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Liz Jones

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Liz Jones
Born
Elizabeth Ann Jones

1958 (age 66–67)
England, United Kingdom
Alma materLondon College of Printing
Occupation(s)Writer, journalist

Elizabeth Ann Jones,[1] known as Liz Jones (born 5 September 1958),[2][3] is a British journalist.

She originally followed a career in fashion journalism, but her work has broadened into confessional writing. Jones divides opinion. While she has gained positive responses, a "beautifully natural writer, as well as a funny one" according to Deborah Ross in The Independent,[4] some of her articles have also received fierce criticism.[5][6]

A former editor of Marie Claire, she has been on the staff of The Sunday Times and the Evening Standard. Jones currently writes columns for the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

Life and career

An anorexic since she was approximately 11, Jones was raised in Essex. She is the daughter of an army father and a former ballerina,[4] and the youngest of seven children[7] (her siblings are Claire (born 1941), Philip, Nick (1949-2011),[8] Carolyn, Tony & Sue).[9] She grew up in the village of Rettendon.[10] Jones attended Brentwood County High School for Girls[11] and studied journalism at the London College of Printing.

After leaving college, she began to work for Company magazine in 1981, initially as a sub-editor, eventually becoming a staff writer before leaving to go freelance in 1986. In 1989 she began an 11-year stint at The Sunday Times magazine, becoming deputy editor of their "Style" magazine[12] in 1998.

In April 1999, Jones was appointed editor of Marie Claire UK magazine. An announcement by Jones during June 2000 that the leading fashion magazines were setting up a self-regulatory body concerning the size of models was "contradicted" by the editors of rival magazines.[13] Faced by a declining circulation,[13][14] she was sacked from this post two years later[15] for refusing to use bulimic models[16] and (according to Jones) listing in the magazine the freebies she had been offered in the previous month.[4] During this period she met journalist Nirpal Dhaliwal, sent by BBC Radio in 2000 to interview her,[17] and embarked on a seven-year relationship with him; their "disastrous" four-year marriage ended in 2007.[18] Wanting to become pregnant while with an earlier partner, she has written: "I resolved to steal his sperm from him in the middle of the night. I thought it was my right, given that he was living with me and I had bought him many, many M&S [Marks & Spencer] ready meals."[19]

In 2002 she became Life & Style editor at the London Evening Standard,[12] leaving to join the Daily Mail as Style editor in early 2006.[20] According to Jones she is disliked by the fashion industry: "The fashion industry stinks and everyone in fashion hates me. No one talks to me when I go to the shows. I'm barred from a lot of shows now. I've been barred from Armani, Louis Vuitton, Chloe, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Victoria Beckham..."[4] She also writes for British Airways' High Life magazine on destinations and hotels. Jones has been described by Deborah Orr as a "very gifted writer and apparently very flaky human being".[21] Often considered somewhat self-obsessed, with the veracity of her confessions questioned,[22][23] she has been defended by Tanya Gold who wrote: "There are many confessional journalists in Britain, but none as forensic or as self-critical as Jones".[16] She has reported from Bangladesh, and was sent by her newspaper to cover the famine in Somalia in the summer of 2011; her suitability for this assignment was questioned by Ros Coward.[24] In June 2012 she caused controversy by slating Holly Willoughby for posting a photo of herself on Twitter without makeup as a "betrayal to women." This Morning co-presenter Phillip Schofield defended Willoughby, saying "I swear there can be no greater force against all womankind than Liz Jones. She is inconsistent, bitter, nasty and unhinged."[25]

Until the end of October 2012 Jones lived in Brushford, just south of Dulverton, Somerset.[7] Her comments about the area and in the book The Exmoor Files angered local people. The journalist Jane Alexander thought Jones opinions were "a clichéd, stereotypical and, frankly, lazy image of the countryside."[26]

Jones wrote about an alleged current love interest, the Rock Star (RS), in her weekly diary in the Mail on Sunday's "You" magazine from July 2010. Despite dropping many heavy hints that the 'rock star' was Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, in a November 2011 interview in the Evening Standard, she finally admitted it is not Kerr.[27] Almost immediately, she began writing about another alleged love interest, this time a married man living in South America.[28]

Jones has been vegetarian since the age of twelve.[29] Jones describes herself as "mostly vegan" and has on at least one occasion experimented with non-vegan diets for health reasons (though remaining vegetarian for ethical reasons).[30]

In a 2012 comment piece contained within the Daily Mail, whilst referring to the gender discrepancy in male and female mortality rates, Jones wrote "'more men die younger, more are incarcerated’. Well, fine by me!"[31]

In November 2012 Jones was named Columnist of the Year at the British Society of Magazine Editors Awards.[32]

Bibliography

  • Slave To The Rhythm: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. 1997. ISBN 0-316-64041-7.
  • Liz Jones's Diary: How One Single Girl Got Married. 2005. ISBN 1-84400-223-3.
  • Fur Babies: Why We Love Cats. 2007. ISBN 1-84400-518-6.
  • The Exmoor Files: How I Lost A Husband And Found Rural Bliss. 2009. ISBN 0-297-85443-7.

References

  1. ^ For Elizabeth as her first name see Liz Jones "Why Liz is in a tizz", Evening Standard, 19 November 2003
  2. ^ Liz Jones (24 May 2008). "OK Anne, I was born in 1958 – and lying about it is my Weakest Link | Mail Online". Mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  3. ^ Liz Jones. "Liz Jones: Why don't more women moan like me? | Mail Online". dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Deborah Ross (9 July 2010). "Liz Jones: 'All writers betray people. It's tricky' - Press - Media". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  5. ^ Greenslade, Roy (19 January 2011). "Liz Jones plumbs the depths in report on Joanna Yeates murder | Media | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  6. ^ Harwood, Jonathan (17 January 2011). "Twitter turns on the Mail's Liz Jones over Jo Yeates | Jo Yeates killing News | The Week UK". Thefirstpost.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  7. ^ a b Rachel Cooke (2 August 2009). "Liz Jones talks to Rachel Cooke about the compulsion to tell all | Life and style | The Observer". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  8. ^ Liz Jones (30 January 2011). "LIZ JONES: My rebel brother's in a cardboard coffin, victim of a system he hated | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  9. ^ Liz Jones's Diary: How One Single Girl Got Married p.163,
  10. ^ Liz Jones. "Chelmsford, Essex: You can't make a colourful city out of a dull, sepia town | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  11. ^ Liz Jones (16 January 2010). "Liz Jones searches for some old school friends: 'I always felt different to the other girls' | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  12. ^ a b Ciar Byrne (4 September 2002). "Jones to show her style at Standard | Media | MediaGuardian". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  13. ^ a b The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/me-and-bridget-jones-680114.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ An article from this period asserts that circulation initially rose after Jones became editor. See Polly Vernon "The girls can't help it", The Guardian, 2 March 2000
  15. ^ Liz Jones's Diary: How One Single Girl Got Married p.70
  16. ^ a b Tanya Gold (22 September 2009). "Give Liz Jones a break! | Tanya Gold | Comment is free". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  17. ^ Hermione Eyre (2 April 2006). "Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal: Me & Missus Jones - Profiles - People". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  18. ^ Victoria Summersley and Johann Hari (26 May 2007). "Liz and Nirpal: The last argument - Media, News - The Independent". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  19. ^ Liz Jones (3 November 2011). "Liz Jones' baby craving drove her to steal husband's sperm in ultimate deception | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  20. ^ Julia Day (6 March 2006). "Jones joins Mail as style editor | Media | MediaGuardian". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  21. ^ Deborah Orr (15 June 2011). "Liz Jones and the face-lift that says it all | Fashion". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  22. ^ Cristina Odone (25 April 2006). "So much more than a marriage of inconvenience". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  23. ^ Liz Hoggard (23 June 2011). "The columnist, her 'rock star' boyfriend and an internet gossip frenzy... | News". Thisislondon.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  24. ^ Ros Coward (1 August 2011). "Sending Liz Jones to report on Somalia is grotesque | Ros Coward | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  25. ^ "Phillip Schofield Sticks Up For Holly Willoughby Over Liz Jones' Damning 'Daily Mail' Article". Huffington Post. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ Jane Alexander (22 August 2009). "Why Liz Jones is wrong about Exmoor". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  27. ^ Richard Godwin "I sold my soul... now I'm selling my eggs, says Liz Jones", Evening Standard, 21 November 2011
  28. ^ Liz Jones (18 December 2011). "In which I pack my globetrotter | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  29. ^ Liz Jones (8 January 2011). "The caring professions? They just don't seem to care at all". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  30. ^ Liz Jones (8 June 2009). "Fatten me up! What happened when former anorexic Liz Jones had to eat normally for three weeks". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2011. Being mostly vegan, too, makes me extra awkward."..." My only rule is that I will remain a vegetarian; an ethical stance, not a health one.
  31. ^ Jones, Liz. "Who cares if men are stuck in a glass cellar? (They can change the bulb while they're down there)". Daily Mail, UK. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  32. ^ "Top award for our inimitable Liz Jones 'who divides opinion as a good columnist should'". The Mail On Sunday. 18 November 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.

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