Phillip Knightley
Phillip Knightley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 January 1929 Sydney |
| Died | 7 December 2016 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation(s) | journalist, critic, and non-fiction author |
| Spouse | married |
| Children | 3 children: daughters, Aliya and Marisa & son Kim |
Phillip George Knightley
Biography
Born in Sydney, he began his career in 1946 as a copyboy with the Sydney
Knightley returned to Australia and worked for
Migrating to the UK in 1963, he became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times of London, remaining there until 1985. During this time, he was a member of the 'Insight' investigative team.[1] Over a three-year period from 1968 to 1971, Knightley prepared an investigative report about the development of thalidomide in Germany and its manufacture under licence by The Distillers Company in the UK without adequate testing.[1] He also published an investigation into the Vestey family companies, which were structured to avoid tax. This resulted in a biography of the family titled The Rise and Fall of the House of Vestey in which he wrote that the family "did not live on the income; they did not live on the interest from their investments; they lived on the interest on the interest".[1][2] Knightley was also at The Sunday Times during the Hitler Diaries scandal.
After leaving The Sunday Times, he contributed literary criticism to the
He lectured on journalism, law, and war at the
Knightley's main professional interests were war reporting, propaganda, and espionage. In more than 30 years of writing about espionage, he met most of the spy chiefs of all the major intelligence services in the world, and interviewed numerous officers and agents from all sides during the
In 1997, Knightley was a judge for Canada's
Knightley was married with two daughters, Aliya and Marisa, a son, Kim, and two granddaughters. He lived between London, Sydney and Goa in India. He died on 7 December 2016 at the age of 87.[1]
Awards and honours
- 1980, 1988 – British Press AwardsJournalist of the Year – one of only two journalists to have won the honour twice
- 1982 – British Colour Magazine Writer of the Year
- 1983 – British Chef and Brewer Crime Writer's award – for his investigation into a murder case in Italy
- 1980 – Granada TelevisionReporter of the Year
- 1975 – Overseas Press Club of America Award for The First Casualty as the best book on foreign affairs.
- 2006 – City University, London, Artes Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctor of Arts) for Services to Journalism and Authorship.
- 2007 – University of Sydney, Australia, Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctor of Letters) for Services to Journalism and Authorship.
Publications
- The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker from the Crimea to Vietnam, London, Andre Deutsch, 1975 - on war and propaganda (in the United States, a ISBN 0151312648
- The First Casualty: The War Correspondent As Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo. Baltimore, MD: ISBN 080186951X
- The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Iraq. 3rd edition: 2004, 608 pages. ISBN 0801880300
- The First Casualty: The War Correspondent As Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo. Baltimore, MD:
- The Second Oldest Profession, 1986, on espionage (in the United States, a ISBN 0393023869
- Philby, KGB Master Spy, his biography of ISBN 0394578902
- An Affair of State, about the 1963 John Profumo scandal in Britain, publication of which was banned in the United Kingdom
- The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia (with OCLC 57525
- Philby - The Spy Who Betrayed a Generation. (with Bruce Page, David Leitch) 1968 Andre Deutsch Limited SBN 233 96014 7
- The Pearl of Days, London, Hamilton, 1972, Sunday Times
- Suffer the Children, about the Thalidomide tragedy
- The Death of Venice, ISBN 0275229203, on attempts to save Venicefrom permanent flooding
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Vestey, on the business empire established by Sir William (later Baron) Vesteyin 1897;
- A Hack's Progress, London : J. Cape, 1997, ISBN 0224043994, his autobiography
- Australia: A Biography of a Nation, London : Jonathan Cape, 2000. ISBN 0224050060
- Knightley, Phillip, Sarah Jackson, and Annabel Merullo; ISBN 1588341658
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Jack, Ian (7 December 2016). "Phillip Knightley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
- ^ "Heirs and disgraces". The Guardian. 11 August 1999. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ "Wikileaks' Julian Assange tells of 'smear campaign'". BBC. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
External links
- "Official website". Archived from the original on 2 October 2016.
- BBC Wars and Conflict Special Report: The Cambridge Spies by Phillip Knightley
