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David Randall was born in Ipswich, England in 1951 and educated
at local grammar school. In 1970 he went up to Clare College,
Cambridge University, to read economics, and was an frequent speaker
at the Union Society. Invited to write a weekly column for Varsity
by its editor, Jeremy Paxman, he contributed The Adventures of
Druisilla Nutt-Tingler.
After a brief spell as a professional comedian and assistant brand
manager for a cosmetics company (two experiences easily confused),
he joined the Croydon Advertiser in 1974 as a trainee reporter.
After working as a reporter for various editions, he became successively
sub-editor, deputy editor and, in 1980, editor, of the Croydon
Advertiser, then the largest circulation local weekly in Britain.
In 1978 he began freelancing for national newspapers, working
at The Sun and The Observer. In 1981 he joined the
Observer's staff as deputy sports editor, where he wrote the 'Sidelines'
column. This led to his first book, 'Great Sporting Eccentrics',
published in 1985. In 1986 he became assistant to editor Donald
Trelford, and in 1987 spent three months in California studying
computer systems before returning to Britain to take joint charge
of the paper's transfer to direct input. In 1987 his second book
'Royal Follies' ('Royal Misbehaviour' in the US) was published
and later that year he was made assistant editor of The Observer,
with reponsibility for presentation. He also wrote a humour column
for The Observer Magazine.
Between 1988 and 1993 he was reponsible for the paper's news coverage,
twice winning awards for the news pages and overseeing investigations
into anapthalmia (so-called 'eyeless baby syndrome'), HIV contamination
during blood transfusions, wrongful convictions for murder (two
convicted prisoners released), and atrocities against the Marsh
Arabs in Iraq. He was also a prime mover in the paper launching
several appeals for Save The Children.
In 1990 he went to Kenya to redesign the Sunday Standard
of Nairobi, and this gave him a taste for consultancy work, which
he pursued full-time after leaving The Observer in 1993.
In the next two years he edited supplements for The Times,
Los Angeles Times, Time magazine and Forturo
in Spain, through Universal News; launched a Weekend supplement
for The Moscow Times and also reorganised their editorial
and classified advertising departments. He also ran journalism
seminars in Africa for the British Council, and Russia and Central
Asia for the European Union. These experiences led to the writing,
in 1996, of 'The Universal Journalist', his anecdotal text book
which is now published in five languages around the world. In
1994, he also ran the national Rwanda appeal for the Disasters
Emergency Committee, helping to raise £36million in six
weeks.
In late 1995 he went to Moscow to relaunch Kapital, the
Russian-language sister paper of The Moscow Times. This
led to him becoming managing director of Independent Press, publisher
of both these titles, in 1995. He introduced colour supplements,
new forms of advertising and also acquired the weekly St Petersburg
Press, which was relaunched as the bi-weekly St Petersburg
Times. In early 1997, Randall resigned to resume work as a
consultant, completing projects on Moscow's evening paper, Vecherniy
Moskva, and the paper Pushkin founded, Literaturna Gazetta.
Back in the UK, he developed ideas for Internet-based local
information networks and founded UK Live Ltd to pursue these.
After six months trying to raise sufficient finance to start this
business, he failed, and so, with the help of fellow-director
Mo Tobin, adapted the network to be launched as a public service.
This plan is still being pursued.
Since 1998 he has worked as a news executive at The Independent
and Independent on Sunday, produced a completely revised
edition of 'The Universal Journalist', written a weekly column
and become a frequent lecturer and after-dinner speaker.