinson in the UK. The launch of this book was accompanied by the first of Dennis's UK-wide poetry reading tours entitled “Did I Mention the Free Wine?” Audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.

Within seven years, he has become one of the biggest selling poets of original verse in recent times, and his poetry has been featured on radio interviews, in the national press and the subject of two major television documentaries.

Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK including The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro and Viz. Its flagship brand The Week is also published in the US and Australia.

Publishing

Dennis started his career as a street seller for the underground counter culture magazine "OZ" in 1971. The magazine regularly enraged the British establishment with a mixture of left-field stories, discussions of drugs, sex and contentious political stories.

With a keen eye and 'devil in the detail' approach, Dennis was quickly promoted to co-editor and became involved in the longest conspiracy trial in English history over the much-misunderstood "School Kids" edition - the editors invited contributions from children, including a sexually explicit drawing of Rupert the Bear.

This invoked the wrath of the establishment and resulted in a visit from the Police and the subsequent arrest of Jim Anderson, Richard Neville and Felix Dennis. An account of the trial by Dennis can be read on The First Post

At the conclusion of the trial the "Oz Three" who were defended by John Mortimer, were found not guilty on the charge of “Conspiracy to deprave and corrupt the Morals of the Young of the Realm”, but were convicted of two lesser offences and sentenced to imprisonment.

The convictions would later be quashed to the relief of Neville, Dennis and Anderson wearing rented schoolgirl outfits.

Dennis later told author Jonathan Green that on the night before the appeal was heard, the Oz editors were taken to a secret meeting with the Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, who told them that they would be acquitted if they agreed to give up work on Oz. It is alleged that MPs Tony Benn and Michael Foot had interceded on their behalf.

Dennis went on to set up Dennis Publishing in 1973 leveraging the writers, photographers and illustrators who had finished their "summer of love" and were feverishly looking for work. Success came early with the title Kung-Fu Monthly courtesy of the popularity of Martial Artist, Bruce Lee. Dennis also crucially signed worldwide distribution rights and recalls banking £60,000 (a small fortune back then) and thought they were 'rich beyond their wildest dreams'.

Another critical observation by Dennis was spotting the emergence of personal computing and setting up MacUser and Personal Computer World. These were later sold to VNU and Ziff Davis Publishing respectively in the mid-eighties. Dennis launched further successful IT titles in the form of Computer Shopper and PC World.

Aside from publishing, Dennis co-founded a $2 billion computer mail order company (Microwarehouse) on the back of Macuser's success, along with Peter Godfrey and Bob Bartner in 1987. The business model for the mail order company was simple. It was about keeping operating costs to a minimum and using direct marketing via high quality catalogues.

Informed customers could browse in–home or office and phone through their order for next day delivery. The rapid growth of the firm and its market access resulted in major IT brands dealing with the firm - a move that was unprecedented at a time when the market relied heavily on in-store demos and high pressure sales.

The company went public in December 1992 and was sold to a private investment group in January 2000. MicroWarehouse at the time it had 3500 employees in 13 different countries with worldwide sales in 2000 of $2.5 billion. The company eventually went public on the NASDAQ and became a major contributor to Dennis's personal wealth.

Dennis was awarded the Marcus Morris Award in 1991, which is the highest accolade in UK magazine publishing.

In 1995 Dennis Publishing created "Maxim" a title that was to become the world's biggest selling men's lifestyle magazine and global brand.

1996, Dennis acquired a stake in what is now the flagship brand The Week which is published in the UK, US and Australia and as of 2009, translates to a global circulation of over 700,000 (ABC audited). Over the following years it purchased the remainder from its founder Jon O'Connell.

2003 saw the purchase of IFG (I Feel Good) from Loaded founder James Brown. The purchase involved titles Viz, Fortean Times and Bizarre being added to the Dennis Publishing stable.

In 2006 Dennis penned a best-seller on how he got to be a multi millionaire in How to Get Rich (ISBN 009191265-2), published by Ebury Press. As well as anecdotes from his life, the book imparts the 'knack' on what it takes to get rich with a stark warning on the personal sacrifices required. Indeed for Dennis, the financial excess resulted in a crack cocaine addiction and admission to spending over $100 million dollars on drugs and women.

In June 2007, Dennis sold his US magazine operation which published the magazines Blender, Maxim and Stuff to a private equity group, Alpha Media Group, for an undisclosed figure.

In 2008, Dennis Publishing asserted its presence as a multi-format publisher with digital magazines iGizmo and iMotor along with Monkey and the purchase of The First Post.

Early 2010 saw the release of Dennis's follow-up to wealth creation book, 88 The Narrow Road. As Dennis states, this isn't an arm chair read and in fact a book for those that do. link 88 The Narrow Road

Today, Felix Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, which is still a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK (including its flagship brand The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro, Viz and The Week in the US and Australia.

Poetry

In 2001, and following on from what he calls a "life-threatening illness", Dennis took-up poetry and within a year authored his first book of verse, ‘A Glass Half Full’, published by Hutchinson in the UK.

Dennis is reported to spend up to four hours each day studying and writing verse and has written over 1000 to date.

Within seven years, he has become the biggest selling poet of original verse in recent times and Dennis's verse has attracted critical acclaim from Tom Wolfe, Christopher Rush, Mick Jagger, Stephen Fry and Dawn French to name a few.

Dennis’s poetry is regularly featured on radio programmes, in the national press, and been the subject of two major television documentaries.

With the publication of ‘A Glass Half Full’ Dennis embarked on the first of his now famous “Did I mention the Free Wine?” tours. Covering 12 cities across the UK, audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s cellar whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.

In October 2003, Dennis appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company, along with several well-known RSC actors, reading from his work at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

With the publication of ‘A Glass Half Full’ in the US in 2004, Dennis embarked on a fifteen date coast-to-coast tour of the US (including another RSC performance in New York). The same year ‘Lone Wolf’, Dennis's second book of verse came out, again accompanied by a fourteen-date UK tour.

Since then, three more poetry books have followed, ‘When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times’, ‘Island of Dreams’ and ‘Homeless in my Heart’ all published by Ebury Press.

At the end of 2008, Dennis again toured with an eleven-date 'sell out' tour around the UK and Ireland, coinciding with the release of ‘Homeless in my Heart’", described as his most revealing work to date.

In September/October 2010 Dennis once again embarked on a gruelling 21 date tour of the UK and Ireland prior to the release of 'Tales from the Woods'. Both the 2008 and 2010 tours were filmed and a DVD release is expected in the early part of 2011.

Many of Dennis's poetry performances have been made available on YouTube.

Trees

Dennis is very involved in planting trees and sustainable forestry. One of his continuing projects is the Forest of Dennis which is based in Warwickshire in the UK's West Midlands.

Over the last ten years, Dennis has established a young forest of native deciduous trees. It already covers one thousand acres with approximately 600,000 saplings planted to date. The forest also features a small percentage of ancient woodland.

Trees include native varieties of oak, ash, lime, beech hornbeam, hazel, field maple, aspen, hawthorn, willow, alder, black poplar, holly, wild cherry, rowan and occasional stands of Scots pine, along with numerous shrubs and bushes. Where possible, saplings are sourced from locally collected seed.

The planting of saplings will continue indefinitely with the aim of eventually providing between 10,000 and 20,000 acres.

The forest will then be opened to the public to enjoy and as Dennis fervently insists, it will be up to the people to decide the name. 'The Forest of Dennis is only the name of the charity'.

In the media

Dennis was the subject of Desert Island Discs, hosted by Kirsty Young on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on 12 August 2007.

In an interview with Ginny Dougary published in The Times on 2 April 2008 Dennis said that in the early 1980s he had killed a man who had been abusing a woman he knew by pushing him off a cliff; Dennis later said he had been talking "a load of hogwash" whilst drunk.

Film

Felix Dennis is portrayed by The IT Crowd actor Chris O'Dowd in the upcoming film Hippie Hippie Shake, which tells the story of Oz magazine and the landmark 1960's indecency trial. Prior to filming, Dennis agreed to meet up with O'Dowd. "He was an incredibly charismatic man," O'Dowd stated. Dennis also gave O'Dowd a complimentary subscription to his current affairs publication, The Week.

It is now believed that this film has been indefinitely shelved by its production company.

Other interests

Dennis's other interests are commissioning bronze sculptures and other original works. He also drinks fine French wine and is reported to have one of the best personal wine cellars and first edition book collections in the UK.

He divides his time between homes in Warwickshire, London, New York, Connecticut and the Caribbean island of Mustique.

Trivia

Dennis is credited with having been the first person to say the word cunt on British television, on a live 1970 edition of David Frost's The Frost Programme. As a result most "live" transmissions are delayed by 15 seconds.

In 1994, Dennis was made a Fellow of the National Library for the Blind in recognition of his continued support for that charity. Accordingly, many of Dennis's books are released in braille.

In 1995 Justice Argyle reiterated allegations about Dennis in The Spectator magazine. As this was outside court privilege, Dennis was able to successfully sue the magazine, which agreed to pay £10,000 to charity. Dennis refrained from suing Argyle personally: "Oh, I don't want to make him a martyr of the Right: there's no glory to be had in suing an 80-year-old man and taking his house away from him. It was just a totally obvious libel."

External links

• in-depth filmed interview from Dec 2007 on Access Interviews.com
• Interview with Felix Dennis
• Video interview with Felix Dennis by Lusso Magazine
• Old Stomping Grounds
• Felix Dennis website
• How to Get Rich website
• Dennis sues The Spectator over Argyle allegations
• Writing in The Sunday Times
• BBC Article
• THE WEEK: US online edition
• The Forest of Dennis / Heart Of England Forest Project
• Desert Island Discs
• Maxim Publisher Felix Dennis: I've Killed a Man
• Review of How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis'
• Template:Worldcat id
• Publisher Felix Dennis' odes to vice and consequences on TED.com