Guy Johan Kewney (30 April 1946 – 8 April 2010) was a British

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 ...

, regarded by some as the first UK technology journalist.Manek Dubash
"Guy Kewney: Integrity in socks and sandals"
''

The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...

'', 12 April 2010

Early life

Kewney's original goal was to become a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, but he did not complete his university course. In 1965, he started work as a programmer for English Electric LEO Marconi, on the world's first business computer. He soon realised he was not cut out to be a programmer, so decided to switch to his other passion, writing.

Career

He was best known as a personal computing pundit, starting with ''

Personal Computer World ''Personal Computer World'' (''PCW'') (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content (reflecting the state of the IT field), the mag ...

'' (PCW), writing a monthly column for the magazine from its launch in 1978 until its closure in June 2009. He launched the blog ''NewsWireless.Net '' in 2002 and was a founding partner of AFAICS Research. One of his daughters, Lucy Sherriff, was on the staff of

until 2007. At the peak of the fame and influence of PCW, Kewney was widely regarded as one of the UK's most influential writers and broadcasters on microcomputing technology, founding and editing trade publications ''Microscope'' and ''PC Dealer'', co-presenting ''Computer Trade Video'' and working as a TV presenter for five years on Thames TV's ''Database'' and Channel 4's ''4 Computer Buffs'' before helping launch

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, and ...

in Britain as the star columnist of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

'' (UK), ''

PC Direct ''PC Direct'' was a UK computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. The magazine was established in 1991, being one of the first magazines published by Ziff Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founde ...

'', '' Computer Life'', ''

IT Week ''IT Week'' was a weekly magazine for the UK computing industry, published by Incisive Media. History and profile The magazine was launched on 18 May 1998. It was originally published by the UK subsidiary of American media company Ziff Davis. In ...

'', and

ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. Hist ...

UK.

BBC interview mix-up

On 8 May 2006,

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

journalist

Karen Bowerman Karen Bowerman is an English journalist, television presenter, filmmaker and travel writer who has worked for Sky News, ITV (TV network), ITV, CNN International and the BBC. Formerly the Consumer Correspondent for BBC 1, and the Business and Co ...

interviewed Congolese job applicant Guy Goma live on air, after a producer had brought him on set, mistakenly believing him to be Kewney. Mr Goma was asked questions about the

Apple Corps v. Apple Computer An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

court case, which he struggled to answer. Kewney initially did not take the mix-up well and wrote a response on his blog, 'NewsWireless' in which he commented " d the fact that a few hundred thousand people in the world are now under the impression that I'm an ignoramus who knows nothing about technology or Apple or iPods, and has a very poor command of English? – well, that's not the Beeb's problem, is it? After all, is a journalist going to sue the BBC and get blacklisted? Of course not!" However, according to a blog post by Kewney, the two had since met.

Death

Kewney was diagnosed with

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

in 2009, which was found to have spread to the liver, and wrote about it in his blog, ''The Hunky Mousehole''. He died on 8 April 2010.

References

External links

Interview with Kewney (October 2006)The i-KewAFAICS ResearchGuy Kewney's influence on the home computer industry. At BruceongamesThread for memories of KewneyGuy Kewney RIP
Manek Dubash {{DEFAULTSORT:Kewney, Guy 1946 births 2010 deaths British male journalists British technology writers Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from colorectal cancer Place of death missing People from Pietermaritzburg British technology journalists