When Martin Met Nicola - I'm the one on the left, by the
way...
I encountered my wife Nicola through journalism, which I did for
over two decades after qualifying as a City solicitor at Simmons
& Simmons. I still do the occasional piece, if asked (wickedly
busy writing schedule permitting, etc). I also consult on
communication issues. Below is a small selection of my
journalism.
The Greg Dyke profile was an exclusive, a
big story. Then DG of the BBC, he was under massive pressure from
No. 10 ahead of the Hutton Report on the brouhaha surrounding
non-existent weapons of mass destruction; the David Moyes piece recounts a whole
week shadowing the man. Commissioned at 1,600 words, it ran at
8,000, because of the unprecedented access. I was the first writer
ever to get near the chronically shy 17 year-old Wayne Rooney; my
call - 'the future of English football' - wasn't too far
out; apparently this entrepreneur was upset by her
profile - but was it unfair? What's beyond doubt is that
Benoit Mandelbrot (RIP) was a
towering, towering genius.
And who came first, the Dragon or the egg? Below you can find
the first national-newspaper profiles of Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne - a stepping stone
to the Dragons' Den. Bannatyne wanted to be an
actor back then. Has he succeeded...?
And you'll have to find the profile of Nicola
Horlick for yourselves...
Published Stories
1.Financial Times book review
- This Bleeding City by Alex Preston
2. Nancy Cruikshank - Independent on Sunday
Profile - "Confetti at a gay wedding"
3. Greg Dyke - Sunday Telegraph City
Profile - "Regrets, he has a
few"
4. Liz Paul - Sunday Telegraph City Profile
- "It's Not A Sex Toy"
5. The Aga Khan - Sunday Telegraph City
Profile - The Aga
Saga
6. David Moyes - Observer Sports Monthly - "Get Rooney in here."
The keeper of their dreams "I wouldn't sell Rooney for
£20m"
7. Lakshmi Mittal - Observer Profile
- "He's got the whole world in his hands"
8. Derek Browne - Telegraph Profile -
"School drop-out teaches a lesson in ambition"
9. Robert Swannell - Sunday Telegraph
Rainmaker - "The City's confessor"
10. Benoit Mandelbrot - Sunday Telegraph City
Profile - "The markets: So many people of great
brilliance and extraordinary greed."
11. French, Foreign - And Legion
- Sunday Business - Anglo-French footie's golden
age
12. Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne - before
they were famous.