{{short description|British writer, journalist, editor and broadcaster (born 1944)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Nigel Fountain | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Nigel Christopher Fountain | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = Netley, England | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | alma_mater = University of York | occupation = Writer, journalist, editor, broadcaster | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Underground: The London Alternative Press'' (1988) }} '''Nigel Christopher Fountain''' (born 1944) is a British writer, journalist, editor and broadcaster. He has been a contributor to many publications including ''The Guardian'', ''The Observer'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''New Statesman'', ''The Oldie'', ''Evening Standard'', ''SoHo Weekly News'', ''History Today'', ''New Society'', ''Oz'' and ''Time Out''.
He is the author of several books, among them ''Underground: The London Alternative Press'' (1988), a comprehensive survey of alternative newspapers and magazines.<ref>[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6771770-underground ''Underground: The London Alternative Press, 1966–74''], Good Reads.</ref><ref>[http://uoygrapevineonline.com/2013/07/15/graduate-expectations-1963-and-2013/ "Graduate Expectations part 1: 1963 and 2013"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630172053/http://uoygrapevineonline.com/2013/07/15/graduate-expectations-1963-and-2013/ |date=30 June 2017 }}, Grapevine Online, 15 July 2013.</ref> He has also done documentary work for BBC Radio 4 and BBC2 on topics ranging from style magazines and the history of thrillers to dance halls and the events of 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mombooks.com/contributor/nigel-fountain/|title=Nigel Fountain|publisher=Michael O'Mara Books|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref>
==Background==
Born in the Hampshire village of Netley, England,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.netley.camden.sch.uk/author-nigel-fountain-visits/|title=Author Nigel Fountain visits|publisher=Netley Primary School|date=17 November 2014|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> Fountain studied Politics at the University of York (1963–1966),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-fountain-b2393925/|title=Nigel Fountain|publisher=LinkedIn|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> and in 1964 he founded the student newspaper ''Nouse''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nicky Woolf Goes Way Back |url=http://www.nouse.co.uk/2007/05/31/nicky-woolf-goes-way-back-5/ |accessdate=20 December 2020 |work=Nouse |date=31 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theyorkerarchive.github.io/2012/www.theyorker.co.uk/news/features/2337.html|title=Behind the scenes of campus media|first=Marie|last= Thouaille|website=The Yorker|date=26 November 2008|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nouse.co.uk/2018/11/20/saskia-starritt-thanks-the-ghosts-of-nouse-past|title=Saskia Starritt thanks the ghosts of Nouse past|first=Saskia|last=Starritt|date=20 November 2018|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref>
In the 1960s and '70s, Fountain contributed widely to magazines and journals of the alternative press such as ''Oz'' and ''Idiot International''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccl.bbk.ac.uk/undergroundoverground/|title=The Changing Politics of UK Music-Writing: 1968–85|website=Underground / Overground|publisher=Centre for Contemporary Literature, Birkbeck, University of London|date=May 2015|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/CX8529.htm|title=Underground—The London Alternative Press, 1966–74|first=Ron|last= Verzuh|website=Connexions|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/14/dave-laing-obituary|title=Dave Laing obituary|first=Tony|last=Russell|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 January 2019}}</ref> In 1981, he was one of 60-plus staff members of ''Time Out'' who, after its owner Tony Elliott abandoned the magazine's original co-operative principles, left to establish an alternative listings magazine called ''City Limits'', run on equal pay,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/20/tony-elliott-obituary|title=Tony Elliott obituary|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|author2=John Fordham|newspaper=The Guardian|date=20 July 2020}}</ref> with Fountain and John Fordham as co-editors.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Back to the Future|first=Duncan|last= Campbell|author-link=Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1944)|journal=British Journalism Review|year=2013|volume=24|issue=2|pages=47–51|doi=10.1177/095647480813492473|s2cid=220680254}}</ref>
Fountain went on to write for other national publications such as ''The Guardian'', where he was a commissioning editor of obituaries from 1994 to 2009,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nigelfountain|title=Nigel Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> ''The Observer'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''New Statesman'', ''The Oldie'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/jun/16/magazines-terry-wogan|title=More contributors leave The Oldie in sympathy with Richard Ingrams|first=Roy|last=Greenslade|author-link=Roy Greenslade|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 June 2014}}</ref> ''Evening Standard'', ''SoHo Weekly News'', ''History Today'', and ''New Society''.
His first book, a novel called ''Days Like These'', was published in 1985,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vintage45.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/days-like-these-nigel-fountain-1985/|title=Days Like These-Nigel Fountain (1985)|website=Vintage45's Blog|date=18 January 2011|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> followed in 1988 by ''Underground: The London Alternative Press, 1966–74'', considered the most comprehensive survey of the alternative newspapers and magazines that flourished in the UK with the emergence of the New Journalism.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nwrmswEACAAJ|title=Underground: The London Alternative Press, 1966–74|publisher=Routledge|location=London, England|date=1988|pages=231|isbn=9780415007276|via=Google Books|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> On the reissue of ''Underground'' as an ebook, the reviewer for ''New Model Journalism'' wrote: "As a piece of writing, it is a head-long rush, describing the events that shaped the scene as much as the publications itself. As a giddy fast forward through the years in question, at least for the 'turned on' generation who emerged from the rapidly expanding university sector, it is a vivid picture that Fountain paints. He is also good on the social changes that underpinned the scene – the arrival in London of baby boomers from the US and Australia and a cohort of grammar-school boys who were happy to side step the professions. Writing in the mid-1980s, it is perhaps not surprising that the representation of, and work environment experienced by, women in the alternative print was at the front of Fountain’s mind. Two decades on, the sexual revolution that it appeared to embody, in which women were expected to drop their prudish resistance to male demands, is an embarrassment brilliantly unpicked in this book."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newmodeljournalism.com/category/citizen-journalism/|title=Offset opposition, the rise and fall of Britain's alternative press|website=New Model Journalism|first=Tim|last=Dawson|date=18 March 2013|access-date=20 December 2020|archive-date=21 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121233823/https://newmodeljournalism.com/category/citizen-journalism/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2002, Fountain won further acclaim with the publication of ''World War II: The People's Story'', about which ''Publishers Weekly'' said: "This large and fine illustrated history of WWII through the participants' eyes is far above the conventional nostalgia piece. Personal accounts cover an amazing variety of experiences: the Blitz and the Battle of the Atlantic as seen through children's eyes; Operation Barbarossa from a German tank officer's point of view; the last fight of the Bismarck as seen from the British battleship Rodney; and an Australian soldier fighting the Japanese in the swamps of New Guinea….Even more outstanding is the quantity and quality of the photographs, managing to be comprehensive and comparatively free of overdone chestnuts."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7621-0376-8|title=WWII: The People's Story|journal=Publishers Weekly|date=7 July 2003}}</ref>
Other titles of which Fountain has been author or editor are ''Lost Empires: The Phenomenon of Theatres Past, Present & Future'' (2007), two volumes in the series ''Voices from the Twentieth Century'' – ''Women at War'' and ''The Battle of Britain and the Blitz'' – and the 2014 volume ''When the Lamps Went Out: From Home Front to Battle Front Reporting the Great War 1914–18''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/history/When-the-Lamps-Went-Out-introduced-by-Nigel-Fountain-9781783350414|title=When the Lamps Went Out: From Home Front to Battle Front Reporting the Great War 1914–18|publisher=Faber/Guardian Books|date=2014}}</ref>
Fountain features in a chapter of Iain Sinclair's 2009 book ''Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report''.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKsjHwsc15YC&dq=%22Nigel+Fountain%22&pg=PT506|title=Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report|first=Iain|last= Sinclair|chapter=Scribes and Witnesses {{!}} Nigel Fountain and Marc Karlin|publisher=Hamish Hamilton|date=2009|isbn=9780141012742 }}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Books===
* ''Days Like These'' – novel (1985, {{ISBN|978-0861047963}}) * ''Underground: The London Alternative Press, 1966–74'' (Routledge, 1988, {{ISBN|978-0415007283}}) * (General Editor) ''WW II – The People's Story'' (Michael O'Mara/Reader's Digest, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0888507631}}) * ''Voices from the Twentieth Century: Women at War'' (Michael O'Mara, 2002, {{ISBN|978-1854798572}}) * ''Voices from the Twentieth Century: The Battle of Britain and the Blitz'' (Michael O’Mara, 2002, {{ISBN|978-1854798565}}; Reader's Digest, 2003, {{ISBN|9780762103768}}) * ''Lost Empires: The Phenomenon of Theatres Past, Present & Future'' (Cassell, 2005) * ''Clichés: Avoid Them Like The Plague'' (Michael O'Mara, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1843174868}}) * ''The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread: Clichés: What They Mean and Where They Came from'' (Reader's Digest, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1606525678}}) * (Editor) ''When the Lamps Went Out: From Home Front to Battle Front Reporting the Great War 1914–18'' (Guardian Faber Publishing, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1783350414}})
===Selected articles===
* "Colonising Our Minds", ''International Socialism'' (1st series), No. 104, January 1978, pp. 24–25.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1977/no104/fountain.html|title=Colonising Our Minds|journal=International Socialism|number=104|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|date=January 1978|pages=24–25}}</ref> * "The horror, the horror", Culture, ''The Guardian'', 26 April 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/apr/26/artsfeatures1|title=The horror, the horror|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 April 1999}}</ref> * "Lost in space", Travel, ''The Guardian'', 23 October 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/1999/oct/23/2|title=Lost in space|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 October 1999}}</ref> * "A bad day for justice: The Archers", Culture, ''The Guardian'', 4 November 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/nov/04/artsfeatures8|title=A bad day for justice: The Archers|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 November 1999}}</ref> * "Fjord escort", Travel, ''The Guardian'', 15 January 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2000/jan/15/norway|title=Fjord escort|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=15 January 2000}}</ref> * "Perky Sid's soap slip-up", ''The Guardian''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jan/28/arts.reviews|title=Perky Sid's soap slip-up|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 January 2000}}</ref> * "Restricted view: The London Eye is open to all, but what does the city look like from the top of Centrepoint or Canary Wharf?", Travel, ''The Guardian'', 26 February 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2000/feb/26/london.unitedkingdom|title=Restricted view|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 February 2000}}</ref> * "Riviera reverie", ''The Guardian'', 17 April 2004.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2004/apr/17/hotels.unitedkingdom.guardiansaturdaytravelsection|title=Riviera reverie|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 April 2004}}</ref> * "The Kaiser's jihad", ''The Guardian'', 27 January 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jan/27/featuresreviews.guardianreview4|title=The Kaiser's jihad|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 January 2007}}</ref> * "The killing fields: Michael Hodges' AK47 traces how the weapon became the Coca-Cola of small arms", ''The Guardian'', 28 July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/28/featuresreviews.guardianreview7|title=The killing fields|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 July 2007}}</ref> * "Reunited at the grave", ''The Guardian'', 10 November 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/10/familyandrelationships.family1|title=Reunited at the grave|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 November 2007}}</ref> * "Time and the river", ''New Statesman'', 3 July 2008.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/travel/2008/07/london-past-thames-city-river|title=Time and the river|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|magazine=New Statesman|date=3 July 2008}}</ref> * "The BBC has been here before", ''The Guardian'', 25 January 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jan/25/gaza-bbc|title=The BBC has been here before|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=25 January 2009}}</ref> * "A collision of cultures", ''New Statesman'', 21 May 2009.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/travel/2009/05/oaxaca-amada-teachers-pri-2006|title=A collision of cultures|first=Nigel|last=Fountain|magazine=New Statesman|date=21 May 2009}}</ref> * "Georgian Dreams: Long before Last Year's Conflict with Russia, Georgia Attracted the Attention of Idealistic Western Politicians and Writers. but, as Nigel Fountain Explains, Their Romantic View of the Caucasus State Was Often Clouded by a Profound Ignorance of Realities", ''History Today'', Vol. 59, No. 9, September 2009.
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fountain, Nigel}} Category:1944 births Category:20th-century British journalists Category:20th-century British male journalists Category:20th-century British novelists Category:21st-century British male writers Category:Alumni of the University of York Category:British broadcasters Category:British journalists Category:British magazine editors Category:Living people Category:The Guardian journalists Category:People from Netley Category:SoHo Weekly News people Category:Writers from Hampshire