David McKie (born 1935) is a British

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. He was deputy

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 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 ...

'' and continued to write a weekly column for that paper until 4 October 2007, called "Elsewhere". Until 10 September 2005, he also wrote a second weekly column, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

"Smallweed" (and occasionally under anagrams, such as "Dame Wells", and "Lee Laws MD"). He continues to contribute to the paper on an occasional basis, including a piece about his premature death being falsely reported in this article., and a 2021 letter defending ''The Guardian'' and editor Peter Preston in 1983 returning documents which led to the imprisonment of

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

Sarah Tisdall. His book ''Jabez: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Scoundrel'', a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and

swindler A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan'' include ''shy ...

Jabez Balfour Jabez Spencer Balfour (4 September 1843 – 23 February 1916) was an English businessman, British Liberal Party politician and fraudster. Life Balfour was born in Marylebone, London to James and Clara Lucas Balfour. He was Member of Parliament ...

, was shortlisted for the Saga Award for Wit, also known as the

Silver Booker Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, as well as the

Whitbread Book Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

for

.Great British Bus Journeys
, Atlantic Books ''Great British Bus Journeys'' was shortlisted for a

Dolman Best Travel Book Award The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards celebrate the best travel writing and travel writers in the world. The awards include the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing ...

in 2007.

Works

*''Election '70'', Panther (1970) *''Decade of Disillusion: Britain in the Sixties'', Palgrave Macmillan (1972) *''Sadly Mismanaged Affair: Politics of the Third London Airport'', Croom Helm (1973) *''The 'Guardian' – Quartet Election Guide'', Quartet Books (1974) *''The Election: A Voter's Guide'', Fourth Estate (1992) *''"Guardian" Political Almanac'' (1993) *''"The Guardian" Political Almanac 1994/5'' (1994) *''Media Coverage of Parliament'', Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government (1999) *''The "Guardian" Year'', Atlantic Books (2002) *''Jabez: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Scoundrel'', Atlantic Books (2004) *''Great British Bus Journeys: Travels Through Unfamous Places'', Atlantic Books (2006) *''McKie's Gazetteer: A Local History of Britain '', Atlantic Books (2008) *''Bright Particular Stars: A Gallery of Glorious British Eccentrics'', Atlantic Books (2011) *''What's in a Surname'', Cornerstone (2013) *''Riding Route 94: An Accidental Journey through the Story of Britain'', Pimpernel Press (2017)

References

External links

David McKie
at

Atlantic Books Atlantic Books is an independent British publishing house, with its headquarters in Ormond House in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is perhaps best known for publishing Aravind Adiga's debut novel '' The White Tiger'', which rec ...

''Guardian'' Elsewhere column by David McKie
* * * 1935 births British historians British male journalists Living people The Guardian journalists {{UK-journalist-stub