Neil Lyndon

{{short description|British journalist and writer (born 1946)}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{BLP primary sources|text='''Almost all source material for this article (not the article itself) was written by Neil Lyndon who is the subject of this article'''. |date=July 2015}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Neil Lyndon | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Neil Alexander Barnacle | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1946|09|12}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Queens' College, Cambridge | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|journalist}} | years_active = 1968–present | employer = | organization = | known_for = Critique of feminism | notable_works = ''No More Sex War: The Failures of Feminism'' | style = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = Monica Foot m.1971 div.1976 Deirdre m.1977 div.1992 <br> Linda Lyndon | partner = | children = 2 daughters, 1 son, 1 step-son | parents = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Neil Alexander Lyndon''' (born Neil Alexander Barnacle; 12 September 1946)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/from-trump-to-ranieri-is-this-the-era-of-the-older-man/|title=From Trump to Ranieri: is this the era of the older man?|first=Neil|last=Lyndon|date=10 May 2016|newspaper=The Telegraph|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldcollyerians.org.uk/newsletters/Spring1999.pdf|date=1999|title=Old Collyerians Newsletter|website=Oldcollyerians.org.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref> is a British journalist and writer. He has written for ''The Sunday Times'', ''The Times'', ''The Independent'', the ''Evening Standard'' the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Telegraph''.

Lyndon is known for his book ''No More Sex War: The Failures of Feminism'' (Sinclair-Stevenson 1992), which he claims was "the world's first egalitarian, progressive, non-sexist critique of feminism in its own terms".<ref>Neil Lyndon [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/11216787/22-years-on-Im-republishing-my-controversial-book-on-the-failings-of-feminism.html ''22 years on, I'm republishing my controversial book on the failings of feminism''.]. Daily Telegraph, 10 November 2014.</ref>

==Early life== Born in 1946, Lyndon grew up in the Sussex Weald,<ref>Neil Lyndon [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/neil-lyndon/8879374/Spending-to-save-with-Audi.html ''Spending to save with Audi'']. Daily Telegraph, 10 November 2011.</ref> a rural area and between 1958 and 1962 he attended Collyer's school, Horsham<ref>Neil Lyndon (1998) ''A Boyhood in the Weald''</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/metoo-story-shows-men-victims-culprits/ My #metoo story shows that men are the victims as well as the culprits]</ref> In 1962 his father was bankrupted and sentenced to three years imprisonment for fraud and embezzlement, leaving the family short of money. Lyndon's mother then changed the family name to her maiden name and he moved to Gillingham School where he faced having to leave to get a job following completion of his O-levels due to the family's financial situation. Instead, his tutor Frank Hodgson paid the family money so Lyndon could complete his A-levels. Lyndon became head-boy and later set up the Frank Hodgson Trust for the school, providing similar financial support for sixth-form students. One of the ten houses at the school is also named after Lyndon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gillingham-dorset.co.uk/about-us/our-school/origins-of-the-school|title=Origins of the School|website=Gillingham-dorset.co.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017|archive-date=8 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908110952/https://www.gillingham-dorset.co.uk/about-us/our-school/origins-of-the-school|url-status=dead}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/fatherhood/10870396/Boys-need-help-to-break-the-cycle-of-crime.html|title=Boys need help to break the cycle of crime|first=Neil|last=Lyndon|date=3 June 2014|accessdate=19 October 2017|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> As a teenager he was interested in progressive causes, he joined the Young Communist League<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lyndon |first1=Neil |title=Finding honey in the shitstorm: personal crisis, faith, and mental health. |url=https://malepsychology.org.uk/2019/04/21/finding-honey-in-the-shitstorm-personal-crisis-faith-and-mental-health/ |website=Male Psychology Network |date=21 April 2019 |quote=By the age of 16, I was carrying a membership card for the Young Communist League, though I never actually signed it. |access-date=18 March 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420163213/https://malepsychology.org.uk/2019/04/21/finding-honey-in-the-shitstorm-personal-crisis-faith-and-mental-health/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

According to a newspaper article written by Lyndon, he became, in 1965, the first student from a comprehensive school to be awarded an unconditional place at Cambridge University where he attended Queens' College.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.queens.cam.ac.uk/files/publicationFiles/queens-college-1968-1969ocr.pdf|title=Queens' College: 1968–1969|website=Queens.cam.ac.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref> At university he took a job in a scrap yard and later in light engineering.<ref>Neil Lyndon [https://web.archive.org/web/20140819100130/http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/that-summer-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-fallacy-seduced-by-his-friends-tales-of-laughing-peasants-and-lively-girls-neil-lyndon-hit-the-road-for-the-summer-of-love-the-road-hit-back-1377444.html ''That Summer: The hitch-hiker's guide to the fallacy: Seduced by his friends' tales of laughing peasants and lively girls, Neil Lyndon hit the road for the summer of love. The road it back''] The Independent, 20 August 1994.</ref> He rapidly became involved with radical left-wing politics at Cambridge. He took part in many demonstrations and sit-ins and after his graduation he was a co-founder of ''The Shilling Paper'', a radical weekly.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiMOAAAAQAAJ&q=%22neil+lyndon%22+++cambridge&pg=PA95|title=Underground: The London Alternative Press, 1966–74|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|date=1 January 1988|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415007283|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1969, he joined the editorial board of the underground paper ''The Black Dwarf''.<ref name="heretic">Neil Lyndon, [https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0012/ti00120d.htm "The return of the heretic"], ''The Sunday Times'', 3 December 2000</ref> Years later, in 2007 he wrote in ''The Sunday Times'' of his shame at how he had "once toasted mass murderers, torturers and totalitarian despots", particularly as he had distant relatives in Czechoslovakia.<ref name="guardian">Neil Lyndon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081014085509/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2752164.ece "I was stupid too – but at least I admit it, comrade"], ''The Times'', 28 October 2007</ref>

==Career== In the 1970s Lyndon worked in various divisions of the BBC, including for The Listener<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10950998/Should-I-be-worried-about-how-I-behaved-in-the-1970s.html|title=Should I be worried about how I behaved in the 1970s?|date=8 July 2014 }}</ref>

Lyndon was a journalist in the 1980s, writing for the "Atticus" column in ''The Sunday Times'', as well as for ''The Times'', ''The Independent'', the ''Evening Standard'' and others. He wrote columns, profiles and feature articles covering a wide variety of issues such as politics, sport, music and books<ref name=autogenerated1>Neil Lyndon [https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0012/ti00120d.htm ''The return of the heretic'']. originally published in The Times, 3 December 2000. archived at [https://www.fact.on.ca Fathers Are Capable Too].</ref> Lyndon also make television appearances, including as a guest on a famous episode of Channel Four show ''After Dark''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/16/joy-six-broadcastin-under-influence|title=Joy of Six: Broadcasting under the influence – Scott Murray|first=Scott|last=Murray|date=16 June 2009|website=Theguardian.com|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref>

==On gender issues== Lyndon first focused on gender issues in a 1990 essay for ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' entitled "Badmouthing". The 5,000-word piece argued that, in advertising, entertainment, the news media, family law, education and health research, "an atmosphere of intolerance surrounded men", blaming this intolerance on "the universal dominance of feminism".<ref name="heretic" /> Lyndon concluded the piece stating:

"If relations between men, women and children are to improve, attitudes to men and manhood must change. It wouldn’t be a bad start if men caused to be the butt of casual prejudice expressed in half-witted habits of speech. But the most important job our legislators face must be to remove some of the systemic disadvantages of life for men to improve their position within the family and within society at large. There is one sense in which men, as a group and a whole, can be described as a class in Britain: in a host of vital ways they second class citizens."

It later emerged that female writers at ''The Times'' had allegedly made an unsuccessful attempt to have Lyndon's article censored, so the women instead wrote a derogatory article about Lyndon in the Sunday Times Magazine's "Style" section.<ref>London Charivari, (''Punch''), Volume 300, 1991</ref>

===''No More Sex War''=== The following year he wrote his book, ''No More Sex War: The Failures of Feminism'',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTqxAAAAIAAJ&q=no+more+sex+war|title=No More Sex War: The Failures of Feminism|first=Neil|last=Lyndon|date=13 September 1992|publisher=Sinclair-Stevenson|isbn=9781856191913|via=Google Books}}</ref> published in 1992, in which he expanded on these arguments.

====Reception==== The work received a large amount of attention in the media,<ref name="independent.co.uk">Christina Hardyment, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/book-review--a-wounded-apollo-lashes-back-no-more-sex-war--neil-lyndon-sinclairstevenson-pounds-1499-1555167.html "Book Review: A wounded Apollo lashes back: No more Sex War – Neil Lyndon"], ''The Independent'', 3 October 1992</ref> some of it hostile and abusive, vilifying Lyndon.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/dec/15/society|title=Neil Lyndon takes on the feminists|first=Jim|last=White|date=15 December 2000|website=Theguardian.com|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref>

Rather than addressing the issues and arguments raised by Lyndon, many critics instead chose to make verbal personal attacks. They suggested he was sexually inadequate, questioned the size of his penis, his masculinity, his ability to attract women and even the smell of his breath.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Almost two decades later feminist writer Julie Burchill continued the verbal personal attack, suggesting he was a "sad-sack" and "the opposite of a man".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/may/13/julie-bindel-burchill-feminism|title=Julie Bindel talks to fellow feminist Julie Burchill about marriage, militancy and men's lib|first=Julie|last=Bindel|date=12 May 2009|website=Theguardian.com|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref> According to Lyndon, in one review of books of the year, Helena Kennedy refused to even discuss the publication, simply instructing people not to buy it.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

====Impact==== The book sold few copies and Lyndon's work in journalism dried up. In August 1992 he was declared bankrupt.<ref>Jim White, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/dec/15/society "Back in the fray"], ''The Guardian'', 15 December 2000</ref> Before the publication of ''No More Sex War'', Lyndon's marriage had broken up and his wife had taken their child to Scotland where, according to Lyndon, she obtained an order of custody without Lyndon knowing the case was being heard.<ref name="heretic" /> Also according to Lyndon, in the subsequent divorce, his media notoriety was used against him in court, and he lost all access to his son. He rebuilt his career in journalism during the 1990s, and was later reunited with his son, who lived with him in Scotland before going to university.<ref name="guardian" /> Lyndon also claimed he was assaulted at Heathrow Airport because of his book.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> He claimed in 2000 that at Cambridge University, his alma mater, a president of Cambridge Union encouraged members to burn his writings, and that a university don told her students that she would like to see him shot.<ref name=autogenerated1 /><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18988970.html|title=Mens' champion admits he has lost the sex war|date=11 July 1999|website=Highbeam.com|accessdate=19 October 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908111113/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18988970.html|archivedate=8 September 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Eight years after the controversy, Lyndon revisited some of the issues in his book and discussed his story. He highlighted the issues in relation to "the treatment of dissidents in what is supposed to be an open society". Whilst not comparing his plight to the coetaneous case of Salman Rushdie, he suggested it was "paradoxical that many of the people who defended Rushdie's right to write whatever he wanted should be so censorious and destructive about wanting to limit my freedom to do the same".<ref name=autogenerated2 />

==Personal life== Lyndon married his first wife Monica Foot in 1971 and they divorced five years later. He married his second wife Deirdre in 1977<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0012/ti00120d.htm|title=The return of the heretic|website=Fact.on.ca|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref> with whom he had a son and gained a step-son.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/whos-who-in-the-sex-war-a-guide-to-the-seminal-or-rather-ovular-characters-and-the-latest-row-by-1554020.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/whos-who-in-the-sex-war-a-guide-to-the-seminal-or-rather-ovular-characters-and-the-latest-row-by-1554020.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Who's Who in the Sex War: A guide to the seminal – or rather ovular -|date=27 September 1992|website=Independent.co.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/fatherhood/11296826/I-know-how-Kafkaesque-the-Family-Court-can-be.html|title=I know how 'Kafkaesque' the Family Court can be|first=Neil|last=Lyndon|date=17 December 2014|website=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref>

His third wife is Linda. They have two daughters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/neil-lyndon/7882278/VW-California-campervan-put-to-the-test.html|title=VW California campervan put to the test|first=Neil|last=Lyndon|date=12 July 2010|website=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=19 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3350384/Am-I-completely-mad.html|title=Am I completely mad?|accessdate=19 October 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924013049/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3350384/Am-I-completely-mad.html|archivedate=24 September 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Publications== * ''No More Sex War: The failures of feminism'', by Neil Lyndon, 1992, Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd {{ISBN|978-1-85619-191-3}} * ''A Boyhood in the Weald'', by Neil Lyndon, 1998, Pomegranate Press {{ISBN|978-0-9519876-8-1}} * ''Sexual Impolitics: Heresies on sex, gender and feminism'', 2014 * ''Men of Respect''(formerly ''Hail to the Chief''), a musical about America between the inaugurations of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, co-written by Lyndon.<ref name="firstpost">{{cite web |url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/author,252,neil-lyndon |title=Neil Lyndon's contributor profile at ''The First Post'' |accessdate=2010-10-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101162732/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/author,252,neil-lyndon |archivedate=1 January 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==See also== * Warren Farrell

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyndon, Neil}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Men and feminism Category:The Daily Telegraph people Category:The Independent people Category:The Times journalists Category:The Sunday Times people Category:Motoring journalists Category:Daily Mail journalists Category:People educated at The College of Richard Collyer Category:People educated at Gillingham Grammar School, Dorset Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:People from West Sussex Category:20th-century British journalists Category:21st-century British journalists Category:21st-century British male journalists Category:BBC people