Editing Ian Hislop (section)

== Career ==

=== ''Private Eye'' ===
[[File:Ian Hislop - 2009.jpg|thumb|Hislop at a ''[[Private Eye]]'' book signing in 2009]]
At Oxford, Hislop revived and edited the magazine ''Passing Wind'',<ref name="ot" /> for which he interviewed [[Richard Ingrams]], who was then editor of ''[[Private Eye]]'', and [[Peter Cook]], then the majority shareholder. Hislop's first article in the ''Eye'' appeared in 1980 before he sat his university finals. A parody of ''[[The Observer]]'' magazine's "Room of My Own" feature, it described an [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] prisoner on the [[dirty protest]] decorating his cell in "fetching brown".<ref name="Summerskill">Ben Summerskill [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/sep/01/pressandpublishing.uknews "Has Piers now got news for Ian?"], ''The Observer'', 1 September 2002</ref> Hislop joined the publication immediately after leaving Oxford, and became editor in 1986 following Ingrams's departure. This met opposition from ''Eye'' journalists Peter McKay and [[Nigel Dempster]],<ref name="Byrne">{{cite news |title=Ian Hislop: My 20 years at the Eye |author=Ciar Byrne |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=23 October 2006 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ian-hislop-my-20-years-at-the-eye-421312.html |access-date=28 November 2010 |location=London}}</ref> who attempted a revolt against Hislop with the former taking Peter Cook out for lunch in an attempt to dissuade him from appointing Hislop. Cook, reportedly drunk after the lunch, instead announced Hislop was "welcome aboard". The new editor, dismissive of society gossip,<ref name="Moss" /> sacked both McKay and Dempster from the magazine without hesitation.<ref name="Byrne" />

As editor of ''Private Eye'', Ian Hislop is reputedly the most [[sued]] man in English legal history,<ref name="Byrne" /><ref name="indep">{{cite news|title=Ian Hislop: Provocateur in the public eye|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/ian-hislop-provocateur-in-the-public-eye-2276884.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=30 April 2011|location=London}}</ref> although he is not involved in as many [[libel]] actions as he once was.<ref name="metro">{{cite news |title= 60 Seconds: Ian Hislop |author=Andrew Williams |newspaper=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]] |date=4 December 2006 |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/27795-60-seconds-ian-hislop |access-date=28 November 2010 }}</ref> A libel case was brought against ''Private Eye'' and Hislop in 1986 by the publisher [[Robert Maxwell#Controversy|Robert Maxwell]] after the magazine accused him of funding [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] leader [[Neil Kinnock]]'s travel expenses as a means of gaining a peerage.<ref>Steve Lohr [https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/01/magazine/britain-s-maverick-mogul.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "Britain's Maverick Mogul"], ''The New York Times'', 1 May 1988</ref> After the case Hislop quipped: "I've just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech". After his death in 1991, Maxwell was revealed to be an extensive fraudster, illegally drawing on his companies' pension funds; his last writ for libel against the ''Eye'' and Hislop was about this "malicious" and "mendacious" claim.<ref name="Summerskill" />

Another libel case in May 1989 threatened the magazine's existence when it was ordered to pay £600,000 in damages following an action for libel by [[Sonia Sutcliffe]], wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, [[Peter Sutcliffe]]. Hislop told reporters waiting outside the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]]: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." The award was dropped to £60,000 on appeal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_2503000/2503595.stm |title=On this day – 24 May 1989: Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins damages |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=28 November 2010 |date=24 May 1989}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Third Way Magazine]]'' in 1995 he explained his intentions in his work: "Satire is the bringing to ridicule of vice, folly and humbug. All the negatives imply a set of positives. Certainly in this country, you only go round saying, 'That's wrong, that's corrupt' if you have some feeling that it should be better than that. People say, 'You satirists attack everything.' Well, we don't, actually. That's the whole point."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Martin Wroe |date=March 1995 |title=Is Nothing Sacred? |journal=[[Third Way Magazine|Third Way]] |issn=0309-3492 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=12–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg5gAS_YdyEC&pg=PA12 |access-date=28 November 2010 }}</ref>

In April 2017, Hislop won the [[London Press Club]]'s print journalist of the year award; in his acceptance speech he said that ''Private Eye'' obtaining its best [[Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK)|ABC]] sales figures since the magazine's launch 55 years earlier proved that "journalism is A, worth doing, and B, worth paying for both in terms of paying journalists and the public paying up for it".<ref name="Press Gazette 27 April 2017">{{cite news |last= Ponsford |first= Dominic |title= Paywall plea from Witherow as Times titles take newspaper of the year double at London Press Club awards |url= http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/paywall-plea-from-witherow-as-times-titles-take-newspaper-of-the-year-double-at-london-press-club-awards/| date= 27 April 2017| work= [[Press Gazette]] |location=London| access-date= 28 April 2017 }}</ref>

[[File:PrivateEyeCriterion041223 (1 of 8) (53376398042) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Hislop speaking at ''An Evening With Private Eye'' in 2023]]
In January 2022, Hislop alongside fellow ''Eye'' journalists  [[Richard Brooks (journalist)|Richard Brooks]] and [[Solomon Hughes (journalist)|Solomon Hughes]] presented evidence on [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]s' conduct to the [[Commons Select Committee on Standards|House of Commons' Standards Committee]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ian Hislop Tears Into MPs Over Sleaze, Second Jobs And Lobbying |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ian-hislop-mps-parliament-sleaze_uk_61f07e1be4b067cbfa155f37 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en |date=25 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/news/160473/standards-committee-announce-new-evidence-sessions-on-reform-of-code-of-conduct-for-mps/ |website=Parliament |access-date=29 January 2022 |title=Standards Committee announce new evidence sessions on reform of Code of Conduct for MPs}}</ref>

=== Bibliography and plays ===

Hislop is credited as the author of the recent ''Private Eye'' annuals.

*''[[The Wipers Times]]'' (2016), a play based on the [[WWI]] newspaper by Hislop and [[Nick Newman]].
*''A Bunch of Amateurs'' (2017) by Hislop and Nick Newman.
*''I Object: Ian Hislop's Search for Dissent'' (2018) by Hislop and Tom Hockenhull.
*''Trial by Laughter'' (2018) a play on the trials of [[William Hone]] by Hislop and Nick Newman, originally broadcast in 2017 on [[BBC Radio 4]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071h2x6|title=BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Trial by Laughter|website=BBC}}</ref>
*''Spike'', (2022) a play about [[Spike Milligan]] during the period he was writing ''[[The Goon Show]]'', by Hislop and Nick Newman.

=== Television and radio work ===
Hislop's television debut was on the short-lived [[Channel 4]] chat show ''[[Loose Talk (British TV series)|Loose Talk]]'' in 1983, an experience he disliked so much that he included it on his list of most hated items when he first appeared on the BBC show ''[[Room 101 (British TV series)|Room 101]]''. Hislop, usually in partnership with [[Nick Newman]], was a scriptwriter on the 1980s political satire series ''[[Spitting Image]]'', in which puppets were used to depict well-known figures, mostly politicians.<ref name="indep" /> He even had a puppet of himself, which sometimes appeared as a background character in sketches.

Hislop has been a team captain on ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'', against the team led by [[Paul Merton]], since it began in 1990. He is the only person to have appeared in every episode of its run, even filming an episode in the seventh series in spite of suffering from [[appendicitis]], when he had discharged himself from hospital immediately before the show.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7783644.stm |title=Five minutes with Ian Hislop |work=BBC News |date=30 December 2008 |access-date=28 April 2010}}</ref>

With regular writing partner Nick Newman, Hislop wrote the [[BBC Radio 4]] series ''Gush'', a satire based on the first [[Gulf War]], in the style of [[Jeffrey Archer]]. With Newman he also wrote the family-friendly satirical sitcom ''[[My Dad's the Prime Minister]]'' and in the early nineties for the [[Dawn French]] vehicle ''[[Murder Most Horrid]]''. Hislop and Newman wrote the [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] series ''[[The News at Bedtime]]'', a satire on [[fairy tales]] which aired over the 2009 Christmas season. The series starred [[Jack Dee]] as John Tweedledum and [[Peter Capaldi]] as Jim Tweedledee; the two present the "news of the day" in the world of fairy tales, while arguing with each other as did their [[Tweedledum and Tweedledee|namesakes]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/radio/the_news_at_bedtime/ |title=The News at Bedtime |publisher=British Comedy Guide}}</ref>

Hislop has presented serious television programmes. These include ''School Rules'', a three-part Channel 4 study on the history of British education; an edition of the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series)|Who Do You Think You Are?]]'', in which he attempted to trace his ancestry, and ''[[Not Forgotten (TV series)|Not Forgotten]]'', a four-part series on Channel 4 detailing the impact on British society of the [[First World War]]. A further programme, ''Not Forgotten: Shot at Dawn'', was broadcast in January 2007, and a sixth episode, ''Not Forgotten: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight'', featuring the stories of conscientious objectors such as [[Ronald Skirth]],<ref name=rel>{{citation
|publisher=Macmillan
|date=16 April 2010
|isbn=978-0-230-74673-2
|title=The Reluctant Tommy: An Extraordinary Memoir of the First World War
|author=Ronald Skirth
|editor=Duncan Barrett
|author2=Jon Snow}}</ref> was aired on 10 November 2008. He also presented one episode of the BBC's ''[[Great Railway Journeys]]'', in which he travelled in India ("India East to West" from Calcutta to Rajasthan). In May 2007 he presented a programme on BBC Four, ''Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys'', celebrating [[Robert Baden-Powell]]'s book which inspired the [[Scouting|Scout]] movement (he is also an Ambassador for [[The Scout Association]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/334/young-filmmakers-launch-new-scouting-movie-to-thank-supporters|title=Scouts|website=www.scouts.org.uk}}</ref>

[[File:Hislop.jpg|thumb|Hislop chatting with a resident at Nightingale House, [[Wandsworth Common]], London, 2008]]
He has also written and presented factual programmes for Radio 4 about such subjects as tax rebellions, female hymn composers, scouting and patron saints of [[Great Britain|Britain]] and Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/patronsaints_patrick.shtml |title=Radio 4 programme on patron saints of Britain and Ireland |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=28 April 2010}}</ref> In 2007 he became the only person to make a second guest appearance on ''Room 101''. He has also been a screenwriter for comedian [[Harry Enfield]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-such-as-ian-hislop-you-look-like-a-gnome-why-do-people-find-you-sexy-717546.html |title=You ask the questions (Such as: Ian Hislop, you look like a gnome. Why do people find you sexy?) – Profiles, People |newspaper=The Independent |date=24 May 2000 |access-date=28 April 2010 |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208072251/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-such-as-ian-hislop-you-look-like-a-gnome-why-do-people-find-you-sexy-717546.html |archive-date=8 December 2010 }}</ref> In 2010, Hislop played a small role in the Greek television series [[To Nisi|''The Island'']], which was based on his wife's [[The Island (2005 novel)|bestselling novel]]. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 on Greece's [[Mega Channel|Mega]] television channel.{{cn|date=August 2021}}

Hislop has presented several programmes for [[BBC Four]], dealing with topics such as the [[Beeching Axe]] and the role of the [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]]. The former, ''Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails'', about the [[Beeching Report]] and its impact on the British railway network, was first aired on 2 October 2008, and achieved the second-highest audience to date for any BBC Four programme (and the highest for a documentary) with 1.3&nbsp;million viewers.<ref>{{cite news|author=Leigh Holmwood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/03/tvratings.television |title=Overnight ratings for 2 October 2008 from ''The Guardian'', 3 October 2008 |newspaper=The Guardian |date= 3 October 2008|access-date=28 April 2010 | location=London}}</ref> The latter, ''Ian Hislop's Changing of the Bard'', launched the May 2009 BBC Four Poetry season, and Hislop recounted the history of the post from the first official holder, [[John Dryden]], to the then recently announced first female, first Scot and first openly bisexual laureate, [[Carol Ann Duffy]]. His series on [[Victorian era|Victorian]] social reformers, ''Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders'', aired on [[BBC Two]] beginning on 29 November 2010. His programme on the history of banks, ''When Bankers were Good'', first aired on BBC Two in November 2011, and dealt with famous bankers from history, such as the [[Rothschilds]], the [[Gurney's Bank (Norwich)|Gurneys]] and the [[Sampson Lloyd|Lloyds]], as well as 19th-century philanthropists and reformers such as [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Elizabeth Fry]].

He has also appeared on ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]''. In one edition he made an open attack on [[Jeffrey Archer]], who had been imprisoned for [[perjury]], when his wife, [[Mary Archer]], was a fellow panellist. She was noticeably angry that the matter had been raised.<ref name=QT>{{cite news|title=The Best of Question Time|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/3869985.stm|work=BBC News|date=4 August 2004| access-date= 18 December 2020 }}</ref> In 2004, ''Question Time'''s 25th anniversary celebrations included a vote in which viewers chose the confrontation as the best moment in the programme's history;<ref>{{cite web| last= Havard| first= Ed| title= Question Time defined by 'epic' battles| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/9366830.stm | date= 20 January 2011 | website= [[BBC News]] | access-date= 18 December 2020 }}</ref> it won 51% of the votes, double the number for the second-placed entry.<ref name=QT/> In another episode he criticised the premise of capital punishment, something which had been advocated by Conservative panel member [[Priti Patel]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Helyer-Donaldson|first1=Rachel|title=Furore as Priti Patel urges return of death penalty|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/1961/furore-priti-patel-urges-return-death-penalty|work=The Week UK|date=23 September 2011|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314060951/http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/1961/furore-priti-patel-urges-return-death-penalty|url-status=dead}}</ref> and more recently has discussed Britain's [[Brexit|vote to leave]] the [[European Union]].<ref name="BBC Brexit1"/> In 2003 he was listed in ''[[The Observer]]'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.<ref>{{cite news |date=7 December 2003 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/dec/07/comedy.thebestofbritishcomedy1 |title= The A-Z of laughter (part one) |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=7 January 2022 | location=London}}</ref>

''[[Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip - An Emotional History of Britain]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n7rh4|title=BBC Two – Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip – An Emotional History of Britain|work=BBC}}</ref> about how a [[meme]] for repression of emotions spread through British culture, began on 2 October 2012 and ran for three episodes on [[BBC Two]]. Beginning on 9 April 2014, Hislop presented a three-part [[BBC Two]] series ''Ian Hislop's Olden Days''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ian Hislop's Olden Days |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040tm16 |website=BBC Two |access-date=7 January 2022}}</ref> In 2016, he presented ''The Secret of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony'', the personal and creative story behind [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|the symphony]]. Later in the same year, Hislop gave the prestigious [[The Orwell Foundation|George Orwell Lecture]] at London's [[University College London|UCL]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBG0T06jbec  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/IBG0T06jbec| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=The Orwell Lecture 2016: Ian Hislop |via=YouTube |date=15 November 2016 |access-date=30 April 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The following year, he fronted the BBC Two documentary ''Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop on the First Great Immigration Row''. The programme examined attitudes to immigration from the Victorian era to the [[First World War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Two – Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop on the First Great Immigration Row |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08w2cvq |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Hislop has also curated an exhibition for the [[British Museum]], called ''I Object: Ian Hislop's Search for Dissent,'' which was presented from 6 September 2018 to 20 January 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/28/private-eye-editor-ian-hislop-search-for-dissent-british-museum|title=Ian Hislop on dissent: 'It's cathartic to say|last=Moss|first=Stephen|date=28 August 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=13 September 2019|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> As the editor of ''Private Eye'', Hislop has received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Media at the ''Campaign'' British Media Awards 2019. Hislop has also been recognised for his broadcasting career, having produced TV and radio documentaries on immigration and the First World War.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.campaignlive.com/article/private-eyes-ian-hislop-recognised-outstanding-contribution-british-media/1585456|title=Private Eye's Ian Hislop recognised for outstanding contribution to British Media|date=23 May 2019|website=Campaign|access-date=26 September 2019}}</ref>