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		<title>Christopher Booker</title>
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		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;147.147.210.42: /* Early life */&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;div&gt;{{Short description|English journalist and author (1937–2019)}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Other people|Chris Booker}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}&lt;br /&gt;
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&#039;&#039;&#039;Christopher John Penrice Booker&#039;&#039;&#039; (7 October 1937 – 3 July 2019) was an English [[journalist]] and author. He was a founder and first editor of the [[satire|satirical]] magazine &#039;&#039;[[Private Eye]]&#039;&#039; in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for &#039;&#039;[[The Sunday Telegraph]]&#039;&#039;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dt8nO2bOnysC&amp;amp;pg=PA63 International Who&#039;s Who of Authors and Writers 2004], Routledge, 2003. p63&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In 2009, he published &#039;&#039;[[The Real Global Warming Disaster]]&#039;&#039;. He also disputed the link between [[passive smoking]] and [[cancer]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/features/2019/07/06/private-eye-founder-dies-at-81/ Private Eye founder dies at 81] Published by The Shropshire Star on 6 July 2019, retrieved on 12 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref name=passivesmoking/&amp;gt; and the [[Health impact of asbestos|dangers]] posed by [[asbestos]].&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/27/asbestos-press-watchdog-pcc Asbestos saga proves our feeble press watchdog has no bark and no bite] Published by The Guardian on 28 September 2010, retrieved on 12 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |last=Booker |first=Christopher |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1531446/Christopher-Bookers-Notebook.html |title=Christopher Booker&#039;s Notebook |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=15 October 2006 |accessdate=12 April 2012 |location=London}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In his &#039;&#039;Sunday Telegraph&#039;&#039; section he frequently commented on the UK [[Courts of England and Wales#Family Court|Family Court]]s and Social Services.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/10580028/Child-protection-services-A-mothers-diary-records-the-awful-death-of-a-child-in-care.html |title=Child protection services: A mother&#039;s diary records the awful death of a child &#039;in care&#039; |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |first=Christopher |last=Booker |date=18 January 2014 |access-date=19 September 2016}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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In collaboration with [[Richard A. E. North#European Union|Richard North]], Booker wrote a variety of publications advancing a [[Eurosceptic]], though academically disputed,&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;perspectives&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{Cite journal|last=Tunkrová|first=Lucie|date=Winter 2006|editor-last=Karlas|editor-first=Jan|title=The Great Deception. The Secret History of the European Union (Skryté dějiny evropské integrace od roku 1918 do současnosti) by Christopher Booker, Richard North|journal=Perspectives: The Central European Review of International Affairs|publisher=Institute of International Relations, NGO|issue=27|pages=122–124|issn=1210-762X|eissn=1803-4551|jstor=23616067}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite journal|editor1-last=Richard|editor1-first=Spall|title=Book Review: The Great Deception: The Secret History of the European Union. By Christopher Booker and Richard North. (New York: Continuum, 2003. Pp. xiii, 474. $39.95.) University of Trenton Reviewed by Mark Gilbert|journal=The Historian|date=December 2005|volume=67|issue=4|pages=787–788|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2005.00130.x|s2cid=218499735 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; [[popular historiography]] of the [[European Union]]. The best-known of these is &#039;&#039;The Great Deception&#039;&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
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==Career==&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Early life===&lt;br /&gt;
Booker was educated at [[Dragon School, Oxford|Dragon School]], [[Shrewsbury School]]&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Grun&amp;quot;&amp;gt;[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jul/04/christopher-booker-obituary Christopher Booker obituary] Published by The Guardian on 4 July 2019, retrieved on 12 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; and [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]], where he studied History.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Who&#039;s Who | title=BOOKER, Christopher John Penrice | id = U8078 | volume = 2019 | edition = online}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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===1960s===&lt;br /&gt;
With fellow [[Shrewsbury School|Salopians]] [[Richard Ingrams]] and [[Willie Rushton]] he founded &#039;&#039;[[Private Eye]]&#039;&#039; in 1961, and was its first editor. He was ousted by Ingrams in 1963. Returning in 1965, he remained a permanent member of the magazine&#039;s collaborative joke-writing team thereafter (with Ingrams, [[Barry Fantoni]] and current editor [[Ian Hislop]]) till his death.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/07/03/43469/christopher_booker,_private_eye%e2%80%99s_first_editor,_dies_at_81 Christopher Booker, Private Eye&#039;s first editor, dies at 81] Published by Chortle and retrieved on 12 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Booker began writing jazz reviews for &#039;&#039;[[The Daily Telegraph]]&#039;&#039; while at university.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Tobitt&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite web |last1=Tobitt |first1=Charlotte |title=Private Eye founding editor and Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker dies aged 81 |url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/private-eye-founding-editor-and-telegraph-columnist-christopher-booker-dies-aged-81/ |website=Press Gazette |access-date=3 July 2019 |date=3 July 2019}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; From 1961 to 1964, he wrote about jazz for &#039;&#039;[[The Sunday Telegraph]]&#039;&#039; as well. His contributions included a positive account of a concert given by the pianist [[Erroll Garner]], which did not happen; it was a late cancellation.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/edition/register/christopher-booker-obituary-bpxfr7j3c|title=Christopher Booker obituary|work=[[The Times]]|date=4 July 2019|access-date=4 July 2019}} {{subscription required}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In 1962, he became the resident political scriptwriter on the [[BBC]] satire show &#039;&#039;[[That Was The Week That Was]]&#039;&#039;, notably contributing sketches on Home Secretary [[Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor|Henry Brooke]] and Prime Minister Sir [[Alec Douglas-Home]] which have often been cited as examples of the programme&#039;s outspoken style.&lt;br /&gt;
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From 1964 he became a &#039;&#039;[[The Spectator|Spectator]]&#039;&#039; columnist, writing on the press and TV, and in 1969 published &#039;&#039;The Neophiliacs: A Study of the Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties&#039;&#039;, a highly critical analysis of the role played by fantasy in the political and social life of those decades. He was married to the novelist [[Emma Tennant]] between 1963 and 1968.&lt;br /&gt;
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===1970s===&lt;br /&gt;
He married Christine Verity, his second wife, in 1972.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Grun&amp;quot;/&amp;gt; In the early 1970s, Booker campaigned against both the building of [[tower blocks]] and the wholesale redevelopment of Britain&#039;s cities according to the ideology of the [[Modern architecture|modernist]] movement. In 1973, he published &#039;&#039;Goodbye London&#039;&#039; (written with [[Candida Lycett Green]]), and, with Bennie Gray, was the IPC Campaigning Journalist of the Year. He made a documentary for the BBC in 1979 on modernist architecture, called &#039;&#039;City of Towers&#039;&#039;. In the mid-1970s he contributed a regular quiz to [[Melvyn Bragg]]&#039;s BBC literary programme &#039;&#039;Read All About It&#039;&#039;, and he returned to &#039;&#039;The Spectator&#039;&#039; as a weekly contributor (1976–1981), when he also became a lead book-reviewer for &#039;&#039;The Sunday Telegraph&#039;&#039;. In 1979, he married Valerie Patrick, his third wife, with whom he had two sons; they lived in [[Somerset]].&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Grun&amp;quot;/&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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===1980s===&lt;br /&gt;
In 1980, he published &#039;&#039;The Seventies: Portrait Of A Decade&#039;&#039;, and covered the [[1980 Moscow Olympics|Moscow Olympics]] for the &#039;&#039;[[Daily Mail]]&#039;&#039;, publishing &#039;&#039;The Games War: A Moscow Journal&#039;&#039; the following year. Between 1987 and 1990 he wrote &#039;&#039;The Daily Telegraph&#039;&#039;{{&#039;}}s &#039;&#039;The Way of the World&#039;&#039; column (a satirical column originated by [[Michael Wharton]]) as &amp;quot;Peter Simple II&amp;quot;, and in 1990 swapped places with [[Auberon Waugh]], after mocking Waugh who firmly requested he should write the column instead of Booker, to become a weekly columnist on &#039;&#039;The Sunday Telegraph&#039;&#039;, where he remained until March 2019.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Tobitt&amp;quot;/&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Between 1986 and 1990 he took part in a detailed investigation, chaired by Brigadier Tony Cowgill, of the charges that senior British politicians, including [[Harold Macmillan]], had been guilty of a serious [[war crime]] in handing over thousands of Cossack and Yugoslav prisoners to the Communists at the end of the [[Second World War|war]] in 1945. Their report, published in 1990, presented those events in a very different light, and Booker later published a lengthy analysis of the controversy in &#039;&#039;A Looking Glass Tragedy&#039;&#039; (1997).&lt;br /&gt;
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===After 1990===&lt;br /&gt;
From 1992 he focused more on the role played in British life by bureaucratic regulation and the [[European Union]], forming a professional collaboration with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], and they subsequently co-authored a series of books, including &#039;&#039;The Mad Officials: How The Bureaucrats Are Strangling Britain&#039;&#039; (1994); &#039;&#039;The Castle of Lies&#039;&#039; (1996); &#039;&#039;The Great Deception&#039;&#039; (2003), a critical history of the European Union; and &#039;&#039;Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth &#039;&#039; (2007), a study of the part played in Western society in recent decades by the &#039;scare phenomenon&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
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In 2004, he published &#039;&#039;[[The Seven Basic Plots|The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories]]&#039;&#039;, a [[Jungian]]-influenced analysis of stories and their psychological meaning, on which he had been working for over 30 years. The book was dismissed by [[Adam Mars-Jones]], who objected to Booker employing his generalisations about conventional plot structures prescriptively: &amp;quot;He sets up criteria for art, and ends up condemning &#039;&#039;[[Rigoletto]]&#039;&#039;, &#039;&#039;[[The Cherry Orchard]]&#039;&#039;, [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Marcel Proust|Proust]], [[James Joyce|Joyce]], [[Franz Kafka|Kafka]] and [[D.H. Lawrence|Lawrence]] – the list goes on – while praising &#039;&#039;[[Crocodile Dundee]]&#039;&#039;, &#039;&#039;[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET]]&#039;&#039; and &#039;&#039;[[Terminator 2]]&#039;&#039;&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Adam Mars-Jones [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/nov/21/fiction.features &amp;quot;Terminator 2 Good, The Odyssey Bad&amp;quot;], &#039;&#039;[[The Observer]]&#039;&#039;, 21 November 2004, retrieved 1 September 2011.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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[[Fay Weldon]] wrote &amp;quot;This is the most extraordinary, exhilarating book. It always seemed to me that &#039;the story&#039; was God&#039;s way of giving meaning to crude creation. Booker now interprets the mind of God, and analyses not just the novel – which will never to me be quite the same again – but puts the narrative of contemporary human affairs into a new perspective. If it took its author a lifetime to write, one can only feel gratitude that he did it&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web |url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-seven-basic-plots-9780826452092/ |title=The Seven Basic Plots |publisher=Bloomsbury |access-date=19 March 2013 |archive-date=9 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909234609/https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-seven-basic-plots-9780826452092/ |url-status=dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; [[Roger Scruton]] described it as a &amp;quot;brilliant summary of story-telling&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web |url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/wagner-moralist-or-monster-1235 |title=Wagner: moralist or monster? |first=Roger |last=Scruton |author-link=Roger Scruton |publisher=The New Criterion |date=February 2005 |access-date=19 March 2013}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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==Views==&lt;br /&gt;
Booker&#039;s weekly columns in &#039;&#039;[[The Sunday Telegraph]]&#039;&#039; covered a wide range of topics of public interest. He has been described by British columnist [[James Delingpole]] in &#039;&#039;The Spectator&#039;&#039; as doing &amp;quot;the kind of proper, old-school things that journalists hardly ever bother with in this new age of aggregation and flip bloggery: he digs, he makes the calls, he reads the small print, he takes up the cause of the little man and campaigns, he speaks truth to power without fear or favour&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot; Delingpole  The Spectator&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/5482258/you-know-it-makes-sense.thtml |date=28 October 2009 |title=You Know It Makes Sense |author=James Delingpole |author-link=James Delingpole |work=The Spectator |access-date=4 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111154714/http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/5482258/you-know-it-makes-sense.thtml |archive-date=11 November 2009 |url-status=dead}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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On a range of health issues, Booker put forward a view that the public is being unnecessarily &amp;quot;scared&amp;quot;, as detailed in his book &#039;&#039;Scared to Death&#039;&#039;. Thus, he argues that [[asbestos]], [[passive smoking]]&amp;lt;ref name=passivesmoking&amp;gt;&amp;quot;scientific evidence to support [the] belief that [[passive smoking|inhaling other people&#039;s smoke]] causes cancer simply does not exist&amp;quot; – Christopher Booker, 1 July 2007, &#039;&#039;Sunday Telegraph&#039;&#039;, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080501032318/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1556118/Christopher-Booker%27s-notebook.html Christopher Booker&#039;s notebook: All done with passive smoke and mirrors]&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; and [[Bovine spongiform encephalopathy|BSE]]&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1387271/Christopher-Bookers-Notebook.html Ministers hushed up report on the dangers of sheep dip] Published by Daily Telegraph on 10 March 2002, written by Christopher Booker, retrieved on 11 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; have not been shown to be dangerous. His articles on global warming have been challenged by [[George Monbiot]] of &#039;&#039;[[The Guardian]]&#039;&#039;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/feb/03/climate-change-daily-telegraph-christopher-booker |title=Booker&#039;s work of clanger-dropping fiction |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=George |last=Monbiot |date=3 February 2009 |access-date=1 April 2010}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Booker said that [[white asbestos]] is &amp;quot;chemically identical to talcum powder&amp;quot; and poses a &amp;quot;non-existent&amp;quot; risk to human health,&amp;lt;ref name=Booker130102&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1381270/Christopher-Bookers-Notebook.html |title=Christopher Booker&#039;s Notebook Billions to be spent on nonexistent risk |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=13 January 2002 |access-date=1 April 2010}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; relying primarily on a 2000 paper for the [[Health and Safety Executive]] (HSE).&amp;lt;ref name=Hodgson00&amp;gt;{{cite journal |author=Hodgson JT, Darnton A |title=The quantitative risks of mesothelioma and lung cancer in relation to asbestos exposure |journal=Ann Occup Hyg |volume=44 |issue=8 |pages=565–601 |date=December 2000 |pmid=11108782 |doi=10.1093/annhyg/44.8.565 |quote=At exposure levels seen in occupational cohorts it is concluded that the exposure specific risk of mesothelioma from the three principal commercial asbestos types is broadly in the ratio 1:100:500 for [[chrysotile]], [[amosite]] and [[crocidolite]] respectively. For lung cancer the conclusions are less clear cut. ...  The risk differential between chrysotile and the two amphibole fibres for lung cancer is thus between 1:10 and 1:50.|doi-access=free }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; He wrote in January 2002 that &amp;quot;HSE studies, including a paper by John Hodgson and Andrew Darnton in 2000, concluded that the risk from the substance is &amp;quot;virtually zero&amp;quot;. In response, the HSE&#039;s Director General, [[Timothy Walker (civil servant)|Timothy Walker]], wrote that Booker&#039;s articles on asbestos had been &amp;quot;misinformed and do little to increase public understanding of a very important occupational health issue.&amp;quot;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2002/02/17/dt1704.xml | title=Booker&#039;s claims are irresponsible | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | first=Timothy | last=Walker | date=17 February 2002 | access-date=1 April 2010}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The HSE issued further rebuttals to articles written by Booker in both 2005&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web | url =http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/record/st151205.htm | title =HSE Press Office: Putting the record straight | date =15 December 2005 | publisher =Health and Safety Executive | access-date =18 November 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081105174441/http://hse.gov.uk/press/record/st151205.htm | archive-date =5 November 2008 | url-status =dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1505199/Christopher-Booker%27s-notebook.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510203138/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1505199/Christopher-Booker%27s-notebook.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=10 May 2008 | title =Christopher Booker&#039;s notebook Fatal cracks appear in asbestos scam as HSE shifts its ground | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | date=11 December 2005 | access-date=1 April 2010 | first=Christopher | last=Booker}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; and in 2006.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1525683/Christopher-Booker%27s-notebook.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912174028/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1525683/Christopher-Booker%27s-notebook.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=12 September 2012 | title = Christopher Booker&#039;s notebook |first1=C|last1=Booker | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | date=6 August 2006 | access-date=1 April 2010}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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In an article in May 2008, Booker again cited the Hodgson and Darnton paper, claiming that &amp;quot;they concluded that the risk of contracting mesothelioma from white asbestos cement was &amp;quot;insignificant&amp;quot;, while that of lung cancer was &amp;quot;zero&amp;quot;&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/3558729/Farmers-face-6bn-bill-for-asbestos-clean-up.html |url-access=registration |title=Farmers face £6bn bill for asbestos clean-up|author=Christopher Booker|date=25 May 2008|work=The Telegraph US }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; This article was also criticised by the HSE as &amp;quot;substantially misleading&amp;quot;, as well as by George Monbiot, who argued that Booker misrepresented the authors&#039; findings.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/23/controversiesinscience.health |title=The patron saint of charlatans is again spreading dangerous misinformation |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=George |last=Monbiot |date=23 September 2008 |access-date=1 April 2010}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Booker&#039;s claims were also critically analysed by Richard Wilson in his book &#039;&#039;Don&#039;t Get Fooled Again&#039;&#039; (2008). Wilson highlighted Booker&#039;s repeated endorsement of the alleged scientific expertise of John Bridle, who in 2004 was convicted under the UK&#039;s [[Trade Descriptions Act 1968|Trade Descriptions Act]] of making false claims about his qualifications.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/asbestos_expert_lied_about_his_qualification_1_2129412 |title=Asbestos expert lied about his qualifications |work=[[Yorkshire Evening Post]] |location=York |first=Geoff |last=Fox |date=30 August 2005 |access-date=4 April 2010}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Global warming===&lt;br /&gt;
Booker said that the [[Climate Change Act 2008]] was &amp;quot;the most expensive piece of legislation ever put through Parliament&amp;quot;, and likely to cost hundreds of billions over the next 40 years.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Booker  Telegraph &amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7550164/Climate-Change-Act-has-the-biggest-ever-bill.html |date=4 April 2010 |title=Climate Change Act has the biggest ever bill |author=Christopher Booker |work=[[The Sunday Telegraph]] |access-date=4 April 2010 |location=London}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In May 2009, Booker spoke at an [[International Conference on Climate Change]] organised by [[The Heartland Institute]].&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |author-link=George Monbiot |last=Monbiot |first=George |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/feb/24/christopher-booker-heartland-climate |title=Environment: George Monbiot&#039;s Blog: Anything to declare, Mr Booker? We need transparency about Heartland |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=24 February 2012}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In the autumn of 2009, he published &#039;&#039;[[The Real Global Warming Disaster]]&#039;&#039;. The book, which became his best-selling work, claims that there is not actually a consensus on climate change, and postulates that the measures taken by governments to [[climate change mitigation|combat climate change]] &amp;quot;will turn out to be one of the most expensive, destructive, and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;Booker-342&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=342}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The book was characterised by [[Philip Ball]] in &#039;&#039;[[The Observer]]&#039;&#039; as being as &amp;quot;the definitive climate sceptics&#039; manual&amp;quot;, in which &amp;quot;he has rounded up just about every criticism ever made of the majority scientific view that global warming, most probably caused by human activity, is under way, and presented them unchallenged&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;guardian.co.uk&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/15/real-global-warming-christopher-booker |date=15 November 2009 |title=The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker |author=Philip Ball |author-link=Philip Ball |work=The Observer |access-date=9 January 2014 |location=London}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Ball said that Booker&#039;s position required the reader to believe that &amp;quot;1) Most of the world&#039;s climate scientists, for reasons unspecified, decided to create a myth about human-induced global warming and have managed to twist endless measurements and computer models to fit their case, without the rest of the scientific community noticing. George W Bush and certain oil companies have, however, seen through the deception. 2) Most of the world&#039;s climate scientists are incompetent and have grossly misinterpreted their data and models, yet their faulty conclusions are not, as you might imagine, a random chaos of assertions, but all point in the same direction.&amp;quot;&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;guardian.co.uk&amp;quot;/&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In December 2009, Christopher Booker and [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]] had published an article in &#039;&#039;[[The Sunday Telegraph]]&#039;&#039; in which they questioned whether [[Rajendra Pachauri]], chair of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC), was using his position for personal gain,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Christopher Booker and Richard North [https://web.archive.org/web/20091222011621/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6847227/Questions-over-business-deals-of-UN-climate-change-guru-Dr-Rajendra-Pachauri.html &amp;quot;Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri&amp;quot;], &#039;&#039;[[The Sunday Telegraph]]&#039;&#039;, 20 December 2009 &amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref name=apol/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref name=GM260810&amp;gt;George Monbiot [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/aug/26/rajendra-pachauri-financial-relationships &amp;quot;Rajendra Pachauri innocent of financial misdealings but smears will continue&amp;quot;], &#039;&#039;The Guardian&#039;&#039;, 26 August 2010&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; with a follow-up &#039;&#039;Telegraph&#039;&#039; article in January 2010.&amp;lt;ref name=followup&amp;gt;Christopher Booker and Richard North [https://web.archive.org/web/20100121012506/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7007891/The-curious-case-of-the-expanding-environmental-group-with-falling-income.html &amp;quot;The curious case of the expanding environmental group with falling income&amp;quot;], &#039;&#039;Sunday Telegraph&#039;&#039;, 17 January 2010&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; On 21 August 2010, &#039;&#039;The Daily Telegraph&#039;&#039; issued an apology,&amp;lt;ref name=apol&amp;gt;[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7957631/Dr-Pachauri-Apology.html Dr Pachauri – Apology], &#039;&#039;[[The Daily Telegraph]]&#039;&#039;, 21 August 2010&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; and withdrew the December article from their website&amp;lt;ref name=GM260810/&amp;gt; having reportedly paid legal fees running into six figures.&amp;lt;ref name=GM260810/&amp;gt; Pachauri described the statements against him as &amp;quot;another attempt by the climate sceptics to discredit the IPCC.&amp;quot;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://archive.today/20130103020626/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Daily-Telegraph-apologises-to-Pachauri-over-an-article-alleging-corruption/Article1-589993.aspx &amp;quot;Daily Telegraph apologises to Pachauri&amp;quot;], &#039;&#039;[[Hindustan Times]]&#039;&#039;, 21 August 2010&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Family courts===&lt;br /&gt;
Booker wrote a number of articles raising concerns about the Family Court system in England and Wales. Booker championed the cause of Victoria Haigh, bringing him into further conflict with the judiciary.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8727312/Judge-Wall-the-secrecy-rules-and-another-stinging-attack.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Christopher | last=Booker | title=Judge Wall, the secrecy rules, and another stinging attack | date=27 August 2011}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10037048/A-mother-sent-to-prison-on-evidence-she-cannot-see.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Christopher | last=Booker | title=A mother sent to prison on evidence she cannot see | date=4 May 2013}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Booker also championed the cause of Marie Black, who fled the UK with her partner and daughter in order to evade social services.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/10436941/Another-couple-flee-to-France-only-to-have-their-baby-taken-away.html Another couple flee to France only to have their baby taken away] Written by Christopher Booker, published by The Daily Telegraph on 9 November 2013, retrieved on 11 July 2019&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==Death==&lt;br /&gt;
Booker died on 3 July 2019.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jul/04/christopher-booker-obituary|title=Christopher Booker obituary|first=Stephen|last=Bates|newspaper=The Guardian |date=4 July 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; On 12 July he was featured in the [[BBC Radio 4]] obituary programme &#039;&#039;[[Last Word]].&#039;&#039;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006n1k|title=Last Word - Eva Kor, Christopher Booker, João Gilberto, John McCririck - BBC Sounds|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==Bibliography==&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;The Neophiliacs: A Study of the Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties&#039;&#039; (1969).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;Goodbye London&#039;&#039; (with [[Candida Lycett Green]]) (1979).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;The Seventies: Portrait Of A Decade&#039;&#039; (1980).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;The Games War: A Moscow Journal&#039;&#039; (1981).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;The Mad Officials: How The Bureaucrats Are Strangling Britain&#039;&#039; (with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], 1994).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;The Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must get Out of Europe&#039;&#039; (with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], 1996).{{ISBN|0715626930}}&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;A Looking-Glass Tragedy. The Controversy Over The Repatriations From Austria in 1945&#039;&#039;, London, United Kingdom, Gerald Duckworth &amp;amp; Co Ltd, First Edition (1997).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;[[The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive?|The Great Deception]]&#039;&#039; (with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], 2003), London: [[Continuum Publishing]].&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;[[The Seven Basic Plots|The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories]]&#039;&#039; (2004).&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth&#039;&#039; (with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], 2007), London: Continuum. {{ISBN|0-8264-8614-2}}.&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;Climategate to Cancun: The Real Global Warming Disaster Continues...&#039;&#039; (with [[Richard North (blogger)|Richard North]], 2010), London: Continuum.&lt;br /&gt;
* {{cite book&lt;br /&gt;
  | last = Booker&lt;br /&gt;
  | first = Christopher&lt;br /&gt;
  | title = The Real Global Warming Disaster&lt;br /&gt;
  | publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd&lt;br /&gt;
  | year = 2009&lt;br /&gt;
  | isbn = 978-1-4411-1052-7&lt;br /&gt;
  | url-access = registration&lt;br /&gt;
  | url = https://archive.org/details/realglobalwarmin0000book&lt;br /&gt;
  }}&lt;br /&gt;
*&#039;&#039;[[Groupthink]]: A Study in Self Delusion&#039;&#039; ( 2020), London: Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|1472959051}}.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==References==&lt;br /&gt;
{{Reflist}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==External links==&lt;br /&gt;
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/ Christopher Booker] at telegraph.co.uk {{subscription required}}&lt;br /&gt;
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker, Christopher}}&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:1937 births]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:2019 deaths]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:English anti-communists]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:English male journalists]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:British non-fiction environmental writers]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:People educated at The Dragon School]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Private Eye contributors]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:The Daily Telegraph people]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:The Spectator people]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Daily Mail journalists]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Tennant family]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:British satirists]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:British satirical columnists]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:British humourous columnists]]&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>147.147.210.42</name></author>
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