Toby Young

Toby Young is a freelance journalist and the bestselling author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2001) and The Sound of No Hands Clapping (2006). He’s also the leader of a parent group in Ealing hoping to set up Britain’s first ‘free school’ – a secondary school funded by the state, but free to operate independently and determine its own curriculum. He’ll be teaching us how to start a school in the Idler’s Academy.

Toby was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (gaining a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and has taught at Harvard and Cambridge. Since founding and editing the Modern Review with Julie Burchill and Cosmo Landesman in 1991, he’s enjoyed an extensive career in journalism and is currently the associate editor of The Spectator and a blogger for the Telegraph. One of his less enjoyable experiences in journalism was his ill-fated stint at Vanity Fair magazine in New York (1995 to 1998). Young’s kiss-and-tell memoirs of this disastrous period form the basis of his debut novel, How to Lose friends and Alienate People.

Toby performed in the West End adaption of his novel and co-produced the film version (2008) starring Simon Pegg (as Toby) alongside Jeff Bridges and Thandie Newton. He also co-wrote a sex farce about the David Blunkett/Kimberley Quinn scandal called Who’s the Daddy?, which was named Best New Comedy at the 2006 Theatregoers’ Choice Awards. Most recently he co-wrote When Boris Met Dave, a documentary for More4.

www.nosacredcows.co.uk
www.westlondonfreeschool.co.uk
Follow Toby Young on Twitter: http://twitter.com/toadmeister
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“Young has built a successful career out of being a complete failure.”
The Scotsman

“My whole life, I’ve always done good things. I’ve never even had a speeding ticket - well, no, I had one speeding ticket.”
Toby Young

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