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David Southwell
David Southwell (born 1971) is a British writer, and the author of several books on conspiracy theories and organized crime. CareerPrior to full-time writing, Southwell worked as a journalist and as Director of Communications for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).[citation needed] In his role at the BRC, he regularly clashed with the British government's media relations department and pressure groups, and played a part in forcing Stephen Byers to scrap the Rip-Off Britain campaign.[citation needed] In a front-page story in The Sunday Times in 2003, Southwell, then a spokesman for the BRC, mentioned that MI5 was coordinating with the business community with regard to potential terrorism.[1] Southwell later stated in his own books that he had liaised with MI5 on anti-terrorism issues and with the UK Government's emergency planning Cabinet Committee Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA).[citation needed] He has acknowledged a specialist knowledge and ongoing interest in the Angry Brigade and conspiracies surrounding the events that inspired VALIS. [citation needed] In 2005 he was thanked as an inspiration by Gary Russell in his Doctor Who novel Spiral Scratch. A regular broadcaster in the UK and North America on the subjects of conspiracies and counter-culture, he jokingly claims on the back of his books that if he "dies a mysterious death it will be because he knows too much and has upset some very powerful people".[citation needed] Southwell lives on a narrowboat on Regent's Canal in London, and married for the second time in 2010.[2] He wears an eye-patch due to the loss of 80% of the sight in one eye.[3] In early 2016 Southwell was a winning contestant on the BBC quiz Pointless. Major non-fiction works
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