"William Hickey" is the pseudonymous byline of a

gossip column A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...

published in the '' Daily Express'', a British newspaper. It was named after the 18th-century diarist William Hickey. The column was first established by

Tom Driberg Thomas Edward Neil Driberg, Baron Bradwell (22 May 1905 – 12 August 1976) was a British journalist, politician, High Anglican churchman and possible Soviet spy, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1942 to 1955, and again from 195 ...

in May 1933. An existing gossip column was relaunched following the intervention of the ''Expresss proprietor Lord Beaverbrook. It was titled "These Names Make News".Wheen (2001), ''The Soul of Indiscretion: Tom Driberg, Poet, Philanderer, Legislator and Outlaw''. London: Fourth Estate. pp. 79–81 Driberg described the new feature as "...an intimate biographical column about...men and women who matter. Artists, statesmen, airmen, writers, financiers, explorers..." Historian

David Kynaston David Thomas Anthony Kynaston (; born 30 July 1951 in Aldershot) is an English historian specialising in the social history of England. Early life and education Kynaston was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and New College, Oxford, ...

calls Driberg the "founder of the modern gossip column", which moved away from genteel chit-chat towards commentary on social and political issues. The tone of the column was described by biographer

Richard Davenport-Hines Richard Peter Treadwell Davenport-Hines (born 21 June 1953 in London) is a British historian and literary biographer, is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Davenport-Hines was educated at St Paul's School, London, 1967- 71 ...

as "wry, compassionate, and brimm ngwith...open-minded intelligence".Davenport-Hines, Richard (2004). "Tom Driberg". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition. Retrieved 12 February 2010.(subscription required) Driberg continued to write the column until 1943. BBC News, ''Driberg always under suspicion'', 13 September 1999
/ref> The column has been written by numerous anonymous journalists over the decades. In the 1960s, it was written by columnist

Nigel Dempster Nigel Richard Patton Dempster (1 November 1941 in Calcutta, India – 12 July 2007 in Ham, Surrey) was a British journalist, author, broadcaster and diarist. Best known for his celebrity gossip columns in newspapers, his work appeared in the '' ...

References

External links

Daily and Sunday Express website
Gossip columnists British columnists Daily Express {{fict-char-stub