Simon Barnes is an English journalist. He was Chief Sports Writer of ''
The Times'' until 2014, and wrote a wildlife opinion column in the Saturday edition of the same newspaper. He has written three novels.
The son of
Edward Barnes, a co-creator of the
BBC children's TV programme
Blue Peter
''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...
, Barnes was educated at
Emanuel School
Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...
, and studied English literature at the
University of Bristol, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2007.
After beginning his journalism career on local newspapers in Britain, he travelled to Hong Kong, where he wrote for travel magazines and, briefly, the ''
South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
''. After his return to Britain, he became a sports writer for ''The Times'', being promoted in time to the position of Chief Sports Writer. He is the author of 16 books including three novels. His latest book, ''Birdwatching With your Eyes Closed: An Introduction to Birdsong'', was published in 2011. Barnes has appeared in a number of programmes on BBC Radio 2, including a reading of his book ''How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher''.
Barnes lives in
Norfolk. He was on ''The Times'' team at the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, the seventh summer Games that he has covered for the newspaper. In March 2009 he was runner-up in the
Sports Journalists' Association
The Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) is an association for British sports journalists. It represents the British sports media on the British Olympic Association's press advisory committee and acts as a consultant to organizers of major events ...
's 'Sports Columnist of the Year' award, an award he won in 2008.
In June 2014 Barnes was sacked by ''The Times'' after 32 years' employment, the newspaper having informed him it could no longer afford to pay his salary. Speculation in some sections of the UK media was that the real reason may have been Barnes's outspoken views expressed in his wildlife opinion column. The column blamed illegal activity by
red grouse
The red grouse (''Lagopus lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan but is sometimes consider ...
shooting interests for the continued persecution and near extinction of the
hen harrier in England. Writing i
his new website and blogwhich he began after leaving ''The Times'' in 2014, Barnes wrote: "Certainly I have annoyed some powerful people."
Bibliography
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*, winner of
The Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year
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References
External links
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Bristol University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Simon
British male journalists
Living people
People educated at Emanuel School
Alumni of the University of Bristol
Year of birth missing (living people)