Nigel Farndale
Quick Facts
Biography
Nigel Farndale (born 1964) is a British author and journalist, known for his award-winning broadsheet interviews and his bestselling novel The Blasphemer.
He has written six books: three novels, two biographies and a collection of interviews. His latest novel is The Road Between Us.
The Blasphemer was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Book Awards and selected for the WH Smith Richard and Judy Bookclub. His biography Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce was published in 2005 and shortlisted for that year’s Whitbread Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
As a journalist he has written for various magazines and newspapers including The Observer, Sunday Times, The Times, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and Spectator.
He has won a British Press Award and three commendations for his interviews, and was the joint subject of a programme about interviewing on Radio 4 when he and Lynn Barber compared notes on Between Ourselves. His interview subjects have included Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Woody Allen, the Dalai Lama, Prince Charles, Elton John, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Paul McCartney, George Best, Jimmy Savile and Stephen Hawking.
Farndale grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, was educated at Barnard Castle School, read philosophy for a master's degree at Durham University and worked as a farmer before becoming a journalist — he wrote an abusive letter to Auberon Waugh, who then asked him to write for Literary Review. After that he worked on Punch magazine and Country Life magazine before moving to the Sunday Telegraph, where he remained for eighteen years as a feature writer and columnist.
He is married with three sons and lives on the border between Hampshire and Sussex.
Publications
- The Road Between Us. London, 2013. ISBN 0-385-61913-8
- The Blasphemer. London, 2010. ISBN 0-385-61779-8
- Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce. London, 2005. ISBN 0-333-98992-9
- Flirtation, Seduction, Betrayal: Interviews with Heroes and Villains. London, 2002. ISBN 1-84119-644-4
- Last Action Hero of the British Empire: Commander John Kerans 1915–1985. London, 2001. ISBN 0-571-20825-8
- A Sympathetic Hanging. London, 2000. ISBN 0-7043-8141-9