Robert Timothy Dowling (; born June 1963) is an American journalist and author who writes a weekly column in ''

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 ...

'' about his life with his family in London.

Career

Dowling worked in data entry for a films database before he became a freelance journalist, first working for '' GQ'', then women's magazines and 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 publis ...

''. He is a columnist for ''

'' and has a weekly column in the paper's Saturday magazine, ''Weekend''. His column replaced

Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...

's in 2007. He writes observational columns, often about his wife. Sam Leith of ''The Guardian'' noted that "Dowling's a very fresh and smart writer, as he needs to be. Stories about machete massacres or ebola pandemics pretty much write themselves: writing about nothing much, week in, week out, is the real test." Dowling also worked as a cartoonist for a short time. Dowling's books include a 2001 book about disposable razor inventor

King Camp Gillette King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 – July 9, 1932) was an American businessman who invented a bestselling version of the safety razor. Gillette's innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel. Gillette is often er ...

, ''Suspicious Packages and Extendable Arms'', a collection of his writing from ''The Guardian'', and ''The Giles Wareing Haters' Club'', his 2007 debut novel concerning a journalist Googling himself ( narcissurfing) who finds an online club of people who hate him, inspired by Dowling searching for his name online. ''Giles Wareing'' was reviewed by '' TLS''. ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

'' said it is "a fine comedy of domestic triviality". Dowling said of his 2014 book ''How to Be a Husband'': "It got quite a bit of publicity in the U.K. when it came out and

y wife Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

wasn't prepared for all that."

Tom Hodgkinson Tom Hodgkinson (born 1968) is a British writer and the editor of '' The Idler'' magazine, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His philosophy, in his published books and articles, is of a relaxed approach to life, ...

writing 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 ...

'' called this book "a rare delight". Leith in ''The Guardian'' said there is "pleasure and treasure here." David Evans wrote in ''The Independent'': "It's a rare thing to be able to write about life as a husband and father in such a way as to elicit nods of recognition among those who are neither of those things; Dowling does it with panache."

Published work

*''Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette 1855–1932'' (Faber & Faber, 2001, ) *''Not the Archer prison diary'' (Ebury Press, 2002, *''Suspicious Packages & Extendable Arms'' (Guardian Newspapers Ltd, 2007, ) *''The Giles Wareing Haters' Club'' (Picador, 2008, ) *''How to Be a Husband'' (Fourth Estate, 2014, ) *''Dad You Suck'' (Fourth Estate, 2017, )

Personal life

Dowling was born in Connecticut. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father was a dentist, and he has a brother and two sisters. He moved to the UK from New York at the age of 27 and currently lives in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

with his wife Sophie de Brandt and their three sons. He enjoys skiing with his sons, having learned to ski as a child in the US. Dowling has played banjo (which his wife bought for his birthday) in the band Police Dog Hogan since 2009, and he writes self-deprecatingly about their festival gigs, including

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

, in his column.

References

External links

Tim Dowling's ''Guardian'' column
with full archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Tim 1963 births American newspaper journalists Living people The Guardian journalists Writers from Connecticut