Donald Trelford (born 9 November 1937) is a British journalist and academic, who was editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' newspaper from 1975 to 1993. He was also a director of ''The Observer'' from 1975 to 1993 and chief executive from 1992 to 1993.

Early life

Trelford was educated at

Bablake School Bablake School is a co-educational independent day school located in Coventry, England and founded in 1344 by Isabella of France, widow of Edward II, making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. It is a part of the Coventry Sch ...

, Coventry, and

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (18 ...

Career

In 1994, he was appointed professor of Journalism Studies at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, and became a visiting professor in 2004 and emeritus professor in 2007. Trelford was a member of the Council of the Advertising Standards Authority until 2008 and chairman of the London Press Club. He was also a member of the Newspaper Panel of the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

from 2001 to 2007. He is a regular broadcaster and has published books on snooker and cricket and co-authored (with Daniel King) a book on the 1993 Times World Chess Championship in London between

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the ...

and

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

. Trelford was interviewed by National Life Stories (C467/12) in 2007 for the 'Oral History of the British Press' collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Trelford, Dennis (1 of 4) National Life Stories Collection: 'Oral History of the British Press', The British Library Board, 2007
Retrieved 10 October 2017.

Personal life

He was educated at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

and was school captain from 1955 to 1956. He completed his degree at

. Trelford has had three marriages. He has three children from his first marriage (the first, Sally, was born in 1965), a fourth from his second marriage and a fifth with his third wife Claire, (a former TV presenter whom he married in 2001) in 2011 at the age of 73 Trelford became a father. Trelford lives in England and Majorca.

References

1937 births Living people Academics of the University of Sheffield British male journalists British newspaper editors People educated at Bablake School The Observer people Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge {{UK-journalist-stub