Stephen Glover

Background

Stephen Glover was born on January 13, 1952, in the United Kingdom.

Education

Glover was educated at Shrewsbury School and Mansfield College, Oxford.

Career

Early in 1985, Stephen Glover was one of three journalists at London’s Daily Telegraph who had the idea of founding a new newspaper for their metropolis, one that would be nonpartisan in its politics, modern in its style, traditional in its physical format, and free in its editorial policy.

Glover co-founded The Independent in 1986 with Andreas Whittam Smith and Matthew Symonds. All three had previously been journalists on The Daily Telegraph and had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell's ownership. Between 1986 and 1990 Glover was Foreign Editor of The Independent.

In 1990 Glover became the founding editor of The Independent on Sunday. After a post-launch decline in sales, The Independent quickly restored its fortunes by serializing portions of a bestselling espionage memoir, Peter Wright’s Spycatcher, which the British government had attempted to suppress. The paper garnered respect both in England and abroad. Former Independent writer Alexander Chancellor, in a Times Literary Supplement review of Glover’s Paper Dreams (1993), remarked that it was predictably named by his American acquaintances as their favorite British newspaper. However, troubles began when the three founders decided to launch a Sunday edition. Appearing just as Britain hit recessionary times, The Independent on Sunday lost money and contributed to an overall decline in the paper’s financial stability and perceived stature. Glover, who was the editor of the Sunday edition, was released—betrayed, he felt, by his former partners.

In 1992 Glover helped Richard Ingrams launch The Oldie magazine with fellow journalists Auberon Waugh, Alexander Chancellor, and Patrick Marnham. Glover has been a columnist for the London Evening Standard (1992–1995), The Daily Telegraph (1995–1997), The Spectator (1996-2005) and The Independent (2005-2012).

Glover has written a column for the Daily Mail since 1998. In April 2012, The Guardian reported that Glover's contract with The Independent had been terminated. In 2004, Glover proposed a new compact upmarket newspaper to be called The World with fellow journalists Francis Wheen and Frank Johnson under the chairmanship of Adam Broadbent, a former managing director of finances at Schroders Plc.

The proposed newspaper was loosely modeled on Le Monde in France and was intended as a response to the dumbing down of some quality titles. It was reported that Glover and his colleagues sought only £15.4 million to launch The World, less than the budget for The Independent almost 20 years earlier, though this amount was subsequently slightly increased. The project did not get off the ground.

Glover is the author of Paper Dreams (1993), an account of the founding of The Independent, and editor of The Penguin Book of Journalism (1999). His first novel, Splash, was published by Constable in 2017.

Achievements

• Stephen Glover is a leading British journalist who co-founded the Independent and the Independent on Sunday.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Crime of Vincente Cornaro

    (Anna Milne is in a passionless relationship, on the cusp ...)

    2018
  • Splash!: A Novel

    (Sam Blunt is a drunken, broken-down tabloid reporter, wor...)

    2017
  • The Lady From Mainz

    (A well-intentioned young female art expert is caught in a...)

    2015
  • The Blind Policeman

    (A French film director returns to his Venetian apartment ...)

    2013

Connections

Glover married Celia Elizabeth Montague In 1982. They have two children.

Wife:

Celia Elizabeth Montague

colleague:

Andreas Whittam Smith

The Independent co-founder

colleague:

Matthew Symonds

The Independent co-founder

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 164