Alistair Beaton
Encyclopedia
Alistair Beaton is a Scottish left wing political satirist
, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter
for Gordon Brown
.
Born in Glasgow
, Beaton was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh
, Moscow
and Bochum and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with First Class Honours in Russian
and German
. He lives in Holloway, London
.
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter
Speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are used by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors.-Skills and training:...
for Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
.
Born in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Beaton was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, Moscow
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
and Bochum and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with First Class Honours in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He lives in Holloway, London
Holloway, London
Holloway is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington located north of Charing Cross and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road . At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area...
.
Non-fiction
- The Little Book of Complete Bollocks (1999)
- The Little Book of New Labour Bollocks (2000)
- The Little Book of Management Bollocks (2001)
Fiction
- Don Juan on the Rocks (novel, 1994)
- Drop the Dead Donkey 2000 (novel, 19941994 in literatureThe year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search*Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat*Greg Bear - Songs of Earth and Power...
) (co-authored with Andy HamiltonAndy HamiltonAndrew Neil Hamilton is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter and radio dramatist.-Early life:...
, after the British sitcom Drop the Dead DonkeyDrop the Dead Donkey- Major characters :* Gus Hedges — The unctuous Chief Executive of the company, and yes-man to Sir Roysten Merchant. A management stereotype, complete with clichés and clumsy metaphors, he swiftly transforms GlobeLink from a serious news network to a ratings-chasing tabloid channel...
) - A Planet for the PresidentA Planet for the PresidentA Planet for the President is a novel by Alistair Beaton. Set in the not-too-distant future, it satirically ponders the question of what action the President of the United States might take if he finally realized that global climate change is converting the earth into an increasingly uninhabitable...
(novel, 20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
)
Stage plays
- The Ratepayer's Iolanthe (co-written with Ned SherrinNed SherrinEdward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
) (1984) - The Metropolitan Mikado (also co-written with Sherrin) (1985)
- Feelgood (2001) (a satire on New Labour spin doctors)
- Follow My Leader (a 2004 play with music by Richard BlackfordRichard BlackfordRichard Blackford is an English composer.- Biography :Richard Blackford studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music and conducting with Norman del Mar. He spent a number of years as Henze’s assistant in Italy, where he received his first commissions while immersed in the...
) - King of Hearts (a satire) (2007)
- CaledoniaCaledoniaCaledonia is the Latinised form and name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia, beyond the frontier of their empire...
(2010) (A satire about the Royal Bank of ScotlandRoyal Bank of ScotlandThe Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
and the Scottish colonial ambitions (Darien schemeDarién schemeThe Darién scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "New Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s...
of the late 17th century.)
Translations and adaptations
- Nikolai GogolNikolai GogolNikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's The Government Inspector (from Russian) - Gogol's The NoseThe Nose"The Nose" is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol. Written between 1835 and 1836, it tells of a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.-Part one:...
(based on the Gogol short story of the same name) - La Vie ParisienneLa Vie ParisienneLa Vie Parisienne was a magazine in France founded in 1863 and popular at the turn-of-the-twentieth century. It was originally intended as a guide to upper class and artistic life in Paris , but it soon evolved into a mildly risqué erotic publication...
(from French) - Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(from German) - The Arsonists (a 2007 translation of the 1953 play by Max FrischMax FrischMax Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
play Biedermann und die BrandstifterBiedermann und die BrandstifterThe Fire Raisers , also known in English as Firebugs or The Firebugs, was written by Max Frisch in 1953, first as a radio play, then adapted for television and the stage ....
)
Television
- Not The Nine O'Clock NewsNot the Nine O'Clock NewsNot the Nine O'Clock News is a television comedy sketch show which was broadcast on BBC 2 from 1979 to 1982.Originally shown as a comedy "alternative" to the BBC Nine O'Clock News on BBC 1, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy...
(1979-1982) - It'll All Be Over in Half an Hour (1983)
- Spitting ImageSpitting ImageSpitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
(1984-1996) - Incident on the Line and The Way, the Truth, the Video (from Tickets for the TitanicTickets for the TitanicTickets for the Titanic was a British anthology series of television plays, transmitted on Channel 4, that ran for two three-episode seasons in 1987 and 1988. The title came from the concept of Britain in the mid/late-1980s being a sinking ship...
, 1987) - Downwardly Mobile (1994)
- Mit fünfzig küssen Männer anders (screenplay, 1998; based on a novel by Dorit Zinn)
- A Very Social Secretary (2005) (about David BlunkettDavid BlunkettDavid Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
's affair with Kimberly QuinnKimberly QuinnKimberly Quinn , is an American journalist, commentator and magazine publisher and writer. Latterly the publisher of British conservative news magazine The Spectator....
) - The Trial of Tony BlairThe Trial of Tony BlairThe Trial of Tony Blair is a satirical drama, based around the notion that the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair is to face charges of war crimes by an international tribunal, following his departure from 10 Downing Street...
(2007)
Radio
- Fourth Column, a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
show for writers and journalists - Electric InkElectric InkElectric Ink is a BBC Radio sitcom written by Alistair Beaton and journalist Tom Mitchelson. It stars Robert Lindsay as Maddox Bradley, a 50-something political journalist on a "quality" newspaper that is heading relentlessly downmarket, while also establishing an online presence...
, BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
(2009) - The Beaton Generation
Miscellaneous
- Additional lyrics for the song Small Titles And Orders in the Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
's production of The GondoliersThe GondoliersThe Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
in the summer of 2003.
External links
- Alistair Beaton's Official Website
- Alistair Beaton: "Nanny Doesn't Know Best" (The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, March 29, 2004) (about the war in Iraq and its treatment in Follow My Leader) - "Lunatics in the White House? Surely not?" (Camden New JournalCamden New JournalThe Camden New Journal is a free, independent newspaper that covers the London Borough of Camden. It was born out of a strike in the 1980s supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson and the paper's editor Eric Gordon...
, November 19, 2004) (about the genesis of A Planet for the President; includes author photograph).