Ian David Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is a British journalist, satirist, writer, broadcaster, and
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...
of the magazine ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
''. He has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes and has been a team captain on the
BBC quiz show ''
Have I Got News for You'' since the programme's inception in 1990.
Family and personal life
Hislop was born on 13 July 1960 in
Mumbles,
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...
, to a
Scottish father, David Hislop, from
Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of ...
, and a
Channel Islander mother born in
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
, Helen Rosemarie Hislop (née Beddows), who left for Wales in her late teens.
Hislop did not know his grandparents. His paternal grandfather, David Murdoch Hislop, died just before he was born. His maternal grandfather, William Beddows, was originally from
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
.
When he was five months old, Hislop's family began to travel around the world because of his father's job as a civil engineer.
During his infant years, Hislop lived in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
,
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
, and
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
.
While in Saudi Arabia, Hislop has said he potentially went to school with
Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
. When Hislop was 12 years old his father died; his mother died when he was 32.
On his return to Britain he was educated at
Ardingly College
Ardingly College () is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located near Ardingly, West Sussex, England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Woodard ...
, an independent boarding school, where he became
head boy, and began his satirical career directing and appearing in
revues alongside
Nick Newman
Nick Newman (born 17 July 1958) is a satirical British cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.
Early life
The son of an RAF officer, Newman was born in Kuala Lumpur and schooled at Ardingly College where his satirical career began, working on ...
.
Hislop's and Newman's association continued when they attended
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
together; later they worked together at ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
'' and on a number of comedy scriptwriting jobs. Hislop applied to read
philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, but changed to
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
before arriving at
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...
. His Oxford tutors included
Bernard O'Donoghue
Bernard O'Donoghue FRSL (born 1945) is a contemporary Irish poet and academic.
Early life and education
Bernard O'Donoghue was born on 14 December 1945 in Cullen, County Cork, Ireland, where he lived on a farm. “My father was a terrible and r ...
,
John Fuller and
David Norbrook
David Norbrook (born 1 June 1950) was Merton Professor of English literature at Oxford University from 2002 to 2014, and is a now an Emeritus Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He specializes in literature, politics and historiography in the earl ...
. While at university, Hislop was actively involved in student journalism;
he relaunched and edited the satirical magazine ''Passing Wind''.
He graduated with a
2:1 in 1981.
Hislop is married to
Victoria; they have two children, Emily and
Will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...
. They live in
Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst is a small village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Originally called ''Milkhouse Street'' (also referred to as ''Mylkehouse''), Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the sm ...
in Kent.
Hislop's wife has a career as an author, and in 2010 Hislop played a small role in the Greek television series
''The Island'', which was based on his wife's
bestselling novel. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 on Greece's
Mega television channel.
His son,
Will Hislop, is an actor, writer and stand-up comedian.
Career
''Private Eye''
At Oxford, Hislop revived and edited the magazine ''Passing Wind'',
for which he interviewed
Richard Ingrams, who was then editor of ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
'', and
Peter Cook, then the majority shareholder. Hislop's first article appeared in 1980 before he sat his university finals. A parody of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' magazine's "Room of My Own" feature, it described an
IRA prisoner on the
dirty protest decorating his cell in "fetching brown".
[Ben Summerskil]
"Has Piers now got news for Ian?"
''The Observer'', 1 September 2002 Hislop joined the publication immediately after leaving Oxford, and became editor in 1986 following Ingrams's departure. This met opposition from ''Eye'' journalists Peter McKay and
Nigel Dempster,
who attempted a revolt against Hislop with the former taking Peter Cook out for lunch in an attempt to dissuade him from appointing Hislop. Cook, reportedly drunk after the lunch, instead announced Hislop was "welcome aboard". The new editor, dismissive of society gossip,
sacked both McKay and Dempster from the magazine without hesitation.
As editor of ''Private Eye'', Ian Hislop is reputedly the most
sued man in English legal history,
although he is not involved in as many
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
actions as he once was.
A libel case was brought against ''Private Eye'' and Hislop in 1986 by the publisher
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early i ...
after the magazine accused him of funding
Labour leader
Neil Kinnock's travel expenses as a means of gaining a peerage. After the case Hislop quipped: "I've just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech". After his death in 1991, Maxwell was revealed to be an extensive fraudster, illegally drawing on his companies' pension funds; his last writ for libel against the ''Eye'' and Hislop was about this "malicious" and "mendacious" claim.
Another libel case in May 1989 threatened the magazine's existence when it was ordered to pay £600,000 in damages following an action for libel by Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper,
Peter Sutcliffe. Hislop told reporters waiting outside the
High Court: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." The award was dropped to £60,000 on appeal. In an interview with ''
Third Way Magazine
''Third Way'' was a British magazine which invited Christian thinkers and writers to analyse or comment on the political, social and cultural issues of the day. Notable columnists over the years included Jeremy Vine, Paul Vallely and Mike Ridd ...
'' in 1995 he explained his intentions in his work: "Satire is the bringing to ridicule of vice, folly and humbug. All the negatives imply a set of positives. Certainly in this country, you only go round saying, 'That's wrong, that's corrupt' if you have some feeling that it should be better than that. People say, 'You satirists attack everything.' Well, we don't, actually. That's the whole point."
In April 2017, Hislop won the
London Press Club
The Press Club was established in 1882 as a London gentlemen's club. For much of its history, it occupied premises in Wine Office Court, near Fleet Street. It still exists today, as a society for journalists, but no longer offers club facilities, ...
's print journalist of the year award; in his acceptance speech he said that ''Private Eye'' obtaining its best
ABC sales figures since the magazine's launch 55 years earlier proved that "journalism is A, worth doing, and B, worth paying for both in terms of paying journalists and the public paying up for it".
In January 2022, Hislop alongside fellow ''Eye'' journalists
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' ...
and
Solomon Hughes presented evidence on
MPs' conduct to the
House of Commons' Standards Committee.
Bibliography and plays
Hislop is credited as the author of the recent ''Private Eye'' annuals.
*''
The Wipers Times
''The Wipers Times'' was a trench magazine that was published by British soldiers fighting in the Ypres Salient during the First World War.
In early 1916, the 12th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters stationed in the front line at Ypres, Belgium, came ...
'' (2016) a play based on the
WWI newspaper by Hislop and
Nick Newman
Nick Newman (born 17 July 1958) is a satirical British cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.
Early life
The son of an RAF officer, Newman was born in Kuala Lumpur and schooled at Ardingly College where his satirical career began, working on ...
.
*''A Bunch of Amateurs'' (2017) by Hislop and Nick Newman.
*''I Object: Ian Hislop's Search for Dissent'' (2018) by Hislop and Tom Hockenhull.
*''Trial by Laughter'' (2018) a play on the trials of
William Hone
William Hone (3 June 1780 – 8 November 1842) was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a turning point in the fight for British press freedom.
Biography
Hon ...
by Hislop and Nick Newman, originally broadcast in 2017 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's ...
.
*''Spike'' (2022) a play about
Spike Milligan during the period he was writing
The Goon Show
''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September ...
, by Hislop and Nick Newman.
Television and radio work
Hislop's television debut was on the short-lived
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
chat show ''
Loose Talk'' in 1983, an experience he disliked so much that he included it on his list of most hated items when he first appeared on the BBC show ''
Room 101
The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell.
The use of contradictory ...
''. Hislop, usually in partnership with
Nick Newman
Nick Newman (born 17 July 1958) is a satirical British cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.
Early life
The son of an RAF officer, Newman was born in Kuala Lumpur and schooled at Ardingly College where his satirical career began, working on ...
, was a scriptwriter on the 1980s political satire series ''
Spitting Image
''Spitting Image'' is a television in the United Kingdom, British satire, satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productio ...
'', in which puppets were used to depict well-known figures, mostly politicians.
He even had a puppet of himself, which sometimes appeared as a background character in sketches.
Hislop has been a team captain on ''
Have I Got News for You'' since it began airing in 1990. He is the only person to have appeared in every episode of its run, even filming an episode in the seventh series in spite of suffering from
appendicitis
Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...
(he had discharged himself from hospital immediately before the show).
With regular writing partner Nick Newman, Hislop wrote the
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's ...
series ''Gush'', a satire based on the first
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, in the style of
Jeffrey Archer. With Newman he also wrote the family-friendly satirical sitcom ''
My Dad's the Prime Minister'' and in the early nineties for the
Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show '' French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Sau ...
vehicle ''
Murder Most Horrid''. Hislop and Newman wrote the
Radio 4 series ''
The News at Bedtime
''The News at Bedtime'' is a satirical comedy series on BBC Radio 4 written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, writers of the satirical ''Private Eye'' magazine. The series is a spoof of news programs, in particular shows such as '' The Today Progr ...
'', a satire on
fairy tales
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
which aired over the 2009 Christmas season. The series starred
Jack Dee as 'John Tweedledum' and
Peter Capaldi as 'Jim Tweedledee'; the two present the "news of the day" in the world of fairy tales, while arguing with each other as did their
namesakes.
Hislop has presented serious television programmes. These include ''School Rules'', a three-part Channel 4 study on the history of British education; an edition of the
BBC's ''
Who Do You Think You Are?'', in which he attempted to trace his ancestry, and ''
Not Forgotten'', a four-part series on Channel 4 detailing the impact on British society of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. A further programme, ''Not Forgotten: Shot at Dawn'', was broadcast in January 2007, and a sixth episode, ''Not Forgotten: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight'', featuring the stories of conscientious objectors such as
Ronald Skirth,
was aired on 10 November 2008. He also presented one episode of the BBC's ''
Great Railway Journeys'', in which he travelled in India ("India East to West" from Calcutta to Rajasthan). In May 2007 he presented a programme on BBC Four, ''Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys'', celebrating
Robert Baden-Powell's book which inspired the
Scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, secti ...
movement. (He is also an Ambassador for
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was fo ...
.)
He has also written and presented factual programmes for Radio 4 about such subjects as tax rebellions, female hymn composers, scouting and patron saints of
Britain and Ireland. In 2007 he became the only person to make a second guest appearance on ''Room 101''. He has also been a screenwriter for comedian
Harry Enfield
Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including '' Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and ''Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and ...
.
Hislop has presented several programmes for
BBC 4
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 , dealing with topics such as the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
and the role of the
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
. The former, ''Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails'', about the
Beeching Report and its impact on the British railway network, was first aired on 2 October 2008, and achieved the second-highest audience to date for any BBC Four programme (and the highest for a documentary) with 1.3 million viewers. The latter, ''Ian Hislop's Changing of the Bard'', launched the May 2009 BBC 4 Poetry season, and Hislop recounted the history of the post from the first official holder,
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...
, to the then recently announced first female, first Scot and first openly bisexual laureate,
Carol Ann Duffy. His series on
Victorian social reformers, ''Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders'', aired on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
beginning on 29 November 2010. His programme on the history of banks, ''When Bankers were Good'', first aired on BBC Two in November 2011, and dealt with famous bankers from history, such as the
Rothschilds
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fran ...
, the
Gurneys and the
Lloyds, as well as 19th-century philanthropists and reformers such as
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
and
Elizabeth Fry.
He has also appeared on ''
Question Time''. In one edition he made an open attack on
Jeffrey Archer, who had been imprisoned for
perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
, when his wife,
Mary Archer, was a fellow panellist. She was noticeably angry that the matter had been raised.
In 2003 he was listed in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
In 2004, ''Question Times 25th anniversary celebrations included a vote in which viewers chose the confrontation as the best moment in the programme's history; it won 51% of the votes, double the number for the second-placed entry.
[ In another episode he criticised the premise of capital punishment, something which had been advocated by a Conservative panel member ]Priti Patel
Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the Me ...
, and more recently has discussed Britain's vote to leave the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
.
''Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip - An Emotional History of Britain
''Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip: An Emotional History of Britain'' is a series of reality television programs originally made in the United Kingdom in 2012. The show involves ''Private Eye'' editor Ian Hislop narrating through Victorian England ...
'', about how a meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...
for repression of emotions spread through British culture, began on 2 October 2012 and ran for three episodes on BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
. Beginning on 9 April 2014, Hislop presented a three-part BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
series ''Ian Hislop's Olden Days''. In 2016, he presented ''The Secret of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony'', the personal and creative story behind the symphony. Later in the same year, Hislop gave the prestigious George Orwell Lecture at London's UCL.
Hislop has also curated an exhibition for the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, called ''I Object: Ian Hislop's Search for Dissent,'' which was presented from 6 September 2018 to 20 January 2019. As the editor of ''Private Eye'', Hislop has received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Media at the ''Campaign'' British Media Awards 2019. Hislop has also been recognised for his broadcasting career, having produced TV and radio documentaries on immigration and the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
Religious views
In Caroline Chartres's book ''Why I Am Still an Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
'', Hislop opens his chapter by saying "I've tried atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
and I can't stick at it: I keep having doubts. That probably sums up my position." In 1996, Hislop presented an award-winning documentary series for Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
about the history of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
, called ''Canterbury Tales''. His other works include the four-part 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's ...
series ''The Real Patron Saints''.
On 4 September 2009, Hislop appeared at "The Gathering", organised by the Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
, Rowan Williams, at Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
to discuss religion, society and journalism, among other issues, in front of an audience of about 1,000.
Political views
Hislop has mocked all major British political parties during his career. Appearing on '' Question Time'' on 18 September 2008, he praised Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable for his analysis of the financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...
, and expressed support for the Liberal Democrats, jocularly stating "I'm standing for them."
In a 2009 "Five minutes with" interview with Matthew Stadlen for BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...
, Hislop stated that if he were required, "at the point of a gun", to stand in an election for any British political party, he would stand for the fictional "Vince Cable for Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury ...
Party". After the formation of the coalition government in 2010, Hislop remarked in an interview, "I like the idea of this coalition neutralising the loonies on both sides".
He has also been highly critical of the leadership of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, calling for a referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an un ratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...
in a 2003 recording of ''Have I Got News for You''. However, referring to Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Hislop said on '' Question Time'' that "after an election or a referendum, even if you lose the vote, you are entitled to go on making the argument". A joke on the front of ''Private Eye'' titled "BREXIT LATEST" mocking the reaction to Brexit received "fifty or so" letters of complaint in the next issue. Hislop mocked this, saying that "There was one etterfrom a vicar, too, who told me that it was time to accept the victory of the majority of the people and to stop complaining. ... I wrote back and told him that this argument was a bit much, coming from a church that had begun with a minority of 12". He has expressed dismay over the level of public debate in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the EU and the election of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, describing it as Orwellian in nature, saying that "one is unsure whether to feel relieved at the sense of '' déjà vu'' or worried about the possibility of history repeating itself, not as farce, but as tragedy again."
In 2019, an outtake from ''Have I Got News for You'' went viral, featuring Hislop saying that he would like to see Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
"have a fair trial, with a desirable result of him being in prison forever". The comment was made in response of the High Court's ruling that Johnson would not have to face a criminal prosecution for claims he made during the EU referendum.
References
External links
Debrett's People of Today
Ian Hislop
at the British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
*
Ian Hislop interview
(''Evening Standard'', archived using the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
)
"There's no place like Gnome"
Profile by Nick Greenslade. ''The Observer''. 22 October 2006.
by Ciar Byrne for ''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 publish ...
'', celebrating his 20th year as editor of ''Private Eye''.
"Ian Hislop: satirist in chief"
Stephen Moss. ''The Guardian''. 23 September 2011.
Hislop/Iannucci : Trump, Blair, Stalin and post-truth satire
published by the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hislop, Ian
1960 births
Living people
People educated at Ardingly College
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
British comedy writers
British critics
British magazine editors
British male journalists
British satirists
British Anglicans
British people of Scottish descent
People from Sissinghurst
People from Swansea
Private Eye contributors
British people of Jersey descent