Cosmo Landesman (born September 1954) is a British-based American-born journalist and editor. With his then-wife

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill (born 3 July 1959) is an English writer. Beginning as a staff writer at the ''New Musical Express'' at the age of 17, she has since contributed to newspapers such as ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Guardia ...

and friend

Toby Young Toby Daniel Moorsom Young (born 17 October 1963) is a British social commentator. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of ''The Spectator'', and a former associate editor at ''Quillette.'' A graduate of ...

, he founded the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

'' Modern Review'', which operated from 1991 to 1995 with Young as editor.

Early life

Cosmo Landesman is the older of two sons of

Fran Fran may refer to: People and fictional characters * Fran (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Fran (footballer, born 1969) or Francisco Javier González Pérez * Fran (footballer, born 1972), Spanish retired football ...

and

Jay Landesman Irving Ned "Jay" Landesman (July 15, 1919 – February 20, 2011) was an American publisher, nightclub owner, writer, and long-time expatriate resident in London, England. With the Beats He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the fo ...

, a lyricist and poet and a writer and publisher, from New York and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, respectively. He and his younger brother Miles Davis Landesman were born in St. Louis. Their parents worked in music and theatre. The family emigrated to London in 1964. By 1967, they embraced

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

culture, wearing beads and long hair. While Cosmo studied books more deeply, Miles became footloose, leaving their secondary school. Always more bookish, Cosmo envied his younger brother's willingness to plunge into the world; he left school in London at age 16 and experimented with the fringes of performance.Landesman, Cosmo (11 October 2008). "My brother, my hero"
''

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 ...

''. Retrieved 16 January 2014 In 2008, by then a journalist for several decades, Landesman's memoir ''Starstruck'' was published. The book largely concerns growing up with his theatrical parents, described by

Geordie Greig George Carron Greig (born 1960), known as Geordie Greig, is an English journalist and former editor of the ''Daily Mail''. He was editor in 2020 when it surpassed '' The Sun'' to become the best-selling newspaper in the UK. Early life and care ...

as "two wacky, middle-aged American egotists who arrived in 'the land of the stiff upper lip' and caused mayhem. Blind to their own blush-making toxicity, they were obsessed with being famous." Landesman also came to terms with his parents, who viewed themselves as appropriate subjects for his book.

Career

''The Modern Review''

With his then wife,

, he became friends with

, a writer and editor. The three collaborated on founding ''The Modern Review'' in 1991, in which they intended to cover low-brow culture for the high-brows. The founders argued how to proceed when circulation fell. Landesman and Burchill separated after she had an affair with

Charlotte Raven Charlotte Raven (born 1969) is a British author and journalist. She studied English at the University of Manchester. As a Labour Club activist there in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was part of a successful campaign to oust then student uni ...

, who was then an intern at ''The Modern Review''. Landesman quit the UK in 1995 for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was one of the contributors to '' Vanity Fair's'' ''

Cool Britannia Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conse ...

'' issue in March 1997. He was a dating columnist for ''

The Sunday Times ''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 ...

''.

Article in ''The Spectator''

In April 2022, an article by Landesman in ''

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 ...

'', arguing for a right to "stare at women", was criticised by

British Transport Police , nativename = , abbreviation = BTP , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg , logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police , badge = , badgecaption = , f ...

. His article was in response to a poster campaign which warned against 'intrusive staring'.

Dawn Butler Dawn Petula Butler (born 3 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent Central since 2015. Butler was elected as the MP for Brent South at the 2005 general election. She served in ...

MP criticised the magazine for publishing the "creepy and misogynistic" article.

Personal life

As a young man, he joined the

Groucho Club The Groucho Club is a private members' club formed in 1985 located on Dean Street in London's Soho. Its members are mostly drawn from the publishing, media, entertainment and arts industries. The club has rooms on several floors, including th ...

. He married Julie Burchill. Their son, Jack, took his own life in June 2015, aged 29, after suffering depression for many years.

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Critical studies and reviews of Landesman's work

;''Starstruck'' *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landesman, Cosmo 1954 births Living people British film critics British Jews The Spectator people Writers from St. Louis British journalists The Sunday Times people