Francis Wheen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francis James Baird Wheen (born January 22, 1957) is a British writer and journalist, who was educated at Copthorne Prep School, Harrow School and Royal Holloway College, University of London. At Harrow he was a contemporary of Mark Thatcher who has been a recurring subject of his journalism. He is the author of several books including a biography of Karl Marx, which won the Isaac Deutscher prize. An award-winning column for The Guardian ran for several years. He writes for Private Eye and is the magazine's deputy editor. His collected journalism – Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies won him the George Orwell Prize in 2003. He is a regular columnist for the London Evening Standard.
Wheen broadcasts regularly (mainly on BBC Radio 4) and is a regular panellist on The News Quiz, in which he jokes fairly frequently about the fact that he rather looks like the former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith. He is also one of the most frequently recruited guests for Have I Got News For You.
Wheen wrote a docudrama, The Lavender List, for BBC4 on the final period of Harold Wilson's premiership, concentrating on his relationship with Marcia Williams, which was first screened in March 2006. It starred Kenneth Cranham as former Prime Minister Wilson and Gina McKee as Williams.
Francis Wheen is a signatory to the Euston Manifesto; he is a member of the 'soap' side of the Wheen family, whose family business was the long-established "Wheen & Sons", soap-makers, as was revealed in the gossip column of the "Daily Mail" on 26th March 2007, with humour.
[edit] Partial bibliography
- How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World (2004) ISBN 0-00-714096-7; in the USA and Canada: Idiot Proof: A Short History of Modern Delusions (2004) ISBN 1-58648-247-5
- Shooting Out the Lights (2004) ISBN 0-00-714943-3
- The Irresistible Con: The Bizarre Life of a Fraudulent Genius (2004) ISBN 1-904095-74-7
- Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies: Collected Journalism, 1991-2001 (2002) ISBN 1-903809-42-8 (mainly consisting of columns written for The Guardian)
- Who Was Dr. Charlotte Bach? (2002) ISBN 1-904095-39-9
- Karl Marx (1999) ISBN 1-85702-637-3
- Lord Gnome's Literary Companion (1994) ISBN 1-85984-945-8
- The Chatto Book of Cats (Chatto Anthologies) Francis Wheen, editor, John O'Connor, illustrator (1993) ISBN 0-7011-4005-4
- Tom Driberg: His Life and Indiscretions (1990) ISBN 0-7011-3143-8
- Battle for London (1985) ISBN 0-7453-0054-5
- Television: A History (1984) ISBN 0-7126-0929-6
- The Sixties (1982) ISBN 0-7126-0018-3
