Lynn Barber (born 22 May 1944) is a British journalist who has worked for many publications, including ''

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 ...

''.

Early life

Barber attended

Lady Eleanor Holles School Lady Eleanor Holles School (often abbreviated to LEH or LEHS) is an independent day school for girls in Hampton, London. It consists of a small junior school and a larger senior school, which operate from different buildings on the same site. It ...

in south-west London. While she was studying for her

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

s she had a two-year relationship with a significantly older man, whom she knew as Simon Goldman, but who also called himself Simon Prewalski. He was an associate of

Peter Rachman Perec "Peter" Rachman (16 August 1919 – 29 November 1962) was a Polish-born landlord who operated in Notting Hill, London, England in the 1950s and early 1960s. He became notorious for his exploitation of his tenants, with the word "Rachmanism" ...

, and he deceived both Barber and her parents. This affair subsequently provided the basis for a memoir by Barber and a film based on the memoir (see under Career below). Barber read English Language and Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was briefly the girlfriend of the drug smuggler

Howard Marks Dennis Howard Marks (13 August 1945 – 10 April 2016) was a Welsh drug smuggler and author who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he claimed to have been smuggling consignmen ...

, but also met David Maurice Cloudesley Cardiff, whom she married in 1971. The couple had two daughters. Cardiff died in August 2003.

Career

Barber worked for '' Penthouse'' for seven years until 1974, being successively editorial assistant, literary editor, features editor and deputy editor;

Dennis Griffiths Dennis Griffiths (8 December 1933 – 24 December 2015) was a British journalist and historian, regarded as the founding father of newspaper history from the earliest days of Fleet Street. His ''Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422–1992'' has ...

(ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.88. she left to have children. From 1982 to 1989 she was a feature writer on the '' Sunday Express'' magazine, and she then joined ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...

'' before its launch in 1990. Barber has also written for ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and, from 1996 to 2009, ''

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 ...

''.Stephen Brook
"Lynn Barber to Leave ''Observer'',"
''The Guardian'', 17 September 2009. Barber is best known for her interviews. She was once quoted by

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

as describing her method as "start ng... from a position of really disliking people, and then compel ingthem to win you over." An interview with the conceptual artists

Jake and Dinos Chapman Iakovos "Jake" Chapman (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (born 1962) are British visual artists, often known as the Chapman Brothers. Their subject matter tries to be deliberately shocking, including, in 2008, a series of works that ...

was not a success, and she claims the Chapman Brothers have threatened to kill her if they ever meet again.Lynn Barber
"How I Suffered for Art's Sake,"
''The Observer'', 1 October 2006; accessed 3 August 2008. Barber is also remembered for her 2001 article about a chaotic meeting with singer

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

. Barber has won six British press awards. Her books include two collections of interviews, ''Mostly Men'' and ''Demon Barber'', a sex book ''How to Improve Your Man in Bed'', and a survey of Victorian popular natural history writers, ''The Heyday of Natural History''. In 2006 Barber was one of the judges for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

and wrote an article in ''The Observer'' criticising some aspects of the judging process. Barber's memoir of her teenage love affair, ''An Education'', was published in June 2009. Its genesis was in a short piece on a similar theme that Barber wrote for the British literary magazine ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

''.

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work ...

adapted this short article as a film with the same title, made by

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'', '' Alan Pa ...

and released in October 2009, and available on video from March 2010. In the meantime Barber had expanded the ''Granta'' article into her memoir, too late for Hornby to use it as source material for the film. In 2009 Barber returned to ''The Sunday Times'' to write for its magazine. In July 2011 Barber was successfully sued by

Sarah Thornton Sarah L. Thornton (born 1965) is a writer, ethnographer and sociologist of culture. Thornton has authored three books and many articles about artists, the art market, technology and design, the history of music technology, dance clubs, raves ...

for libel and malicious falsehood over Barber's review of '' Seven Days in the Art World'', published in ''The Daily Telegraph'' on 1 November 2008. Barber's memoir of her career as an interviewer, ''A Curious Career'', was published in May 2014.

Awards

Barber was selected as Interviewer of the Year at

The Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named '' ...

in 1985, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2012.

References

External links

Barber's contributions
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Lynn 1944 births Living people People from Bagshot People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford English journalists British women journalists Penthouse (magazine) people