Nigel Dempster
Encyclopedia
Nigel Richard Patton Dempster (1 November 1941 in Calcutta, India
— 12 July 2007 in Ham
, Surrey
) was a British
journalist
, author
, broadcaster
and diarist. Best known for his celebrity
gossip columns in newspapers, his work appeared in the Daily Express
and Daily Mail
and also in Private Eye
magazine. At his death, the editor of the Daily Mail Paul Dacre
was reported as saying: "His scoops were the stuff of legend and his zest for life inexhaustible".
in Dorset. After gaining three O-levels, he was ultimately expelled at 16 for being a "disruptive influence" after several misdemeanours.
After short periods working in the City
and in public relations, Dempster joined the Daily Express in 1963 and remained at the title until 1971. Here he was a contributor to the 'William Hickey' column, and used his contacts to gain stories about the aristocracy and other public figures. He was then on the staff of the Daily Mail
from 1971 to 2003, where he was initially deputy to Paul Callan
, but replaced him as the newspaper's diarist in 1973. While Dempster was sometimes inaccurate, for instance dismissing suggestions that Prince Charles
would marry Lady Diana Spencer
, he forecast in 1975 that Harold Wilson
would soon resign as Prime Minister, three months before he did so in 1976. Supposedly this took everyone by surprise, but a contact of Dempster's had overheard the Foreign Secretary James Callaghan
discussing it. Dempster was also close to Princess Margaret
, despite breaking news of her liaison with Roddy Llewellyn
.
Dempster also wrote for Private Eye from 1969, where he was responsible with Peter MacKay for the "Grovel" column, but left in 1985, shortly before Ian Hislop
succeeded Richard Ingrams
as editor. In "Grovel", Dempster was able to include material which could not be published elsewhere, and the column was the location of the first articles in the Eye to which James Goldsmith
took exception. According to Hislop, Dempster fell out with the publication because he felt (in common with colleague Auberon Waugh
) that he should be editor instead of Hislop. The differences allegedly began over an article making false accusations concerning the Conservative
politician Cecil Parkinson
and his new secretary (after Sara Keays
) in Eye 606. The issue had to be reprinted (606A) after a court action with the offending and inaccurate item omitted. According to another source it ended when Dempster revealed that Richard Ingrams
' marriage was in serious difficulties; Ingrams, an admirer, had previously called Dempster the "greatest living Englishman". As a result of the differences with Private Eye Dempster was nicknamed 'Nigel Pratt-Dumpster' whenever he was subsequently mentioned, and became a frequent target of parody by the magazine. After he left the Eye, he began writing his column for the Mail on Sunday in 1986, and thus it now appeared seven days a week.
Reportedly a difficult colleague, Dempster missed out on the 'Diana boom', and even boasted at one point that he had not met her, according to his Daily Telegraph obituary. He began to drink more, with several incidents involving police breathalysers, and wrote less; his columns had actually been the work of four people rather than Dempster alone. In the view of observers, Dempster's column in his last years lost its bite, and in his industry he was considered something of a relic: "by now a brand rather than a journalistic asset". Paul Dacre, who succeeded Sir David English
as editor of the Mail in 1992, reportedly held a low opinion of Dempster's column, and revived the 'Ephraim Hardcastle' feature, under the responsibility of Dempster's old colleague on the Eye Peter MacKay, in 1996.
Dempster retired from editing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday diaries bearing his name in 2003 and lived with Lady Camilla Dempster, his ex-wife, who helped nurse him through the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy
, a nervous disorder with some characteristics of Parkinson's Disease
.
He married Lady Camilla Osborne in 1977 (divorced 2002). She was the former wife of Robert John Brownlow Harris and was the daughter of John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds
and his second wife, Audrey Young, a painter. By his second marriage, Dempster had a stepdaughter, Emily Kate Godolphin Harris (born 1972), and a daughter, Louisa Beatrix Dempster (born 1979).
On 29 May 2004 Dempster converted to Roman Catholicism at the Brompton Oratory in London. He had been taking lessons for seven months prior to this and was a regular member of the congregation. Dempster died on the 12 July 2007. According to his biographer, Tim Willis: "At his funeral, the priest declared that Dempster might have to spend a million years in purgatory — and paused just long enough to shock the congregation, before adding that, in eternity, a million years would pass in the snap of a finger."
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
— 12 July 2007 in Ham
Ham, London
Ham is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the River Thames.- Location :Its name derives from the Old English word Hamme meaning place in the bend in the river. Together with Petersham, Ham lies to the east of the bend in the river south of Richmond and north of Kingston...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and diarist. Best known for his celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
gossip columns in newspapers, his work appeared in the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
and 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...
and also in Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
magazine. At his death, the editor of the Daily Mail Paul Dacre
Paul Dacre
Paul Michael Dacre is a British journalist and current editor of the British newspaper the Daily Mail. He is also editor in chief of the Mail group titles, which also includes The Mail on Sunday. He is also a director of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc and was a member of the Press Complaints...
was reported as saying: "His scoops were the stuff of legend and his zest for life inexhaustible".
Career
The son of an Australian mining engineer, who was fifty when Dempster was born, and an English mother, he was educated at Sherborne SchoolSherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
in Dorset. After gaining three O-levels, he was ultimately expelled at 16 for being a "disruptive influence" after several misdemeanours.
After short periods working in the City
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...
and in public relations, Dempster joined the Daily Express in 1963 and remained at the title until 1971. Here he was a contributor to the 'William Hickey' column, and used his contacts to gain stories about the aristocracy and other public figures. He was then on the staff of the 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...
from 1971 to 2003, where he was initially deputy to Paul Callan
Paul Callan
This article is about the British journalist. For the television character, see Miracles.Paul Callan is a British journalist and editor who has worked on many national newspapers.-Early career:...
, but replaced him as the newspaper's diarist in 1973. While Dempster was sometimes inaccurate, for instance dismissing suggestions that Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
would marry Lady Diana Spencer
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, he forecast in 1975 that Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
would soon resign as Prime Minister, three months before he did so in 1976. Supposedly this took everyone by surprise, but a contact of Dempster's had overheard the Foreign Secretary James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
discussing it. Dempster was also close to Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
, despite breaking news of her liaison with Roddy Llewellyn
Roddy Llewellyn
Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet is a British baronet, landscape gardener, gardening journalist, author and television presenter...
.
Dempster also wrote for Private Eye from 1969, where he was responsible with Peter MacKay for the "Grovel" column, but left in 1985, shortly before Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
succeeded Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie magazine.-Career:...
as editor. In "Grovel", Dempster was able to include material which could not be published elsewhere, and the column was the location of the first articles in the Eye to which James Goldsmith
James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith was an Anglo-French billionaire financier and tycoon. Towards the end of his life, he became a magazine publisher and a politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived...
took exception. According to Hislop, Dempster fell out with the publication because he felt (in common with colleague Auberon Waugh
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...
) that he should be editor instead of Hislop. The differences allegedly began over an article making false accusations concerning the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician Cecil Parkinson
Cecil Parkinson
Cecil Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, PC , is a British Conservative politician and former Cabinet Minister.-Early life:...
and his new secretary (after Sara Keays
Sara Keays
Sara Keays is the former mistress and personal secretary of British Conservative politician Cecil Parkinson. Keays' public revelation of her pregnancy and of their twelve-year long affair, when she realised that Parkinson would neither marry her nor help her become an MP, led to his resignation as...
) in Eye 606. The issue had to be reprinted (606A) after a court action with the offending and inaccurate item omitted. According to another source it ended when Dempster revealed that Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie magazine.-Career:...
' marriage was in serious difficulties; Ingrams, an admirer, had previously called Dempster the "greatest living Englishman". As a result of the differences with Private Eye Dempster was nicknamed 'Nigel Pratt-Dumpster' whenever he was subsequently mentioned, and became a frequent target of parody by the magazine. After he left the Eye, he began writing his column for the Mail on Sunday in 1986, and thus it now appeared seven days a week.
Reportedly a difficult colleague, Dempster missed out on the 'Diana boom', and even boasted at one point that he had not met her, according to his Daily Telegraph obituary. He began to drink more, with several incidents involving police breathalysers, and wrote less; his columns had actually been the work of four people rather than Dempster alone. In the view of observers, Dempster's column in his last years lost its bite, and in his industry he was considered something of a relic: "by now a brand rather than a journalistic asset". Paul Dacre, who succeeded Sir David English
David English (journalist)
Sir David English was a British journalist and newspaper editor, best known for his twenty-year editorship of the Daily Mail.-Early life:...
as editor of the Mail in 1992, reportedly held a low opinion of Dempster's column, and revived the 'Ephraim Hardcastle' feature, under the responsibility of Dempster's old colleague on the Eye Peter MacKay, in 1996.
Dempster retired from editing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday diaries bearing his name in 2003 and lived with Lady Camilla Dempster, his ex-wife, who helped nurse him through the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy
Progressive supranuclear palsy
Progressive supranuclear palsy is a degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific areas of the brain....
, a nervous disorder with some characteristics of Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
.
Personal life
Dempster married, in 1971 (divorced 1974), Countess Emma Magdalen de Bendern, a daughter of Count John Gerard de Bendern and the former Lady Patricia Sybil Douglas.He married Lady Camilla Osborne in 1977 (divorced 2002). She was the former wife of Robert John Brownlow Harris and was the daughter of John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds
John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds
John Francis Godolphin Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds was a British peer.He was the son of Sir George Godolphin Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds and Lady Katherine Frances Lambton. He succeeded to the title of 11th Duke of Leeds and its subsidiary titles on 10 May 1927...
and his second wife, Audrey Young, a painter. By his second marriage, Dempster had a stepdaughter, Emily Kate Godolphin Harris (born 1972), and a daughter, Louisa Beatrix Dempster (born 1979).
On 29 May 2004 Dempster converted to Roman Catholicism at the Brompton Oratory in London. He had been taking lessons for seven months prior to this and was a regular member of the congregation. Dempster died on the 12 July 2007. According to his biographer, Tim Willis: "At his funeral, the priest declared that Dempster might have to spend a million years in purgatory — and paused just long enough to shock the congregation, before adding that, in eternity, a million years would pass in the snap of a finger."
Books
- H. R. H. Princess Margaret: A Life Unfulfilled, Macmillan/Quartet, 1981
- Heiress: Story of Christina Onassis, Grove Press, 1989
- Behind Palace Doors, Orion, 1993