Hugo James Rifkind (born 30 March 1977) is a British journalist. A columnist for ''

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 ...

'' since 2005, he began presenting a Saturday morning programme on

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK. It is jointly operated by Wireless Group (which News UK acquired in 2016), ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audienc ...

in July 2020. He has been a regular guest on ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History ''The News Quiz'' was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently, it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart from ...

'', on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

since 2008. Rifkind writes "My Week", a diary parody from the perspective of somebody in the news that week.

Early life and education

Hugo Rifkind was born in 1977 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, the son of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician

Sir Malcolm Rifkind Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...

and his wife Edith, daughter of Polish airforce engineer Joseph Steinberg, who was imprisoned in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

after the annexation of Poland and lost his first wife and daughter. Rifkind was educated at the independent

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. L ...

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

, near Edinburgh, where, he has written, he was the only

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish pupil. He also attended

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

in Edinburgh before reading philosophy at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

Career in journalism

Rifkind began his career in journalism as an editorial assistant for the show business website Peoplenews.com, before becoming a freelance writer for ''

'' and the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', and a columnist for '' The Herald'' in Glasgow from 2002 to 2005. He joined ''The Times'' in 2005, taking over the gossip column ("People") from

Andrew Pierce Andrew Pierce (born Patrick Connolly) is a British journalist, editor, author, broadcaster and political commentator. Early life Pierce was born in Bristol to a Roman Catholic Irish mother and an unknown father. He spent the first two years o ...

. In ''The Times'', Rifkind writes a Tuesday opinion column, and a satirical diary ("My Week") in the style of a public figure in the news, and a television review column, both on Saturdays. From 2007 to 2017 he wrote a fortnightly column for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'', striking a liberal, pro-European tone which ran against the magazine's conservative, Eurosceptic editorial line. Frequently his columns expressed concern about anthropogenic global warming, about which ''The Spectator''s writers are often "sceptical". He also contributes a monthly column for '' GQ''. Additionally, he has appeared on

's satirical quiz show ''

''. Throughout the general election of 2015, he presented ''Campaign Sidebar'', a Saturday morning political review show on BBC Radio 4. His debut novel, ''Overexposure'', a satirical farce set in the London media world, was published in 2007. A compendium of his columns, ''My Week: The Secret Diaries Of Almost Everyone'', was published in 2013. Rifkind was named Columnist of the Year in the 2011 Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards, and Media Commentator of the Year in the same awards in 2012. He was highly commended in the Best of Humour category at the Society of Editors' Press Awards in 2012. He was Stonewall's Journalist of the Year in 2012, in recognition of his strong support for

equal marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. The same year, he was also named Best Grooming Journalist in the P&G Beauty Awards. In 2015, at the Comment Awards, he was named Arts, Culture and Entertainment Commentator of The Year. In 2017, he won both Best of Humour and Critic of the Year at the Society of Editors' Press Awards. In August 2014, Rifkind was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. In a 2011 ''Times'' column, Rifkind admitted that on 23 November 2010 he had inserted fictitious information about

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

in Wikipedia's article on the date 29 April. The information was then repeated as fact by two national newspapers (the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'') the following day. In May 2019, Rifkind presented a

programme titled ''Hugo Rifkind's Search For Power.'' Rifkind began presenting a programme on Saturday mornings on the digital radio station

in July 2020.

Bibliography

Books

* * ''My Week: The Secret Diaries of Almost Everyone'' (2013)

Articles

* * * *

Personal life

Rifkind is married to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

travel journalist Francisca Kellett, and they have two children.

References

External links

List of Hugo Rifkind's articles at ''TimesOnline''

Hugo Rifkind, Author at ''The Spectator''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rifkind, Hugo 1977 births Living people Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Entertainers from Edinburgh People educated at George Watson's College People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Scottish columnists Scottish Jewish writers Scottish people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Scottish radio personalities Scottish unionists The Spectator people The Times people Writers from Edinburgh