Alan Watkins
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Alan Rhun Watkins (3 April 1933 – 8 May 2010) was for over 50 years a British political columnist in various London-based magazines and newspapers. He also wrote about wine and rugby.


Life and career

Alan Watkins was born in Tycroes,
Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...
, to David John Watkins (1894–1980), a teacher (sometime headmaster at Llanedi School, near Tycroes), from a mining family, and Violet, also a teacher, daughter of Dr Edwin Harris, a GP.Ciar Byrne (12 June 2006)
"The Indestructible Journos"
''The Independent'' (London). Retrieved on 20 October 2008.
He was educated at Tycroes Primary School and Amman Valley Grammar School before studying law at Queens' College, Cambridge. After National Service, he was called to the Bar. Much of his long career as a commentator on politics was spent at ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' newspaper (1976–93), but he also wrote for '' The Sunday Express'' (1959–64), ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' (1964–67), the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'' (1967–76), the ''
Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...
'', and the London ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
''. At the end of each year he wrote a piece called "Master Alan Watkins' Almanack", written in the style of a 17th-century seer and making tentative, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, predictions for the year ahead.


Political language

He coined and popularised a number of phrases that have passed into common journalistic parlance, including " chattering classes"; although he fleshed out the archetypal " young fogey" in ''The Spectator'' in 1984, Watkins noted that he had adopted the phrase from the journalist Terence Kilmartin, who had used it in reference to the academic John Casey, and Watkins stated that the phrase originated with
Dornford Yates Cecil William Mercer (7 August 1885 – 5 March 1960), known by his pen name Dornford Yates, was an English writer and novelist whose novels and short stories, some humorous (the ''Berry'' books), some Thriller (genre), thrillers (the ''Chandos ...
in 1928. He was noted for coining the political phrase "the men in grey suits", indicating a delegation of senior party figures (such as the Conservative Party's
1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, or sometimes simply the 22, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in the British House of Commons of the United Kingdom, H ...
) who come to tell a party leader that it is time to go. But as he wrote in a footnote in ''A Conservative Coup'':
The original phrase was 'the men in suits'. It was used, for example, by the present writer in the ''Observer'', 6 May 1990. During and before the 39 hours it became transformed into 'the men in grey suits', which stuck. As Lord Whitelaw observed on television, it was an inaccurate phrase, because on the day in question, 21 November, his interviewer could see that he was wearing a blue suit. And, indeed, the typical Conservative
grandee Grandee (; , ) is an official royal and noble ranks, aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...
tends to wear a dark blue or black suit, with chalk- or pin-stripes, what may be called a
White's White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is London's oldest club and therefore the oldest private members' club in the world. It moved to its current premises on St James's St ...
Club suit. The original phrase 'the men in suits' is the more accurate.


Death

Watkins was in failing health for several weeks prior to his death at his London home on 8 May 2010 from
renal failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...
, aged 77. He was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.


Bibliography


Books

* * Watkins, Alan (1990) ''A Slight Case of Libel: Meacher Versus Trelford and Others'', London: Duckworth * Watkins, Alan (1991) ''A Conservative Coup: The Fall of Margaret Thatcher'', London: Duckworth * Watkins, Alan (1998) ''The Road to Number 10: From Bonar Law to Tony Blair'', London: Duckworth * Watkins, Alan (2001) ''A Short Walk Down Fleet Street: From Beaverbrook to Boycott'', London: Duckworth


Articles

* Review of .


References


External links


Master Alan Watkins' Almanack Jan-2006: Master Cameron may decide his Interest is best serv'd if Master Blair stays put
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Alan 1933 births 2010 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Welsh-speaking journalists Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge British male journalists Deaths from kidney failure in the United Kingdom People from Carmarthenshire Welsh journalists