Allan Hall (10 December 1929 – 26 April 2001) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. Born in

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

, Hall began his career in journalism with the '' Newcastle Journal'', but soon moved to London. By the age of 27 he became editor of the ''

Sunday Graphic The ''Sunday Graphic'' was an English tabloid newspaper published in Fleet Street. The newspaper was founded in 1915 as the ''Sunday Herald'' and was later renamed the ''Illustrated Sunday Herald''. In 1927 it changed its name to the ''Sunday ...

'' for a year,Douglas Martin,
Allan Hall, 71, Journalist Who Inspired Beaujolais Race
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 3 May 2001 then in 1959 became managing editor of the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

''. In 1960, both papers closed, and Hall began writing a

gossip column A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...

for the ''

Daily Herald Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

''.Michael Leapman,
Allan Hall
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 30 April 2001 Hall remained a columnist as the ''Herald'' became '' The Sun'', but left in 1969 when

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

bought the paper. He joined the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', where he launched a lifestyle section before taking over the "Atticus" diary column. Having long had an interest in wine, being known for spending long lunches in the

Connaught Rooms The Freemasons' Tavern was established in 1775 at 61-65 Great Queen Street in the West End of London, West End of London. It served as a meeting place for a variety of notable organisations from the 18th century until it was demolished in 1909 t ...

, he convinced editor

Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...

to launch the Sunday Times Wine Club. By now writing regularly about wine, Hall decided in 1972 to organise an annual race to bring

Beaujolais Nouveau Beaujolais nouveau ( , ) is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is a ''vin de primeur'', Fermentation (wine), fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale on the third Thursday of N ...

to Britain, replicating a private race by

Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a German-born British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as a ...

(wine correspondent for ''The Sun'') and Joseph Berkmann (agent for

Georges Duboeuf Georges Duboeuf (14 April 1933 – 4 January 2020) was a French wine merchant, and the founder of Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, one of the largest wine merchants in France. The company is known for its popularization and production of Beaujolais win ...

) in 1970 and 1971. The race still takes place annually: the prize, a bottle of champagne, is awarded to the first competitor to arrive at ''The Sunday Times offices. In 1980, Hall moved to work for

James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His contr ...

's magazine '' NOW!'', during which time he hosted a lunch at which fine wines were served. For this one meal he claimed, and was paid, expenses of more than £11,000. The magazine closed the following year, after which Hall retired to

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, selling wine and offering tasting sessions. He continued writing about wine on a freelance basis, and organized wine tours of France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Allan 1929 births 2001 deaths English male journalists English newspaper editors Gossip columnists People from Hemsworth Wine critics