I’m a Londoner who volunteered at a community newspaper in King’s Cross then moved to New York, where I was contributing editor at the arts magazine Cover – now handsomely paid in party invitations, press tickets and events with open bar and buffet. My first proper job was at Scholastic, as assistant editor at the tech and lifestyle mag Small Business Computing. My managing editor summed up the job succinctly: “The writers give us the steak. We provide the sizzle.”
Editing
Online news subeditor at the Guardian (since 2018)
Acting chief sub at The Lady, Moneywise and Jamie
12 years editing and writing at Time Out magazine, website and guides
Subeditor at Soccer Brilliance and At Home With Your PC
Books development editor at Planet Three Publishing
Subeditor and rewriter for St James’s House commemorative books
Freelanced at Waitrose Food, Waitrose Health, Eat In, Food and Travel, ShortList, Soccer Brilliance, Loaded, Spirit & Destiny, New Civil Engineer
Writing
Possibly my hardest job ever was ghostwriting – or “heavily editing” – articles by lawyers to make them clear and interesting. I’ve written wine brochures, instruction manuals, press releases on water purification and articles covering travel, history, music, theatre, food and drink, film, TV, sport, personal finance and tech.
Magazines
Time, Moneywise (online daily news), The Lady, Time Out, Jamie, At Home With Your PC, Broadband Advisor, Soccer Brilliance, Football Max, Agatha Christie, Architects and Surveyors Institute Journal
Main writer for series: Hong Kong Legends, The Classic Science Fiction Film Collection,
Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds Collection, A Touch of Frost
Books
The History of Punishment: Amber Books 2003, 2017 and foreign editions 2003-6
Ceremonial Costumes (20th Century Developments in Fashion): Mason Crest (USA) 2003
Rescue at Sea with the US and Canadian Cost Guard: Mason Crest (USA) 2002
How to Do Just About Anything on the Internet (contributor): Reader’s Digest 2002
Advertorial and commercial
Wrote, edited and produced features, special sections, guides, web and app content and client-voice marketing copy for Sony, Microsoft, Diageo, British Airways, London 2012 Olympics, Edinburgh and Brighton fringes, Southbank Centre, Tate Modern, The Woodland Trust, Mayor of London, HIstoric Royal Palaces and Cancer Research UK
Visual
New York bureau chief of LFI picture agency
Photo research and sales for Sygma news agency
Page layout and design