Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona (born 27 January 1968) is an English
journalist and editor-at-large of ''
The New European
''The New World'' is a British pan-European weekly political and cultural newspaper and website. Launched in July 2016 as a response to the United Kingdom's 2016 EU referendum, its readership is aimed at those who voted to remain within the ...
''.
A former deputy editor of ''
The Sunday Telegraph'', he was appointed editor of ''
The Spectator'' in February 2006, a post he retained until August 2009.
Early life and education
D'Ancona's father was a Maltese tennis champion of Italian descent who moved to England to study and played youth football for
Newcastle United before becoming a civil servant. His mother was an English teacher. D'Ancona was educated at
St Dunstan's College, an
independent school
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
for boys in
Catford in south London. He went to
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied Modern History. The same year, he was elected a fellow of
All Souls College, Oxford.
Life and career
After a year studying medieval
confession, d'Ancona joined the magazine ''
Index on Censorship'', before proceeding to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' as a trainee. There he rose to become education correspondent and then assistant editor at the age of 26.
He joined ''
The Sunday Telegraph'' in 1996 as deputy comment editor and columnist, before becoming deputy editor. He wrote a weekly political column in ''The Sunday Telegraph'' for a decade; the column was "treated as the best insight into
Cameronism by
Conservative MPs". He succeeded
Boris Johnson as editor of ''The Spectator''. On 28 August 2009 it was announced that d'Ancona would be stepping down as editor to be replaced by
Fraser Nelson.
While not himself a believer, d'Ancona is also the co-author of two books on early Christian theology, ''
The Jesus Papyrus'' and ''The Quest for the True Cross''. He has written three novels, ''Going East'', ''Tabatha's Code'' and ''Nothing to Fear''. D'Ancona has also written several articles for the British political magazine ''
Prospect''.
In January 2015, d'Ancona joined ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' as a weekly columnist. He left the paper in 2019. He also writes columns for the ''
Evening Standard'', ''
GQ'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', and a former editor of
Tortoise Media.
Bibliography
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References
External links
Journalisted - Articles written by Matthew d'Ancona
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Ancona, Matthew
Living people
1968 births
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
English male journalists
English magazine editors
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
People educated at St Dunstan's College
The Spectator editors
British people of Maltese descent