Martin Townsend (journalist)
Martin Townsend (born 11 July 1960) is a British journalist. He was the editor of the Sunday Express from 2001 to 2018.[1]
Townsend attended Harrow County School for Boys (which became Harrow High School in 1975) and the London College of Printing. He gained his first job as a journalist in 1979,[2] working on Caravan magazine, then was pop music correspondent at Today.[3]
In 1987, Townsend became a freelance reporter, but in 1994 was appointed showbusiness editor of The Mail on Sunday's You magazine,[3] then in 1999 was appointed editor of OK!. During his tenure, he persuaded Anthea Turner and Grant Bovey to pose with chocolate bars in their wedding photos, as part of a promotion. In 2001, he was appointed editor of the Sunday Express.[4]
In 2006, Townsend had a cameo role in the television series Hustle in which he, as editor of the Sunday Express, bought an exposé story from some con men regarding the unscrupulous editor of a rival (fictional) Sunday newspaper.[5]
In 2007, Townsend published The Father I Had, an autobiographical account of his relationship with his father, who had bipolar disorder. This won the Mind Book of the Year Award 2008.[2]
Townsend left his job in early August 2018 during editorial changes at the Express Newspapers group which was initiated in February 2018.[1] The reorganisation of senior editorial staff began when Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror) bought the titles owned by Richard Desmond's Northern and Shell in a £127m deal (£184m including pension liability).
Townsend left three days after the departure of Stuart James, editor of sister paper The Star on Sunday[6] in July 2018[7]
Townsend was the ghost writer of Express owner Richard Desmond's autobiography, The Real Deal: The Autobiography of Britain's Most Controversial Media Mogul which was published in 2015.[8][9] Lynn Barber, in her Sunday Times review wrote that "the bulk of this memoir, about getting on, is a ripping yarn, fluently and wittily told".[10]
In 1989, Townsend married Jane O'Gorman; the couple have two sons and a daughter. O'Gorman has worked at the Daily Star as the paper's agony aunt.[3][11]
References
- ^ a b Tobitt, Charlotte (6 August 2018). "Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend stepping down after 17 years at helm". Press Gazette. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend wins Mind Book of the Year Award 2008", Mind
- ^ a b c Lister, David (17 July 2001). "Editing? It's a business thing". The Independent. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ Hodgson, Jessica (22 May 2001). "Townsend OK! at the Sunday Express". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ "BBC - Drama - Hustle - Characters & Actors". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
- ^ "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
- ^ "Daily Star Sunday editor Stuart James steps down, sources say – Press Gazette". www.pressgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
- ^ Greenslade, Roy (8 October 2014). "NUJ to Richard Desmond: sell Express Newspapers to someone who cares". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ Harris, Sarah Ann (19 June 2015). "Richard Desmond's Autobiography Gets Five Stars In The Daily Express - His Own Newspaper". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ Barber, Lynn (21 June 2015). "The Real Deal: The Autobiography of Britain's Most Controversial Media Mogul by Richard Desmond". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 23 May 2020. (subscription required)
- ^ Townsend, Martin (2008) [2007]. The Father I Had. London: Corgi. p. 407.
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