Richard Ingrams
Encyclopedia
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.
(1941–2005). Ingrams was educated at the independent preparatory school
West Downs
in Winchester
, Hampshire
, followed by Shrewsbury School
, where he first met Willie Rushton
and edited the school magazine. Before attending Oxford, he did his National Service
in the army ranks after failing his interview for officer training, something which was unusual for someone from his background at the time. At University College, Oxford
, where he read Classics, he shared tutorials with Robin Butler
, later Cabinet Secretary and sometimes referred to as a 'pillar of the Establishment'. More importantly, he met Paul Foot
, another former Shrewsbury pupil not yet the left-wing radical he became, who was to be a life-long friend, and whose biography Ingrams wrote after Foot's early death.
Along with several other Old Salopians, including Willie Rushton
, Ingrams founded Private Eye in the early 1960s, taking over the editorship from Christopher Booker
in 1963. It was a classic case, he claimed on Desert Island Discs
in 2008, of the "old boy network". Private Eye
was part of the "satire boom
" of the early 1960s, which included the television show That Was The Week That Was
, for which Ingrams wrote, and The Establishment
nightclub, run by Peter Cook
. When Private Eye ran into financial problems Cook was able to gain a majority shareholding on the proceeds of his brief but financially successful venture.
Ingrams vacated the editor's chair at the Eye in 1986, with Ian Hislop
taking over. In 1992 Ingrams created and still edits The Oldie
, a now monthly humorous lifestyle and issues magazine mainly aimed at the older generation. He is still Chairman of Private Eye, working there every Monday, spending four days a week in London.
He was a regular on the radio panel quiz The News Quiz
for its first two decades and contributed a column to The Observer
for eighteen years. In late 2005 he moved to The Independent
, considering The Observer to have gone downhill, particularly as a consequence of its support for the Iraq war. In his 27 August 2011 column, he announced that he had been sacked by the newly appointed editor of The Independent.
By 1993 he had become involved with Deborah Bosley, a former head waitress at the Groucho Club
and an author, who is his junior by several decades. Bosley left him when Ingrams refused to have a child with her. Bosley found a new boyfriend, and had a son with him, but they soon split up and Bosley returned to live with Ingrams.
Ingrams plays the organ in his local Anglican church in Aldworth
, Berkshire, each Sunday. The Romney Marsh
Historic Churches Trust was formed under the patronage of Ingrams and the then Archbishop of Canterbury
, Robert Runcie
.
A biography, Richard Ingrams: Lord of the Gnomes (ISBN 0-434-77828-1) by Harry Thompson
, was published in 1994.
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie
The Oldie
The Oldie is a monthly magazine launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who for 23 years was the editor of Private Eye. It carries general interest articles, humour and cartoons, and has an eclectic list of contributors, including James Le Fanu, John Sweeney, Thomas Stuttaford, Virginia Ironside,...
magazine.
Career
Ingrams' parents were Leonard St Clair Ingrams and Victoria (née Reid), who had three other sons, including the banker and opera impresario Leonard IngramsLeonard Ingrams
Leonard Victor Ingrams was a merchant banker and opera festival founder/impresario.Leonard Ingrams was the youngest of four sons. His parents were Leonard St Clair Ingrams and Victoria . His mother was very musical and he started to learn the violin at the age of six...
(1941–2005). Ingrams was educated at the independent preparatory school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
West Downs
West Downs School
West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988.-History:...
in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, followed by Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
, where he first met Willie Rushton
Willie Rushton
William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.- School and army :William George Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in the family home at Scarsdale Villas,...
and edited the school magazine. Before attending Oxford, he did his National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in the army ranks after failing his interview for officer training, something which was unusual for someone from his background at the time. At University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, where he read Classics, he shared tutorials with Robin Butler
Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell
Frederick Edward Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, is a retired British civil servant, now sitting in the House of Lords as a Life Peer.-Life:Butler was born in Lytham St Annes on on 3 January, 1938...
, later Cabinet Secretary and sometimes referred to as a 'pillar of the Establishment'. More importantly, he met Paul Foot
Paul Foot
Paul Mackintosh Foot was a British investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, another former Shrewsbury pupil not yet the left-wing radical he became, who was to be a life-long friend, and whose biography Ingrams wrote after Foot's early death.
Along with several other Old Salopians, including Willie Rushton
Willie Rushton
William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.- School and army :William George Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in the family home at Scarsdale Villas,...
, Ingrams founded Private Eye in the early 1960s, taking over the editorship from Christopher Booker
Christopher Booker
Christopher John Penrice Booker is an English journalist and author. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and has contributed to it for over four decades. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990...
in 1963. It was a classic case, he claimed on Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
in 2008, of the "old boy network". 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,...
was part of the "satire boom
Satire boom
The satire boom is a general term to describe the emergence of a generation of English satirical writers, journalists and performers at the end of the 1950s. The satire boom is often regarded as having begun with the first performance of Beyond the Fringe on 22 August 1960 and ending around...
" of the early 1960s, which included the television show That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...
, for which Ingrams wrote, and The Establishment
The Establishment (club)
The Establishment was a London nightclub which opened in October 1961, at 18 Greek Street, Soho and was famous in retrospect for satire although actually more notable at the time for jazz and other events. It was founded by Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard, both of whom were also important in the...
nightclub, run by Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
. When Private Eye ran into financial problems Cook was able to gain a majority shareholding on the proceeds of his brief but financially successful venture.
Ingrams vacated the editor's chair at the Eye in 1986, with Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
taking over. In 1992 Ingrams created and still edits The Oldie
The Oldie
The Oldie is a monthly magazine launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who for 23 years was the editor of Private Eye. It carries general interest articles, humour and cartoons, and has an eclectic list of contributors, including James Le Fanu, John Sweeney, Thomas Stuttaford, Virginia Ironside,...
, a now monthly humorous lifestyle and issues magazine mainly aimed at the older generation. He is still Chairman of Private Eye, working there every Monday, spending four days a week in London.
He was a regular on the radio panel quiz The News Quiz
The News Quiz
The News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
for its first two decades and contributed a column to 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,...
for eighteen years. In late 2005 he moved to The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, considering The Observer to have gone downhill, particularly as a consequence of its support for the Iraq war. In his 27 August 2011 column, he announced that he had been sacked by the newly appointed editor of The Independent.
Private life
Ingrams married Mary Morgan in 1962; they had three children: a son, Fred, who is an artist, a second son, Arthur, who was disabled and died in childhood, and a daughter, Margaret Ford, who died of a heroin overdose in Brighton in early 2004.By 1993 he had become involved with Deborah Bosley, a former head waitress at the Groucho Club
Groucho Club
The Groucho Club is a well-known private social club located at Dean Street in Soho, London. Its members are mostly drawn from the media, entertainment, arts and fashion industries....
and an author, who is his junior by several decades. Bosley left him when Ingrams refused to have a child with her. Bosley found a new boyfriend, and had a son with him, but they soon split up and Bosley returned to live with Ingrams.
Ingrams plays the organ in his local Anglican church in Aldworth
Aldworth
Aldworth is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, close to the modern northern county boundary with Oxfordshire. It is in the rural area between Reading, Newbury and Streatley. The parish includes the neighbouring hamlet of Westridge Green.Aldworth is on the high...
, Berkshire, each Sunday. The Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 mi ² .-Quotations:*“As Egypt was the gift of the Nile, this level tract .....
Historic Churches Trust was formed under the patronage of Ingrams and the then Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Robert Runcie
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...
.
A biography, Richard Ingrams: Lord of the Gnomes (ISBN 0-434-77828-1) by Harry Thompson
Harry Thompson
Harry William Thompson was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer....
, was published in 1994.