Colm Brogan (20 October 1902 – 28 January 1977) was a Scottish journalist and writer.

Background

He was born in Glasgow to Denis Brogan, a tailor from

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

.''The Times'' (29 January 1977), p. 14. One of Colm Brogan's four brothers was the historian

Denis William Brogan Sir Denis William Brogan (11 August 1900 – 5 January 1974) was a Scottish writer and historian. Early life and education Denis Brogan was born in Glasgow, the eldest son of Denis Brogan (1856–1934), a master tailor, and Elizabeth Toner. ...

and his maternal grandfather was a founder of

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

He was educated at

St Aloysius Aloysius de Gonzaga ( it, Luigi Gonzaga; 9 March 156821 June 1591) was an Italian aristocrat who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of a serious epid ...

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college) and then at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, where he studied English. After attending teacher training college, Brogan became a master at

St Mungo's Academy St Mungo's Academy is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, comprehensive, secondary school located in Gallowgate, Glasgow. The school was founded in 1858 by the Marist Brothers religious order. The debate team at St Mungo's were the first Scotti ...

and then at St Gerard's.

Career

Brogan began his career in journalism by writing for the Glasgow University magazine and the Scottish schoolmasters' periodical. He then began a weekly column in the '' Glasgow Bulletin'' before moving to '' The Herald''. He also worked for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' as a leader-writer and wrote a daily column for the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

''. He reviewed

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...

's posthumous book in "The Comfort of ''Cold Friday''" for ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'' magazine (December 29, 1964). In ''Who are 'the People'?'' published in 1943, he promoted the idea that political ideologies of the Left were responsible for the rise to power of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. He continued with this thesis in ''Our New Masters'', published in 1947.

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...

replied to ''Who are 'the People'?'' with ''Who are the Patriots?'', to which Brogan wrote ''Patriots? My Foot!'' in response. ''Our New Masters'' was an attack on

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

's Labour government.

Legacy

After his death, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' described Brogan as:

one of the few journalists and pamphleteers of the Welfare era to assail the idols and institutions of the Left with the same zest and skill that Socialist intellectuals devoted to personalities and policies of the Right. ... Brogan's pamphleteering was the more vigorous because he had no reverence for the Conservative establishment. It was disconcerting to conventional Tories to discover an ally contemptuous of the Crown, but Brogan conformed to no class-image. In the first postwar years he rapidly turned out anonymous colloquial leaflets addressed to working-class readers.

Books

*''Who are 'The People'?'' (1943) *''The Democrat at the Supper Table'' (1945) *''Our New Masters'' (1947) *''They Are Always Wrong'' (1949) *''Patriots? My Foot!'' (1949) *''Fifty Years On: British Socialism, 1900-1950'' (1950) *''Glasgow Story'' (1952) *''The Educational Revolution'' (1955) *''Suez: Who was right?'' (1957) *''The Nature of Education'' (1962)

References

1902 births 1977 deaths Journalists from Glasgow Scottish people of Irish descent Alumni of the University of Glasgow People educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow {{UK-journalist-stub