Alexander Chancellor

Alexander Surtees Chancellor, CBE (4 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was a British journalist.

Alexander Chancellor CBE
Born	(1940-01-04)4 January 1940
Died	28 January 2017(2017-01-28) (aged 77)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Journalist
Known for	Editor of The Spectator

Chancellor was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was the editor of the conservative Spectator magazine from 1975 to 1984. During his editorship the magazine was saved from extinction and transformed into the most influential political weekly in the country. In 1986, after a spell as deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, Chancellor became the first Washington correspondent of the newly-launched quality broadsheet, The Independent, and subsequently launched and edited the paper's first Saturday magazine. In 1993 Chancellor spent a year in the United States working as an editor at The New Yorker magazine, where he oversaw the "Talk of the Town" section.[1] Some thought him "bumbling" and a "laughing stock", imparting a "skepticism so dry and genial it apparently went unnoticed."[2] This experience was the basis of a brilliant memoir, Some Times in America, which both satirised the ordeal and recorded his deep affection for New York and the United States. It was published in both the UK and the U.S. in 2000.[3] In June 2014 he became editor of The Oldie magazine in succession to Richard Ingrams.[4] Until January 2012, he contributed a weekly column in The Guardian, published in the "Weekend" supplement each Saturday. In March 2012, he began to contribute to The Spectator again, with a column entitled "Long Life".[5]

Chancellor lived in Northamptonshire, and was the father of British model Cecilia Chancellor and the uncle of British actress Anna Chancellor. He was the grandson of Sir John Chancellor, the first Governor of Southern Rhodesia.[6]

He was appointed a CBE in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to journalism.[7]

Alexander Chancellor died on 28 January 2017, aged 77.[8]

References

1. Porter, William (6 February 2000). "Best New Yorker profiles gathered in Life Stories". The Denver Post. Colorado. p. G-04.
2. Judith Shulevitz THE CLOSE READER; Tina and Harry's Excellent Adventure, The New York Times, 12 August 2001
3. Chancellor, Alexander (2000). Some Times in America - And a Life in a Year at the New Yorker. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-0710-2.
4. Harry Mount "Richard Ingrams on his successor at The Oldie: 'He’s a bloody fool for taking the job’", Daily Telegraph, 12 June 2014
5. Greenslade, Roy (7 March 2012). "Chancellor returns to The Spectator". The Guardian. London.
6. Despite Mugabe's hatred of British colonialism, the road he lives in is still named after my grandfather, The Guardian, 27 June 2008
7. "No. 60173". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 2012. p. 7.
8. Mount, Harry (28 January 2017). "RIP, Alexander Chancellor, The Man Who Invented the Modern Spectator". The Spectator. Retrieved 28 January 2017.

External links

• Journalisted - Articles by Alexander Chancellor
• Articles by Chancellor in The Spectator

Media offices
Preceded by Harold Creighton	Editor of The Spectator 1975–1984	Succeeded by Charles Moore
Preceded by ?	Deputy Editor of the Sunday Telegraph 1986	Succeeded by Ian Watson