Anthony John Bevins (16 August 1942 – 23 March 2001) was an English journalist, sometimes known as Tony Bevins. He grew up in

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...

, Liverpool, and was the son of a minister in

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

's cabinet, Reggie Bevins. Anthony Bevins was educated at the

Liverpool Collegiate School Liverpool Collegiate School was an all-boys grammar school, later a comprehensive school, in the Everton, Liverpool, Everton area of Liverpool. Foundations The Collegiate is a striking, Grade II listed building, with a facade of pink Woolton s ...

and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

.Colin Hughe
Obituary: Tony Bevins
''The Guardian'', 26 March 2001 During a year in

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, teaching for the

Voluntary Service Overseas VSO is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact through a blended volunteer model c ...

(VSO),"The high principles of Anthony Bevins"
''Press Gazette'', 6 April 2001 he met his wife, Mishtuni Roy, known as Mishtu; they married in a Bengal temple in 1965.
''Daily Telegraph'', 27 March 2001 Bevins started at the '' Liverpool Post'' in 1967, moved to London as its lobby correspondent in 1970, and then joined the political staff of the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' in 1973. Later that year he became ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

s political correspondent. He moved to the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' in 1976. In 1981 he became chief political correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', but the

Wapping dispute The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986. Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production wa ...

, over

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's move of the paper's staff to

Wapping Wapping () is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between Tower Bridge to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This posit ...

, ended this period of his career. Bevins stood in the final union chapel meeting and told his colleagues, "I will go to Wapping with ashes in my mouth". Bevins joined ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' before its launch in 1986, and was the newspaper's first political editor. Significantly, his newspaper opposed the anonymous lobby system, preferring to find their own sources, a policy Bevins fully supported. This innovation was short-lived, but did lead to such briefings being attributed. He was credited by Colin Hughes with bringing down

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

. In 1991, he won the '' What the Papers Say'' 'Political Reporter of the Year' award. He left ''The Independent'' in 1993 for ''

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'' ...

'', but returned to ''The Independent'' in 1996, and moved again in 1998 to the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', but left the ''Express'' in 2000 after it was taken over "by a pornographer",

Richard Desmond Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British publisher, businessman, and former Pornography, pornographer. According to the 2021 ''Sunday Times Rich List'', Desmond was the 107th richest person in the United Kingdom. He is the fo ...

. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

aged 58, shortly after his wife. He was considered one of the most free-spirited political journalists of his time. It was because of his 'free spirit' that the

Bevins Prize The Bevins Prize is a British award recognising outstanding investigative journalism. Established in 2008, it is named after the journalist Anthony Bevins (1942 - 2001) and awarded by the Bevins Trust. Also known as the "Rat up a Drainpipe Award" ...

for

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

was named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevins, Anthony 1942 births 2001 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics English male journalists Deaths from pneumonia in the United Kingdom Journalists from Liverpool Daily Express people People educated at Liverpool Collegiate Institution The Independent people The Sun (United Kingdom) people The Times people People from Toxteth