Neil Humphreys (born 5 December 1974) is an author and Singapore resident. Brought up in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

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, Humphreys migrated to Singapore in 1996, left for Australia in 2006 and came back to Singapore in 2011. He worked as a humour columnist, first at ''

TODAY Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' and then ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...

'' and ''The New Paper''. Humphreys continues to write for newspapers, magazines and websites in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, and the UK. His humour, football and lifestyle columns have appeared in ''FourFourTwo, Esquire, The New Paper, The Age, The Straits Times'' and ''TODAY''. Humphreys is currently working on an Abbie Rose and the Magic Suitcase TV series.

Career

Humphreys began as a speech and drama teacher, teaching at primary and secondary schools across Singapore, including

Victoria School Victoria School (VS) is a government autonomous boys' secondary school in Siglap, Singapore. Established in 1876, it is Singapore's second oldest state secondary school. It offers a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows students to skip t ...

. Humphreys was a humour columnist with local newspaper ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

''. He contributed to its sports section, mostly with news related to the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, and its entertainment section, with regular movie reviews. He later wrote for The Straits Times. But he was best known for his humorous columns poking fun at various facets of life in Singapore, and revealing aspects of his childhood in working-class

. He once said that he speaks with a

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

accent.

Migration

Neil Humphreys left Singapore for Australia with his wife in 2006. He lived in Victoria for five years. In 2007, he started writing for ''The Straits Times'', ''ARENA Singapore'', Tiger Airways' in-flight magazine and ''Young Parents''. In August 2011, Humphreys returned to Singapore and kicked off a new humour column with ''The New Paper.'' He also released a new book, ''Return to a Sexy Island'', humorously describing how Singapore had changed while he was away.

Personal life

Humphreys is married. He writes about his wife frequently in his columns and books. They have a daughter. Humphreys' mother lives in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Works

Books

*Notes From an Even Smaller Island (2001) *Scribbles from the Same Island (2003) *Final Notes from a Great Island (2006) *Complete Notes From Singapore The Omnibus Edition (2007) *Be My Baby: on the Road to Fatherhood (2008) *Match Fixer (2010) *Premier Leech (2011) *Return to a Sexy Island: Notes from New Singapore (2012) *Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from Old Singapore (2015) *Marina Bay Sins (2015) *Rich Kill Poor Kill (2016) *Abbie Rose and the Magic Suitcase (2012–2017) *Bloody Foreigners (2021)

TV

*Singtel Mio Football TV (2012–2014) *Return to a Sexy Island (2013) *Eleven Sports' The Social (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Neil Singaporean educators Singaporean journalists British writers People associated with Victoria schools, Singapore Living people 1974 births Singaporean writers Singaporean non-fiction writers 21st-century Singaporean educators 21st-century Singaporean writers