Mark Douglas-Home (born 31 August 1951) is a Scottish author and journalist. He was the

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, orga ...

of '' The Herald'' newspaper in Scotland 2000–2005.

Early life

Douglas-Home was born on 31 August 1951. The son of Edward Charles Douglas-Home and Nancy Rose Straker-Smith, he was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

, where he was the editor of the then anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

student newspaper, '' Wits Student''. (An unrepentant Douglas-Home was deported from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1970 by the government of the day, following a series of anti-government cartoons that were deemed offensive by

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

.) He was a reporter for the '' North London Weekly Herald'', the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', and the ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which also ...

''. He went on to work as Scotland Correspondent 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 publis ...

'', news editor and assistant editor for ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', deputy editor of the ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 2013 ...

'', and editor of ''

The Sunday Times Scotland ''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 ...

''. Douglas-Home was appointed editor of ''The Herald'', a nationally circulated

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

in Scotland, in 2000. During his tenure the paper introduced new daily themed magazines, and continued to sell more than ''The Scotsman''. It was announced on 1 December 2005 that he was leaving the paper. In the months before this, budget cuts imposed on the paper by owners

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...

and he had been resistant to these. His first novel, ''The Sea Detective'', was published by Sandstone Press in May 2011. A new edition was published by Penguin in November 2015. ''The Scotsman'' said it 'raises the bar' for Scottish crime fiction. The sequel, ''The Woman Who Walked into The Sea'', was described as 'simply intoxicating' by the ''Library Journal'' in the USA. The third and fourth in the series, ''The Malice of Waves'' and ''The Driftwood Girls'', were published respectively in May 2016 and January 2020. As a journalist, he is best known for having been the

of '' The Herald'' newspaper in Scotland. The noble title, the

Earl of Home Earl of Home ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1605 for Alexander Home of that Ilk, 6th Lord Home. The Earl of Home holds, among others, the subsidiary titles of Lord Home (created 1473), and Lord Dunglass (1605), i ...

in the

Peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union, ...

, belongs to his family, and his cousin, David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home is the current holder. His uncle, the previous holder, was Alec Douglas-Home, a former

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

. He is married to Colette Douglas-Home, a psychotherapeutic counselor, who was formerly a journalist and columnist. The couple have two children called Rebecca Douglas-Home and Rory Douglas-Home.

Bibliography

*''The Sea Detective'' (2011) *''The Woman who Walked into the Sea'' (2013) *''The Malice of Waves'' (2016) *''The Driftwood Girls'' (2020)

References

1951 births Living people People educated at Eton College Anglo-Scots Scottish journalists Scottish newspaper editors The Herald (Glasgow) editors Scottish mystery writers {{AntiApartheid-activist-stub