Biography: Simon Jenkins

[Simon Jenkins]

Simon Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist who currently writes a regular column for The Guardian and the Sunday Times.

He was born in 1943 and educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxford. He began on Country Life magazine, worked for The Times Educational Supplement and the Evening Standard and edited the Insight page of the Sunday Times. He was political editor of the Economist from 1979 to 1986 and subsequently went on to found and edit the Sunday Times Books section, where he also wrote a weekly column. In 1988 he was voted Journalist of the Year, and in 1993 Columnist of the Year. He has won the Edgar Wallace and David Watt awards.

In the course of his career he has edited both the Evening Standard and The Times, and has written books on politics and on the history and architecture of London.

He has been deputy chairman of English Heritage (1985-90) and is currently a member of the Millennium Commission. He chairs the Buildings Books Trust, sponsors of the Pevsner guides.

Simon Jenkins lives in London and is married to the actress Gayle Hunnicutt.