Andrew Knight
Encyclopedia
Andrew Stephen Bower Knight (born 1 November 1939 in England
) is a journalist
, editor
, and director of News Corporation
.
Magazine in 1966 on the international business and investment sections. From March 1968 to April 1970 he served in the Washington
offices of the paper before returning to Europe to establish its European section and, in 1973, its offices in Brussels
.
Knight was named Editor
of The Economist
in October 1974. Aged 34, he was the second youngest editor in the magazine's history, and tripled the magazine's circulation during his 11 years at the helm. He remained editor until 1986, and was named International Editor of the Year by World Press Review in June 1981.
He masterminded the takeover of the then floundering Telegraph Group
in 1985, turning the ailing Daily Telegraph
into the highest selling broadsheet
in the UK. Knight successfully approached Conrad Black
for financing of the takeover, and controversially appointed Max Hastings
, a historian and former BBC
journalist, as editor of The Daily Telegraph
. Knight was Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of the London Daily Telegraph Group from January 1986 until October 1989.
In March 1990, Knight joined News International plc
as Chairman. Rupert Murdoch
named Knight as his "backstop and successor" at News Corporation
prior to Knight retiring from an executive position in June 1994, after a near-fatal skiing accident. He was appointed a Director of News Corporation
on 31 January 1991 and became a non-executive director in 1994.
In July 2008 it was announced that Knight had resigned from the board of the Rothschild Investment Trust, on which he had served since 1996, and instead taken over as Chairman of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited, RIT's main operating entity.
M. W. B. Knight DFC
and his wife S. E. F. Knight. Group Captain Knight was a decorated officer with the RAF, noted for founding Squadron 485, the New Zealand
Squadron. He was educated at the Roman Catholic school Ampleforth College
, where he was appointed Head Boy
, and was awarded an Exhibition
to Balliol College, Oxford
(MA
, Modern History
). Knight worked at the City of London merchant bankers, J. Henry Schroder Wagg, from 1961 to 1963 and the Investors Chronicle from 1962 until 1966, when he joined The Economist
Magazine.
In 1966, Andrew Knight married Victoria Catherine Brittain, by whom he had a son. After a divorce, he married Begum Sabiha Rumani Malik
in 1975, with whom he has two daughters and one step daughter, India Knight
. They divorced in 1991. In 2006, Andrew Knight remarried for the second time, his third wife being Marita Crawley, who has three children by her first marriage.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, and director of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
.
Career
He joined The EconomistThe Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
Magazine in 1966 on the international business and investment sections. From March 1968 to April 1970 he served in the Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
offices of the paper before returning to Europe to establish its European section and, in 1973, its offices in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
Knight was named Editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
in October 1974. Aged 34, he was the second youngest editor in the magazine's history, and tripled the magazine's circulation during his 11 years at the helm. He remained editor until 1986, and was named International Editor of the Year by World Press Review in June 1981.
He masterminded the takeover of the then floundering Telegraph Group
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
in 1985, turning the ailing Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
into the highest selling broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
in the UK. Knight successfully approached Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...
for financing of the takeover, and controversially appointed Max Hastings
Max Hastings
Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, FRSL is a British journalist, editor, historian and author. He is the son of Macdonald Hastings, the noted British journalist and war correspondent and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.-Life and career:Hastings was educated at Charterhouse...
, a historian and former BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
journalist, as editor of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. Knight was Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of the London Daily Telegraph Group from January 1986 until October 1989.
In March 1990, Knight joined News International plc
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
as Chairman. Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
named Knight as his "backstop and successor" at News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
prior to Knight retiring from an executive position in June 1994, after a near-fatal skiing accident. He was appointed a Director of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
on 31 January 1991 and became a non-executive director in 1994.
In July 2008 it was announced that Knight had resigned from the board of the Rothschild Investment Trust, on which he had served since 1996, and instead taken over as Chairman of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited, RIT's main operating entity.
Personal life
Andrew Knight was born on 1 November 1939 to Group CaptainGroup Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore...
M. W. B. Knight DFC
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
and his wife S. E. F. Knight. Group Captain Knight was a decorated officer with the RAF, noted for founding Squadron 485, the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Squadron. He was educated at the Roman Catholic school Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
, where he was appointed Head Boy
Head boy
Head Boy and Head Girl are terms commonly used in the British education system, and in private schools throughout the Commonwealth.-United Kingdom:...
, and was awarded an Exhibition
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
(MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, Modern History
Modern history
Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
). Knight worked at the City of London merchant bankers, J. Henry Schroder Wagg, from 1961 to 1963 and the Investors Chronicle from 1962 until 1966, when he joined The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
Magazine.
In 1966, Andrew Knight married Victoria Catherine Brittain, by whom he had a son. After a divorce, he married Begum Sabiha Rumani Malik
Sabiha Rumani Malik
Sabiha Rumani Malik is co-founder and president of , an idea incubator for conceptualisation and implementation of models for alleviation of poverty in economically deprived areas. She is a Pakistan-born British architect, designer, and a psychotherapist....
in 1975, with whom he has two daughters and one step daughter, India Knight
India Knight
India Knight is a British journalist and author. She is known for her contribution to the British media, as well as her books: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me?, The Shops, Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet and The Thrift Book , all of which are published by Penguin books...
. They divorced in 1991. In 2006, Andrew Knight remarried for the second time, his third wife being Marita Crawley, who has three children by her first marriage.
Positions held
- Chairman, J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited
- Member of the Board of News CorporationNews CorporationNews Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
(1991–Present) - Non-Executive Director, Chairman of Compensation Committee and Member of Audit Committee of News CorporationNews CorporationNews Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
(1991–Present) - Director and Member of Audit Committee of Reader's Digest Association Inc.Reader's DigestReader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
(2007–Present) - Non Executive Director of Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust plc (2003–Present)
- Former Non Executive Director, Member of Audit Committee, Member of Nominations Committee and Member of Remuneration & Conflicts Committee RIT Capital Partners plc (1996–Present)
- Chairman, News International plcNews InternationalNews International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
(1990–94) - CEO, Editor-in-Chief of the London Daily Telegraph Group (1986–89)
- Editor in Chief of The EconomistEconomistAn economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
(1974–86) - Brussels Office of The EconomistEconomistAn economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
(1973–74) - Established the European Section of The EconomistEconomistAn economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
(1970–73) - Washington Office of The EconomistEconomistAn economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
(1968–70) - Investors Chronicle (1962–66)
- J. Henry Schroder WaggSchrodersSchroders plc is a British multinational asset management company with over 200 years of experience in the world's financial markets. The company employs 2,905 people worldwide who are operating from 32 offices in 25 different countries around Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East...
(1961–63) - Member of the Board of ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
- Member of the Board of Tandem ComputersTandem ComputersTandem Computers, Inc. was the dominant manufacturer of fault-tolerant computer systems for ATM networks, banks, stock exchanges, telephone switching centers, and other similar commercial transaction processing applications requiring maximum uptime and zero data loss. The company was founded in...
Cultural and educational institutions, charities
- Chairman of the Jerwood Charity
- Chairman of Shipston Home Nursing
- Chairman of the Harlech Scholars’ Trust
- GovernorGovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of the Ditchley FoundationDitchley FoundationThe Ditchley Foundation is a British organisation based at Ditchley House near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, which aims to promote international relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a programme of around fifteen annual conferences on matters of international interest... - Member of the Board of The Kirov Opera and Ballet formally known as Mariinsky TheatreMariinsky TheatreThe Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
at Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in Covent GardenCovent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as... - Member of the Council of Management of the Ditchley FoundationDitchley FoundationThe Ditchley Foundation is a British organisation based at Ditchley House near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, which aims to promote international relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a programme of around fifteen annual conferences on matters of international interest...
- Advisory Board of the Centre of Economic Policy Research at Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, California - Advisory Council of the Institute of International Studies, Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
- Council member of the Brain and Spine Foundation
Former positions
- non-executive Director of ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
Holdings plc and of Tandem ComputersTandem ComputersTandem Computers, Inc. was the dominant manufacturer of fault-tolerant computer systems for ATM networks, banks, stock exchanges, telephone switching centers, and other similar commercial transaction processing applications requiring maximum uptime and zero data loss. The company was founded in...
Inc. - Former Director of BSkyB from 1990 to 1994
- Overseer of the Hoover InstitutionHoover InstitutionThe Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
, Stanford - Former Chairman of the Ballet Rambert
- Former Trustee of the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
- Former GovernorGovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Imperial College of Science & Technology - Former Council member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham HouseChatham HouseChatham House, formally known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in London whose mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs. It is regarded as one of the world's leading...
- Former Council member of Templeton College, Oxford University
- Former GovernorGovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of GordonstounGordonstounGordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray in North East Scotland. Named after the estate originally owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 1600s, the school now uses this estate as its campus...
school, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...