# Damian Thompson

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English journalist, editor and author

**Damian Thompson** (born 1962) is an English journalist, editor and author. He is an associate editor of *[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)*. Previously he worked as editor-in-chief of the *[Catholic Herald](/source/Catholic_Herald)* and for *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)* where he was religious affairs correspondent and later blogs editor and a Saturday columnist.[1]

## Career

Thompson was educated at [Presentation College, Reading](/source/Elvian_School) (later known as the Elvian School),[2] and read history at [Mansfield College, Oxford](/source/Mansfield_College%2C_Oxford).[3]

In 2003, he received his Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics)[4] for his thesis, *The problem of the end: a sociological study of the management of apocalyptic belief at Kensington Temple, a London Pentecostal church, at the end of the millennium*.[5] He was religious affairs correspondent of *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)* from 1990 to 1994, and subsequently editor-in chief of the *[Catholic Herald](/source/Catholic_Herald).*[6] He was a director of the *Herald* from 2003 to 2019.[7][8]

Thompson was a Saturday columnist for *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)* from 2011, and the Blogs Editor of the [Telegraph Media Group](/source/Telegraph_Media_Group), with responsibility for editing and commissioning blogs on politics, religion, finance and culture. In June 2014, he left his posts at *The Telegraph*[9] "in entirely amicable circumstances".[10] On 5 August 2014, *[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)* announced that Thompson had been appointed associate editor.[11]

He has written two books about apocalyptic belief and one about [conspiracy theories](/source/Conspiracy_theory) or "counterknowledge", which he describes as "misinformation packaged to look like fact".[12] His book *[The Fix: How Addiction is Invading our Lives and Taking Over Your World](/source/The_Fix_(book))* was published in 2012.[13] He writes a monthly column about classical music for *[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)*. He also regularly writes a column on *[UnHerd](/source/UnHerd)*.[14]

## Books

- *The End of Time: Faith and the Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium* (University Press of New England, 1997);[15] [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780874518498](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780874518498)

- *Loose Canon: A Portrait of Brian Brindley* (ed) (Continuum, 2004);[16] [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780826474186](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780826474186)

- *Waiting for Antichrist: Charisma and Apocalypse in a Pentecostal Church* (Oxford University Press, 2005); [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780195178562](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780195178562)

- *[Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History](/source/Counterknowledge)* (Atlantic Books, 2008); [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781843546757](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781843546757)

- *[The Fix: How Addiction is Invading our Lives and Taking Over Your World](/source/The_Fix_(book))* (Collins, 2012); [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780007436088](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780007436088)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Telegraph relaunches blogs and names Thompson section editor"](https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/telegraph-relaunches-blogs-names-thompson-section-editor/915779).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-nib_2-0)** ["Catholic school wins reprieve"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1430308/News-in-brief.html). *The Daily Telegraph*. 17 May 2003. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-oxon_3-0)** ["Mansfield College Magazine – Winter 2008"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140904205822/http://www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/Documents/pdf/Magazines/Winter%202008.pdf) (PDF). University of Oxford. Archived from [the original](http://www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/Documents/pdf/Magazines/Winter%202008.pdf) (PDF) on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-atlantic_4-0)** ["Author profile – Damian Thompson"](http://www.atlantic-books.co.uk/content/damian-thompson). [Atlantic Books](/source/Atlantic_Books). Retrieved 17 June 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [500224286](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/500224286)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-bone_6-0)** Bone, Victoria (21 January 2009). ["Defending the faith, or prejudice?"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7841775.stm). *BBC News*. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-director_7-0)** Alison Chung; Steph Oliver (15 January 2011). ["Three Ex-Bishops Defect To Catholicism"](http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/15895485). Retrieved 17 June 2012.{{[cite news](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_news)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Catholic Herald Limited - Officers – Find and update company information – gov.uk"](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00288446/officers). *[Companies House](/source/Companies_House)*. Retrieved 9 February 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Greenslade_9-0)** Roy Greenslade ["Daily Telegraph's Brogan departs as group seeks 40 new recruits"](https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/jun/18/dailytelegraph-jason-seiken), (Greenslade blog) *The Guardian*, 18 June 2014

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Sommers_10-0)** Jack Sommers ["Telegraph Cuts High-Profile Journalists Benedict Brogan And Damian Thompson In Latest Cull"](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/18/telegraph-cuts-highprofile-journalists_n_5506465.html), *The Huffington Post*, 18 June 2014

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Fraser Nelson ["Changes to The Spectator’s editorial team"](http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/fraser-nelson/2014/08/changes-to-the-spectators-editorial-team/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140806111609/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/fraser-nelson/2014/08/changes-to-the-spectators-editorial-team/) 6 August 2014 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *The Spectator* (blog), 5 August 2014

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge'](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575346/Lies-damn-lies-and-counterknowledge.html), *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*, 12 January 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Thompson, Damian (22 February 2012). ["Are sleeping pills really that bad for your health?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120229014939/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9111217/Are-sleeping-pills-really-that-bad-for-your-health.html). *The Daily Telegraph*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Damian Thompson"](https://unherd.com/author/damian-thompson/). *UnHerd*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Eisner, Robert (9 November 1997).["The Big Round One"](https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/reviews/971109.09eisnert.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Knight, India (11 July 2004). ["Like a fat blackbird"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3620520/Like-a-fat-blackbird.html). *The Daily Telegraph*.

## External links

- [Damian Thompson – *The Telegraph*](https://web.archive.org/web/20090627035701/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/damianthompson/)

- [Damian Thompson – *The Spectator*](http://www.spectator.co.uk/author/damian-thompson/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Damian Thompson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Thompson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Thompson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.