Andrew Neil

Andrew Neil (born May 21 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Neil made his name at The Sunday Times where he was editor for 11 years. He is currently the editor-in-chief and Publisher of the Press Holdings group of newspapers, owner of The Scotsman, for which he writes.

Early life and career

Neil was educated at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow University. After graduation he briefly worked for the Conservative Party as a research assistant before joining The Economist as a correspondent in 1973. He was later promoted to British editor of that news magazine before being offered the chair of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times. He was editor there from 1983 until 1994.

Related Topics:
Paisley Grammar School - Glasgow University - Conservative Party - The Economist - 1973 - Rupert Murdoch - 1983 - 1994

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His editorship was controversial. Neil, it was argued, was appointed over more experienced colleagues, such as Hugo Young. The Sunday Times during this period promoted a fringe and later discredited argument, that in Africa, AIDS was a quite separate condition from HIV.

Related Topics:
Hugo Young - The Sunday Times - AIDS - HIV

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The newspaper also lost a libel case over claims it had made concerning a witness interviewed in the Death on the Rock documentary on the Gibraltar shootings. Neil lost a second defamation case when he sued Peregrine Worsthorne over claims that he was unfit to edit a serious newspaper. He also employed Holocaust denier David Irving in 1992 on the dubious assertion that Irving was one of the few people who could read German gothic typography.

Related Topics:
Death on the Rock - Gibraltar shootings - Peregrine Worsthorne - Holocaust denier - David Irving - 1992 - German gothic typography

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