View source for Francis Wheen

{{Short description|British journalist, writer and broadcaster (born 1957)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| image         = 
| caption       = 
| name          = 
| birth_name    = Francis James Baird Wheen
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1957|01|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| alma_mater    = [[Royal Holloway, University of London|Royal Holloway College, University of London]]
| yearsactive   = 
| occupation    = Journalist, writer and broadcaster
| notable_works = ''Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies''
| awards        = [[Orwell Prize]]
| spouse        = 
}}
'''Francis James Baird Wheen''' (born 22 January 1957) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.

==Early life and education==
Wheen was born into an army family<ref name="Wroe">[[Nicholas Wroe|Wroe, Nicholas]], [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/aug/29/francis-wheen-life-in-writing "A life in writing"], ''The Guardian'', 29 August 2009.</ref> and educated at two independent schools: [[Copthorne Prep School|Copthorne Preparatory School]] near [[Crawley]], West Sussex, and [[Harrow School]] in north-west London. At Harrow, he was briefly a contemporary of [[Mark Thatcher]],<ref>[[Beatrix Campbell|Campbell, Beatrix]], [https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/what-margaret-taught-mark-1443618.html "What Margaret taught Mark"], ''The Independent'', 18 October 1994.</ref> who has been a subject of his journalism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clivejames.com/f-wheen |title=Francis Wheen |publisher=clivejames.com |access-date=4 June 2014 |archive-date=18 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718165640/http://clivejames.com/f-wheen |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Career==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?157236-1/karl-marx-life ''Booknotes'' interview with Wheen on ''Karl Marx: A Life'', 25 June 2000], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Running away from Harrow at 16 "to join the alternative society," Wheen had early periods as a "dogsbody" at ''[[The Guardian]]'' and the ''[[New Statesman]]'', before attending [[Royal Holloway, University of London|Royal Holloway College, University of London]], following a period spent at a [[cram school|crammer]].<ref name="Wroe"/> 

Wheen is the author of several books, including a biography of [[Karl Marx]]<ref>Paul Foot [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/oct/09/politicalbooks.biography "Cheers, Mr Revolution"], ''The Guardian'', 9 October 1999</ref> which won the [[Deutscher Memorial Prize]] in 1999,<ref>[http://www.deutscherprize.org.uk/Past%20Recipients.htm "Recipients of the Prize 1969 – 2010"], Deutscher Memorial Prize website</ref> and has been translated into twenty languages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/greatest_philosopher_karl_marx.shtml |title=Radio 4 – In Our Time – Greatest Philosopher – Karl Marx |publisher=BBC |access-date=4 June 2014}}</ref> He followed this with a notional "biography" of ''[[Das Kapital]]'', which follows the creation and publication of the first volume of Marx's major work as well as other incomplete volumes. Wheen had a [[newspaper column|column]] in ''The Guardian'' for several years. He wrote for ''[[Private Eye]]'' and became the magazine's deputy editor. He retired from ''Private Eye'' in October 2022,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kidd |first=Patrick |date=2024-01-17 |title=The Times diary: So, farewell then Francis Wheen |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-times-diary-so-farewell-then-francis-wheen-nz0bnnwb8 |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=en |issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Francis Wheen's diary: I've lost my appetite for vituperation |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/religion/63329/francis-wheens-diary-ive-lost-my-appetite-for-vituperation |date=4 October 2023| access-date=2024-01-17 |website=www.prospectmagazine.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> though he still occasionally contributes.

His collected journalism, ''Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies'', won him the [[Orwell Prize]] in 2003. He has also been a regular columnist for the London ''[[Evening Standard]]''.

In April 2012, Wheen suffered the loss of his entire book collection, his "life's work", and an unfinished novel, in a garden shed fire.<ref>O'Brien, Liam, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/bonfire-of-the-first-editions-author-loses-lifes-work-in-garden-shed-fire-7646612.html "Bonfire of the first editions: author loses life's work in garden shed fire"], ''The Independent'', 16 April 2012.</ref><ref>Jones, Julia, [http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/julia-jones/they-took-his-life-and-threw-it-on-skip "They Took His Life and Threw it on a Skip"], opendemocracy, 12 May 2012.</ref>

===Broadcasting work===
Wheen broadcasts regularly, mainly on [[BBC Radio 4]], has made many appearances on ''[[The News Quiz]]'', in which he has often referred to the fact that he resembles the former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[Iain Duncan Smith]].<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/node/154076 If Iain Duncan Smith, my lookalike, wins, I may have to leave the country, or use the Wella hair-dye I bought], ''[[New Statesman]]'', 10 September 2001</ref> He has also several times been a guest on ''[[Have I Got News for You]]''.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

Wheen wrote a [[docudrama]], ''[[The Lavender List]]'', for [[BBC Four]] on the final period of [[Harold Wilson]]'s premiership, concentrating on his relationship with [[Marcia Matilda Falkender, Baroness Falkender|Marcia Williams]]. First screened in March 2006, it starred [[Kenneth Cranham]] as Wilson and [[Gina McKee]] as Williams. In April 2007, the BBC paid £75,000 to Williams (then Baroness Falkender) in an [[out-of-court settlement]] over claims made in the programme.<ref>Tryhorn, Chris, [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/apr/04/bbc.broadcasting "BBC pays out over Wilson drama"], ''The Guardian'', 4 April 2007.</ref>

==Political views==
Wheen was opposed to the [[Falklands War]]. In an article syndicated to a number of American newspapers, Wheen stated: "In a famous British play of the 1950s, ''[[Look Back in Anger]]'', the hero complained that 'there aren't any good, brave causes to fight for anymore'. Mrs Thatcher apparently agrees with this view, so she went to war over a small, ignoble cause."<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19820619&id=kcMdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qWEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5402,1269414 "Falkland Victory is Tainted"], Francis Wheen. ''[[Pittsburgh Press|The Pittsburgh Press]]'', 19 June 1982</ref> Wheen is a supporter of the [[Republicanism in the United Kingdom|anti-monarchist]] group [[Republic (political organisation)|Republic]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090926121035/http://www.republic.org.uk/Who%20we%20are/Our%20Supporters%20Include/index.php "Our Supporters Include.."] Republic. Retrieved 22 March 2015.</ref>

Wheen supported NATO's Kosovo intervention in 1999, signed the [[Euston Manifesto]] for a realignment of progressive politics<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eustonmanifesto.org/the-euston-manifesto/ |title=The Euston Manifesto – The Euston Manifesto |publisher=Eustonmanifesto.org |date=11 September 2001 |access-date=18 April 2012}}</ref> and supported the second [[Iraq War]].<ref>"...columnists such as [[Nick Cohen]], Francis Wheen and [[Christopher Hitchens]], who argued for the overthrow of [[Saddam Hussein]] as an act of anti-fascist solidarity with the opposition activists and trade unionists of Iraq." [[Martin Bright]] [http://www.newstatesman.com/node/153049?quicktabs_most_read=1 "The Politics Column"], ''New Statesman'', 24 April 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2013.</ref>

In late 2005, Wheen was the co-author with [[David Aaronovitch]] and blogger [[Oliver Kamm]], both contributors to ''[[The Times]]'', of a complaint to ''The Guardian'' after it published an apology and correction in respect of an interview with [[Noam Chomsky]] by [[Emma Brockes]] which had been published at the end of October 2005;<ref>Brockes, Emma. "The Greatest Intellectual?", ''The Guardian'', 31 October 2005; the article has since been withdrawn from the ''Guardian''{{'}}s website, but it remains available at ''[http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20051031.htm chomsky.info] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103185929/http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20051031.htm |date=3 January 2006 }}''.</ref> Chomsky had complained that the interview was defamatory in suggesting that he denied the 1995 [[Srebrenica massacre]] by his defence of a book by [[Diana Johnstone]].<ref>''The Guardian'' referred the matter to an external ombudsman, who detailed his reasons for rejecting the three men's argument that the correction was itself wrong. See John Willis [https://www.theguardian.com/readerseditor/story/0,,1782133,00.html "External ombudsman report"], ''The Guardian'', 25 May 2006</ref>

Wheen was intensely critical of [[Foreign Office]] minister [[Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St John's|Baroness Anelay]]'s failure to condemn the [[Raif Badawi#Public flogging|torture of Raif Badawi]] by the government of [[Saudi Arabia]] in 2016. Wheen maintained that Anelay's approach was motivated by her wish to sell arms to the Saudi régime.<ref>{{cite news |first=Francis |last=Wheen |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/saudi-arabia-is-teaching-isis-a-lesson-in-cruelty-yet-the-uk-continues-to-defend-them-10324161.html |title=UK ministers have started to defend Saudi Arabia's flogging of Raif Badawi – it's breathtaking |newspaper=The Independent |location= London |date=13 January 2016 |quote=Three years ago today, Saudi Arabian police arrested Raif Badawi for the crime of running a website 'that propagates liberal thought' ... |accessdate=29 July 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Wheen was married to the writer [[Joan Smith (writer)|Joan Smith]] between 1985 and 1993. He has been the partner since the mid-1990s of [[Julia Jones (writer)|Julia Jones]] (formerly Julia Thorogood), whom he married in 2019; they have two sons.<ref name="Wroe"/>

In 2014, Wheen waived his right to anonymity in order to speak about being a victim of Charles Napier, one-time treasurer of the defunct [[Paedophile Information Exchange]], after the former teacher was convicted of sexually abusing 23 boys between 1967 and 1983. Wheen described his experience as less serious than that of other victims, and had only become aware of the scale of Napier's activities later.<ref name="BBC-30591158">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30591158|title=Charles Napier jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse|date=23 December 2014|work=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bindel |first=Julie |url=http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/6193/full |title=Britain's Apologists For Child Abuse |work=Standpoint |date=September 2015 |access-date=15 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908181613/http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/6193/full |archive-date=8 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Wheen was a close friend of the writer [[Christopher Hitchens]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/8961815/Christopher-Hitchens-a-sober-perception-however-much-he-drank.html |first=Francis| last=Wheen|title=Christopher Hitchens: a sober perception, however much he drank |publisher=Telegraph |date= 17 December 2011|access-date= 18 April 2012}}</ref>

==Partial bibliography==
*''The Sixties'' (1982) {{ISBN|0-7126-0018-3}}
*''Television: A History'' (1984) {{ISBN|0-7126-0929-6}}
*''Battle for London'' (1985) {{ISBN|0-7453-0054-5}}
*''[[Tom Driberg]]: His Life and Indiscretions'' (1990) {{ISBN|0-7011-3143-8}}
*''The Chatto Book of Cats (Chatto Anthologies)'' Francis Wheen, editor, John O'Connor, illustrator (1993) {{ISBN|0-7011-4005-4}} 
*''Lord Gnome's Literary Companion'' (1994) {{ISBN|1-85984-945-8}}
*''Karl Marx'' (1999) {{ISBN|1-85702-637-3}}
*''Who Was [[Karoly Hajdu|Dr. Charlotte Bach]]?'' (2002) {{ISBN|1-904095-39-9}}
*''Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies: Collected Journalism, 1991–2001'' (2002) {{ISBN|1-903809-42-8}} (mainly consisting of columns written for ''The Guardian'')
*''The Irresistible Con: The Bizarre Life of a Fraudulent Genius'' (2004) {{ISBN|1-904095-74-7}} 
*''Shooting Out the Lights'' (2004) {{ISBN|0-00-714943-3}}  
*''[[How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World]]'' (2004) {{ISBN|0-00-714096-7}}; in the US and Canada: ''Idiot Proof: A Short History of Modern Delusions'' (2004) {{ISBN|1-58648-247-5}}
*''Marx's [[Das Kapital]]: A Biography'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-1-84354-400-5}} 
*''Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia'' (2009) {{ISBN|978-0-00-724427-0}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.theguardian.com/Columnists/Column/0,5673,656380,00.html Extract from Hoo-Hahs and Passing Frenzies: Collected Journalism]
*{{Internet Archive author |sname= Francis Wheen}}
*{{C-SPAN|84090}}

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{{Private Eye}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheen, Francis}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
[[Category:British male journalists]]
[[Category:British republicans]]
[[Category:Deutscher Memorial Prize winners]]
[[Category:English atheists]]
[[Category:People educated at Copthorne Preparatory School]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:Private Eye contributors]]
[[Category:The Guardian journalists]]