Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1944)
Duncan Campbell (born 1944)[1] is a British journalist and author who has worked particularly on crime issues. He was a senior reporter/correspondent for The Guardian from 1987 until 2010.
Background and personal life
Campbell was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and at Glenalmond College, an independent school in Perth and Kinross in Scotland {Glenalmond Register 1950–1985}
Campbell is married to British actress Julie Christie; they have lived together since 1979,[2] but the date they wed is disputed. In January 2008, several news outlets reported that the couple had quietly married in India two months earlier, in November 2007,[3] which Christie called "nonsense", adding, "I have been married for a few years. Don't believe what you read in the papers."[4]
Journalist
Campbell was a copywriter for advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather before he quit in 1971, aged 26, to visit India, and pursue an ambition to become a journalist. Decades later, he turned the experience of the trip into his first novel, The Paradise Trail.[5]
Prior to joining The Guardian, Campbell worked for the London Daily News and City Limits (both defunct), Time Out and LBC Radio.[6] He has also worked on BBC Radio Five Live's Crime Desk programme.[1]
In June 2009, it was announced by The Guardian that Campbell would take voluntary redundancy[7] and he now works as a freelance writer, including for The Guardian.[6]
Author
Campbell is the author of two novels - The Paradise Trail (2008) and If It Bleeds (2009). The Paradise Trail is set largely in India in 1971, it is partly a murder mystery and partly an affectionate depiction of life on the "hippie trail": the cheap hotels and eating places, the music, the drug-fuelled conversations.
Campbell has also written several nonfiction books, including a history of British crime from the 1930s to the 1990s (The Underworld, 1994 - based on the BBC television series) and That Was Business, This Is Personal (1990 - a series of interviews with criminals and those who pursue them). A Stranger and Afraid (1997) covers the story of Caroline Beale.[8] His 2016 book We'll All Be Murdered In Our Beds draws on his many years as a crime correspondent.[9][10]
Bibliography
- Billy Connolly: The Authorized Version (Pan Books, 1976) - biography of Billy Connolly, ISBN 978-0330247672
- That Was Business, This Is Personal: The Changing Face of Professional Crime (Secker & Warburg, 1990), ISBN 978-0436199905
- The Underworld (BBC Books, 1994), ISBN 978-0563367932; revised edition (Penguin Books, 1996) ISBN 978-0140257441
- A Stranger and Afraid: The story of Caroline Beale (Macmillan, 1997), ISBN 978-0333691465
- The Paradise Trail (The Headline Review, 2008), ISBN 978-0-7553-4245-7, paperback ISBN 978-0-7553-4247-1
- If It Bleeds (Headline Publishing Group, 2009), ISBN 978-1-84782-874-3, ISBN 978-0-7553-4248-8
- We'll All Be Murdered In Our Beds: The Shocking History of Crime Reporting in Britain (Elliott & Thompson, 2016), ISBN 978-1783961337
References
- ^ a b "View from elsewhere", The Guardian accessed 20 May 2012.
- ^ "Julie Christie Biography". TV Guide.
- ^ "Julie Christie gets married". The Guardian. London. 30 January 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Dimi Gaidatzi (11 February 2008). "Oscar Nominee Julie Christie: I've Been Married for Years". People.com.
- ^ Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, 16 July 2008, "How I found myself in India".
- ^ a b "Duncan Campbell Profile". The Guardian. London. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
- ^ Brook, Stephen (19 June 2009). "Duncan Campbell and David Hencke among those leaving Guardian". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ United Agents, Duncan Campbell, accessed 20 May 2012.
- ^ Chris Mullin, "We’ll All Be Murdered in Our Beds: The Shocking History of Crime Reporting in Britain by Duncan Campbell – review", The Observer, 23 May 2016.
- ^ Mark Sanderson, "We’ll All Be Murdered in Our Beds! by Duncan Campbell - review: How hacks and cops have shown us the real underworld", Evening Standard, 21 April 2016.