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'{{Wikify|date=February 2010}} '''Desson Patrick Thomson''' is a speaker, movie reviewer and cultural commentator who wrote film reviews for 21 years as a critic for ''[[The Washington Post]]''. Based in Washington DC, he speaks professionally at conventions, seminars, Sunday movie chats, and other events. He also blogs and reviews movies on his website [http://www.dessonthomson.com]. ==Biography== Thomson was born Desson Patrick Thomson, January 13, 1958. But after his mother, Naomi Daniels (née Parker) remarried, Thomson's name was changed at the age of 7 to Desson Warren Howe. He attended boarding schools in England from the age of 7 until 17. He went to the Abbey School in East Grinstead, Sussex, and the City of London Freemen's School in Ashtead Park, Surrey. (Also attending the City of London Freemen's School at the time was musician Joe Strummer of the Clash.) During his boarding school years, Thomson spent his school vacations in Senegal, Morocco and Washington, depending on where his stepfather (an overseas journalist) was stationed at the time. After graduating from City Freemen's with "AO" levels in English and French, he moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1975 to join his family, who had already moved there permanently in the early 1970s. He attended American University from 1975 till 1979, where he studied movies as a major. He graduated in Spring 1980 with a degree in visual communications and cinema studies. For a short time he was a singer/songwriter with the band Kaspar Hauser - named after one of his favorite movies - with friend and collaborator Ken Cobb. He started working for ''[[The Washington Post]]'' in 1983 as a copy aide for the Style section, and by 1984, was writing freelance articles for the paper. In 1987 he became a film critic for the paper. As the main critic for the Weekend section, he became well known in the Washington area for his passion for independent and foreign films, as well as more irreverent takes on Hollywood mainstream movies. Declaring he couldn't face having to review ''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]'', he switched from reviewing to working as a reporter and feature writer for the Metro section in 1998. After a year there, he returned to movie reviewing.<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Desson Thomson |url=http://www.american.edu/newsletter/development/2005/feb/desson_0205.htm |quote= |publisher=[[American University]] |date= |accessdate=2008-01-27 }}</ref> He took a buyout and retired in 2008. He was married to Beth Bogart from 1981 till 1985 with two sons, Alexander Bogart Howe and Adrian Joseph Howe. He married Sally Baldwin in 1991 and they have one son, Andrew Baldwin Thomson in 1992. Thomson has two other siblings, who also rejected their Howe surnames. They are now Russell Sage and Deirdre Parker. He was known as '''Desson Howe''' until 2003 when he changed his name back to Desson Patrick Thomson - this after reuniting with his birth father, Alexander George Thomson in [[Aberdeen, Scotland]] in 2002. After the reunion with his birth father, he also met two siblings for the first time from his father's second marriage, Colette and Darryn Thomson. He is also a scriptwriter, a member of the [[National Society of Film Critics]], and a regular guest on [[National Public Radio|NPR's]] ''Weekend Edition'' with Scott Simon on Saturday mornings. He is also a singer/songwriter with the band Cairo Fred,<ref>[http://www.Cairofred.com]</ref> based in the Washington area. The band performs original music, which Thomson cowrites with his songwriting partner Brad Heck. ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.american.edu/newsletter/development/2005/feb/desson_0205.htm American University biography] *[http://www.Cairofred.com Cairo Fred] {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = Thomas, Desson | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Desson}} [[Category:The Washington Post people]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American University alumni]] [[Category:American film critics]] [[Category:1958 births]]'