Damien McCrystal
Encyclopedia
Damien McCrystal became the first City editor of The Sun
, News International
’s British daily tabloid, in September 1987 after Robert Worcester
, founder of Market & Opinion Research International (MORI, now Ipsos MORI) told Rupert Murdoch
, head of News International, that the wave of utility company privatisations in the UK had turned one quarter of The Sun’s readers into share-owners.
At the time The Sun was selling approximately 4.2 million copies a day, with the highest circulation of any daily English language
newspaper
in the world. It was generally reckoned by News International and its advertisers, in those days, that each copy was read by up to three people. This translated, according to Worcester’s calculations, into 3 million share-owning Sun readers. As a direct result, Murdoch ordered The Sun’s editor Kelvin MacKenzie
to launch a page dedicated to business news and McCrystal was hired as its editor from another News International title, Today
, where he was assistant City editor.
McCrystal used the new platform to campaign for the resignation of Sir Nicholas Goodison, chairman of London
's Stock Exchange
(1976–1988), claiming that he had failed adequately to prepare the Exchange for de-regulation (the so-called Big Bang of 1986) or the government's privatisation programme. McCrystal's campaign employed scantily-dressed young models in the City of London
distributing badges and tee-shirts bearing the legend "The Sun Says Goodison must Go". Goodison retired the following year. After falling out with MacKenzie, McCrystal left The Sun in May 1988. The Sun has maintained its City page ever since, in largely similar format.
After leaving the Sun, McCrystal went on to work as a freelance broadcaster for a time, writing bulletins and occasionally presenting features for TV-am
(defunct) and presenting programmes for Channel 4
’s Hard News series, before joining The Daily Telegraph in 1991 as editor of the City Diary in the newspaper’s business pages.
At the Daily Telegraph, he was briefly caught up in the so-called Dirty Tricks dispute between British Airways
and Virgin Atlantic when his attempts to investigate a story highlighted the intensity of the two sides' claims and counter-claims. Virgin's then head of corporate communications, Will Whitehorn
, has been a friend of McCrystal for 30 years.
In 1996 he became Director of Corporate Communications at Union Bank of Switzerland
's investment banking
arm in London and a year later left to join Lanica Trust, an investment vehicle run by the entrepreneur Andrew Regan
, who was attempting to win control of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (now the Co-operative Group) in a bitter and hotly-contested takeover bid.
When the Co-op bid failed amidst widely-publicised allegations of theft
and bribery
that culminated in Regan’s arrest and subsequent acquittal
, McCrystal went back into journalism
and in December 1997 became a founding staff member of Sunday Business
in its second incarnation, under editor Jeff Randall
. There he wrote the Diary and a rather louche restaurant review which gained a following amongst City readers for whom the long lunch had largely become a thing of the past. At the same time, he began making frequent contributions to The Spectator
magazine. He has also written weekly or daily columns for The Observer
, Daily Mail
, Evening Standard
(London), Today (defunct) and the Sunday Correspondent
(defunct) and contributed to The Field
, The Guardian
, Independent on Sunday, New Statesman
, British Journalism Review, New Law Journal
and Campaign.
Since 2005 he has been working primarily as a media and PR
consultant, working on projects for clients such as the celebrity chef Marco Pierre White
(with whom he once drank £16,000 worth of fine wines in a sitting with three others), the UK fund manager Nicola Horlick
(whom he claims to have introduced to the property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz, prompting a £40 million investment in one of her projects,) Lord Rothschild’s Spencer House Capital Management, the Canadian mining and leisure entrepreneur Walter Berukoff and the Mittal family's privately-held steel interests.
In February 2010, the high profile UK fund manager Nicola Horlick
settled a legal dispute with McCrystal, withdrawing a controversial "super-injunction" and apologising to him. The following statement was jointly issued by Horlick's and McCrystal's respective London solicitors, Schillings and Taylor Wessing:
"In May 2009 after receiving false information from a third party, Nicola Horlick obtained an injunction and launched an action for damages against Damien McCrystal relating to matters of a private nature. Nicola Horlick has now discontinued proceedings against Damien McCrystal and is happy to accept that he did not and would not divulge any personal information and was not at fault. Nicola Horlick is sorry for this misunderstanding, as is reflected in the terms of the agreed costs settlement, which nonetheless remain confidential. The parties have no further comment to make on this matter."
In 2008 McCrystal founded a “green” shareholder pressure group, Environmental Investor Services, which lobbies companies and industries to improve their environmental performance.
He continues to write on diverse matters and is co-author of Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar, a restaurant review column which features in the Financial Times
website FT Alphaville.
Born in Belfast
, Damien Peter McCrystal is the son of the journalist and author Cal McCrystal and brother of the theatre director Cal McCrystal
.
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
’s British daily tabloid, in September 1987 after Robert Worcester
Robert Worcester
Sir Robert Milton Worcester, KBE, DL is the founder of MORI and a member and contributor to many voluntary organisations. He is a well known figure in British public opinion research and political circles and as a media commentator, especially about voting intentions in British and American...
, founder of Market & Opinion Research International (MORI, now Ipsos MORI) told 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....
, head of News International, that the wave of utility company privatisations in the UK had turned one quarter of The Sun’s readers into share-owners.
At the time The Sun was selling approximately 4.2 million copies a day, with the highest circulation of any daily English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in the world. It was generally reckoned by News International and its advertisers, in those days, that each copy was read by up to three people. This translated, according to Worcester’s calculations, into 3 million share-owning Sun readers. As a direct result, Murdoch ordered The Sun’s editor Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin Calder MacKenzie is an English media executive and former newspaper editor. He is best known for being editor of The Sun newspaper between 1981 and 1994, an era in which the paper was established as Britain's best selling newspaper.- Biography :MacKenzie was educated at Alleyn's School...
to launch a page dedicated to business news and McCrystal was hired as its editor from another News International title, Today
Today (UK newspaper)
Today was a national newspaper in the United Kingdom, which was published between 1986 and 1995.-History:Today, with the American newspaper USA Today as inspiration, launched on Tuesday, 4 March 1986, with the front page headline, "Second Spy Inside GCHQ". At 18 pence, it was a middle-market...
, where he was assistant City editor.
McCrystal used the new platform to campaign for the resignation of Sir Nicholas Goodison, chairman of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
(1976–1988), claiming that he had failed adequately to prepare the Exchange for de-regulation (the so-called Big Bang of 1986) or the government's privatisation programme. McCrystal's campaign employed scantily-dressed young models in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
distributing badges and tee-shirts bearing the legend "The Sun Says Goodison must Go". Goodison retired the following year. After falling out with MacKenzie, McCrystal left The Sun in May 1988. The Sun has maintained its City page ever since, in largely similar format.
After leaving the Sun, McCrystal went on to work as a freelance broadcaster for a time, writing bulletins and occasionally presenting features for TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
(defunct) and presenting programmes for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
’s Hard News series, before joining The Daily Telegraph in 1991 as editor of the City Diary in the newspaper’s business pages.
At the Daily Telegraph, he was briefly caught up in the so-called Dirty Tricks dispute between British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
and Virgin Atlantic when his attempts to investigate a story highlighted the intensity of the two sides' claims and counter-claims. Virgin's then head of corporate communications, Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn was, until recently, the President of Virgin Galactic, a company which plans to offer space tourism flights to the paying public.-Biography:Whitehorn was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe...
, has been a friend of McCrystal for 30 years.
In 1996 he became Director of Corporate Communications at Union Bank of Switzerland
Union Bank of Switzerland
Union Bank of Switzerland was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland. The bank, which at the time was the second largest bank in Switzerland, merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS to form what was then the largest bank in Europe and the second...
's investment banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
arm in London and a year later left to join Lanica Trust, an investment vehicle run by the entrepreneur Andrew Regan
Andrew Regan
Andrew Regan is a British-born polar explorer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an investment company.-Personal life:...
, who was attempting to win control of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (now the Co-operative Group) in a bitter and hotly-contested takeover bid.
When the Co-op bid failed amidst widely-publicised allegations of theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
and bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
that culminated in Regan’s arrest and subsequent acquittal
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
, McCrystal went back into journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and in December 1997 became a founding staff member of Sunday Business
Sunday Business
Sunday Business was a national Sunday broadsheet financial newspaper published in the United Kingdom, which ran from 1996 to 2006, when it was turned into a magazine called The Business....
in its second incarnation, under editor Jeff Randall
Jeff Randall (journalist)
Jeff William Randall is a journalist, who presents Jeff Randall Live, a business and politics show on Sky News...
. There he wrote the Diary and a rather louche restaurant review which gained a following amongst City readers for whom the long lunch had largely become a thing of the past. At the same time, he began making frequent contributions to The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
magazine. He has also written weekly or daily columns for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
(London), Today (defunct) and the Sunday Correspondent
Sunday Correspondent
The Sunday Correspondent was a shortlived British weekly national broadsheet newspaper. Launched on 17 September 1989, it ceased publication on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole....
(defunct) and contributed to The Field
The Field (magazine)
The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Independent on Sunday, New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, British Journalism Review, New Law Journal
New Law Journal
New Law Journal is a weekly legal magazine for legal professionals, first published in 1822. It provides information on case law, legislation and changes in practice...
and Campaign.
Since 2005 he has been working primarily as a media and PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
consultant, working on projects for clients such as the celebrity chef Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is noted for his contributions to contemporary international cuisine, and his exceptional culinary skills....
(with whom he once drank £16,000 worth of fine wines in a sitting with three others), the UK fund manager Nicola Horlick
Nicola Horlick
Nicola Karina Christina Horlick, is a British investment fund manager.-Early life:...
(whom he claims to have introduced to the property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz, prompting a £40 million investment in one of her projects,) Lord Rothschild’s Spencer House Capital Management, the Canadian mining and leisure entrepreneur Walter Berukoff and the Mittal family's privately-held steel interests.
In February 2010, the high profile UK fund manager Nicola Horlick
Nicola Horlick
Nicola Karina Christina Horlick, is a British investment fund manager.-Early life:...
settled a legal dispute with McCrystal, withdrawing a controversial "super-injunction" and apologising to him. The following statement was jointly issued by Horlick's and McCrystal's respective London solicitors, Schillings and Taylor Wessing:
"In May 2009 after receiving false information from a third party, Nicola Horlick obtained an injunction and launched an action for damages against Damien McCrystal relating to matters of a private nature. Nicola Horlick has now discontinued proceedings against Damien McCrystal and is happy to accept that he did not and would not divulge any personal information and was not at fault. Nicola Horlick is sorry for this misunderstanding, as is reflected in the terms of the agreed costs settlement, which nonetheless remain confidential. The parties have no further comment to make on this matter."
In 2008 McCrystal founded a “green” shareholder pressure group, Environmental Investor Services, which lobbies companies and industries to improve their environmental performance.
He continues to write on diverse matters and is co-author of Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar, a restaurant review column which features in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
website FT Alphaville.
Born in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Damien Peter McCrystal is the son of the journalist and author Cal McCrystal and brother of the theatre director Cal McCrystal
Cal McCrystal (director)
Cal McCrystal is a British theatre director. He is the brother of the journalist Damien McCrystal and the son of the journalist and writer Cal McCrystal.-References:...
.