Marcus Berkmann (born 14 July 1960) is a journalist and author.

Life

Berkmann was educated at Highgate School and Worcester College, Oxford. His younger brother is the DJ

Justin Berkmann Justin Berkmann (born December 1963), is a DJ and nightclub owner. He is the second son of Joseph Berkmann and his second wife, Jean Berkmann (née Barwis) and younger brother of Marcus Berkmann, an author. They were both educated at Highgate S ...

. He began his career as a freelance journalist, contributing to computer and gaming magazines such as ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History T ...

''. In the 1990s he had stints as

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

critic for the '' Daily Mail'' and the '' Sunday Express'' and has written a monthly

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

column for ''

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 ...

'' since 1987. With his schoolfriend

Harry Thompson Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series '' Monkey Dust'', screened between 2003 ...

, he scripted the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

comedy '' Lenin of the Rovers''. He came to prominence with his book, '' Rain Men'' (1995), which humorously chronicles the formation and adventures of his own

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

touring team, the Captain Scott Invitation XI. Berkmann has continued to write newspaper and cricket magazine columns, such as the ''Last Man In'' column on the back page of ''

Wisden Cricket Monthly ''Wisden Cricket Monthly'' (WCM) is a UK-based print and digital cricket magazine available to buy worldwide. The original version ran from June 1979 to September 2003. The magazine was revived in November 2017, launching with an Ashes Special whi ...

'', while producing a number of critically well-received humorous books. In ''Brain Men'' (1999), he applied his sardonic observations to the world of pub quizzes, and takes the same approach to ''Fatherhood'' (2005). Later in 2005, he released the book '' Zimmer Men'', as a sort of sequel to ''Rain Men'', describing his next team, and his transition into middle age with cricket. He is also credited as one of the writing team of the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

comedy show ''

Monkey Dust ''Monkey Dust'' is a British adult animated satirical sketch comedy series created by Harry Thompson and Shaun Pye. The series is characterized by its dark humour, frequent shifts in animation styles, and handling of taboo topics such as be ...

'', and compiles the "Dumb Britain" column in '' Private Eye'' magazine. In 2009, he set up the quiz company Brain Men with Stephen Arkell and Chris Pollikett. His book ''A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis'' was serialised by BBC Radio 4 in its ''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...

'' slot during 2012. In the same year, he replaced Fred Housego as

Marcel Berlins Marcel Berlins (30 October 1941 – 31 July 2019) was a French-born lawyer, legal commentator, author, broadcaster and columnist. He was best known for his work in the United Kingdom, writing for British national newspapers ''The Times'' and ''T ...

' partner on ''

Round Britain Quiz ''Round Britain Quiz'' (or ''RBQ'' for short) is a panel game that has been broadcast on BBC Radio since 1947, making it the oldest quiz still broadcast on British radio. It was based on a format called ''Transatlantic Quiz'', a contest betwee ...

'' on BBC Radio 4. A fan of '' Star Trek'' since its first British screening by the BBC in 1969, his book on the franchise, ''Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Years of Star Trek'', aimed at the general reader, was published in March 2016.

Bibliography

* * ''Other People: Portraits From The 90s'' with D. J. Taylor (Bloomsbury, 1990) * ''Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket'' (Little, Brown, 1995) * ''Brain Men: A Passion to Compete'' (Little, Brown, 1999) * ''Fatherhood: The Truth'' (Vermilion, 2005) * ''Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer'' (Little, Brown, 2005) * ''The Prince of Wales (Highgate) Quiz Book'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006)
"iPod dilemma"
''

'' 308/9397 (4 October 2008) : 53 * ''Ashes to Ashes'' (Little, Brown, 2009) * ''A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis'' (Little, Brown, 2012) * ''Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Years of Star Trek'' (Little, Brown, 2016) * ''Berkmann's Cricketing Miscellany'' (Little, Brown, 2019)

References

External links

Marcus Berkmann index
at ''The Your Sinclair Rock 'n' Roll Years'' website, listing reviews and articles written by Marcus for ''

''
Brainmen website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkmann, Marcus 1960 births Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Cricket historians and writers Daily Mail journalists Living people People educated at Highgate School Private Eye contributors The Spectator people Writers from London