Matthew d'Ancona

Matthew d'Ancona
d'Ancona in 2008
Born
Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona

(1968-01-27) 27 January 1968 (age 56)
Lewisham, London, England[1]
EducationSt Dunstan's College
Magdalen College, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford
OccupationJournalist
Known forEditor of The Spectator
Columnist for The Sunday Telegraph

Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona[2] (born 27 January 1968[3]) is an English journalist and editor-at-large of The New European.[4] A former deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, he was appointed editor of The Spectator in February 2006, a post he retained until August 2009.[5]

Early life and education

D'Ancona's father was a Maltese tennis champion of Italian descent who moved to England to study and played youth football for Newcastle United[6] before becoming a civil servant. His mother was an English teacher. D'Ancona was educated at St Dunstan's College, an independent school for boys in Catford in south London. He went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied Modern History. The same year, he was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Life and career

After a year studying medieval confession, d'Ancona joined the magazine Index on Censorship, before proceeding to The Times as a trainee. There he rose to become education correspondent and then assistant editor at the age of 26.

He joined The Sunday Telegraph in 1996 as deputy comment editor and columnist, before becoming deputy editor. He wrote a weekly political column in The Sunday Telegraph for a decade; the column was "treated as the best insight into Cameronism by Conservative MPs".[7] He succeeded Boris Johnson as editor of The Spectator. On 28 August 2009 it was announced that d'Ancona would be stepping down as editor to be replaced by Fraser Nelson.

While not himself a believer,[8] d'Ancona is also the co-author of two books on early Christian theology, The Jesus Papyrus [9] and The Quest for the True Cross.[10] He has written three novels, Going East,[11] Tabatha's Code[12] and Nothing to Fear.[13] D'Ancona has also written several articles for the British political magazine Prospect.

In January 2015, d'Ancona joined The Guardian as a weekly columnist.[14] He left the paper in 2019.[15] He also writes columns for the Evening Standard, GQ and The New York Times, and a former editor of Tortoise Media.[16]

Bibliography

  • D'Ancona, Matthew; Thiede, Carsten (1997). The Jesus Papyrus. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1857999587.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew; Thiede, Carsten (2000). The Quest For The True Cross. Phoenix. ISBN 978-0753810828.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2004). Going East. Sceptre. ISBN 978-0340828472.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2006). Tabatha's Code. Alma Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1846880124.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2009). Nothing to Fear. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0340828496.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2014). In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government. Penguin. ISBN 978-0670919956.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2017). Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-1785036873.
  • D'Ancona, Matthew (2021). Identity, Ignorance, Innovation: Why the old politics is useless - and what to do about it. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1785036873.

References

  1. ^ "Search Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006 | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk.
  2. ^ "Matthew Robert Ralph D'ANCONA - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  3. ^ "He is wise not scatty, a thoughtful intelligent man" the Guardian (17 February 2006). Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  4. ^ "The New European appoints Matthew d'Ancona". InPublishing. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Fraser Nelson to replace Matthew d'Ancona as Spectator editor". the Guardian. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Diary". The Spectator.
  7. ^ "Top 100 political journalists 2011". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014.
  8. ^ Discussed briefly on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics program, 24 October 2011.
  9. ^ "The Jesus Papyrus by Matthew D'Ancona: 9780385488983 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  10. ^ Thiede, Carsten Peter; D'Ancona, Matthew (2000). The Quest for the True Cross. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-84228-6.
  11. ^ d'Ancona, Matthew (24 April 2019). Going East. ISBN 9781444776492.
  12. ^ d'Ancona, Matthew (24 April 2019). Going East. ISBN 9781444776492.
  13. ^ "Nothing to Fear by Matthew d'Ancona". The Guardian. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Matthew d'Ancona to join the Guardian as columnist", Guardian News and Media press release, 18 December 2014
  15. ^ D'Ancona, Matthew [@MatthewdAncona] (14 December 2019). "Hey Rob. Thanks for asking. I am not writing for the Guardian any longer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Matthew d'Ancona, Editor and Partner". Tortoise. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
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Media offices
Preceded by Deputy Editor of the Sunday Telegraph
1998–2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Editor of The Spectator
2006–2009 		Succeeded by