Anthony Ivan Holden (22 May 1947 – 7 October 2023) was an English writer, broadcaster and literary critic, particularly known as a biographer of artists including

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

, the essayist

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

, the opera librettist

Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte (; 10 March 174917 August 1838) was an Italians, Italian, later American, opera libretto, librettist, poet and Catholic Church, Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Wolfgan ...

and the actor

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

, and of members of the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

, notably

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

. He also published translations of opera and Ancient Greek poetry, as well as several autobiographical books about poker. In 2009, he was elected the first President of the International Federation of Poker (IFP).

Early life and education

Holden was born in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, Lancashire on 22 May 1947 to John Holden (1918–1985), an officer in the Manchester Regiment, and Margaret Lois (1918–1985), daughter of Ivan Sharpe, the England international footballer and Olympic gold medallist who later became a celebrated sports writer. John Holden was second son of Sir George Holden, 2nd Baronet, of The Firs, Lancashire. He was educated at Trearddur House School,

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

, at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, where he read English language and literature, edited the student magazine ''

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

'' and appeared on ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

''.

Career

A journalist before turning full-time writer, at the start of his career as a graduate trainee on Thomson Regional Newspapers' '' Hemel Hempstead Evening Post-Echo'', Holden covered the trial in St Albans of the psychopathic poisoner Graham Young. His book on the case, ''The St. Albans Poisoner'' (1974), was filmed as '' The Young Poisoner's Handbook'' (1995). Named Young Journalist of the Year in 1972, he was on the staff of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' (1973–79), commended in the British Press Awards in 1976 as News Reporter of the Year for his work in Northern Ireland, and winning Columnist of the Year in 1977. He was Washington Correspondent and US editor of ''

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'' ...

'' (1979–81), Assistant Editor 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 ...

'' (1981–82), Executive Editor, '' Today'', (1985–86), and chief classical music critic of ''

'' (2002–08). In 1999–2000 he was an inaugural Fellow of the Centre for Scholars and Writers at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. When he was a

Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

judge in 2000 he said it would have been a "national humiliation" if '' Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' had won, ahead of

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

's translation of ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

''. He had threatened to resign if that happened. The novelist Robert Harris derided this threat as "pompous". Holden was a member of the Board of Governors of the South Bank Centre 2002–08, during the landmark renovation programme under the chairmanship of Lord Hollick. Since 2006, he was a Trustee of Shakespeare North Trust. In May 2015, he gave the annual A.E. Housman lecture on the Name and Nature of Poetry at the Hay-on-Wye Festival. Holden has also made frequent appearances on television, presenting such documentaries as ''Charles at Forty'' (ITV, 1988), ''Anthony Holden on Poker'' ( BBC 2, 1991) and ''Who Killed Tchaikovsky?'' ('' Omnibus'',

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

, 1993). In the mid-1980s, he presented a weekly BBC Radio 4 chat show, ''In the Air''. Holden's papers are collected at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center. Holden was a dedicated

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

fan and had a season ticket to the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a association football, football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. ...

Poker

Holden was a keen

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player, and spent a year playing professionally while researching his 1990 book '' Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player'' (), which has been praised by poker enthusiasts from

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

and

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

to Walter Matthau. The book covers his experiences between the World Series of Poker (WSOP)

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in 1988 and

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. In 2000, he won TV's first Celebrity '' Late Night Poker'' on Channel 4, beating Al Alvarez,

Martin Amis Sir Martin Louis Amis (25 August 1949 – 19 May 2023) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter and critic. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and '' London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Mem ...

, Victoria Coren,

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...

, Patrick Marber and

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

. In 2005, he appeared on the chat show '' Heads Up with Richard Herring'' to discuss his life, career and his love of poker. In 2006 he represented England in TV's World Cup of Poker, staged by

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Androi ...

, for whom he was a sponsored player 2006–2008. In 2007, Holden published '' Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom'' (), a journal of his second stint as a professional player, between the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

WSOP events. In 2009, he was elected the first President of the International Federation of Poker (IFP) at its founding congress in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. After four years in office, he resigned in April 2013.

Personal life and death

Holden married Amanda Warren in 1971. They had three sons and four grandchildren. They divorced in 1988 and in 1990 he married novelist Cynthia "Cindy" Blake. They separated in 2000, but did not divorce. Holden died from a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

and complications of a stroke at his home in London on 7 October 2023, at the age of 76.

Works

*''

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

'' (1969, translator and editor) *''Greek Pastoral Poetry'' (1973, translator and editor) *''The Greek Anthology'' (1973, contributor) *''The St Albans Poisoner: The Life And Crimes Of Graham Young'' (1974, reissued 1995 as '' The Young Poisoner's Handbook'') *''Charles: Prince of Wales'' (1979); published as ''Prince Charles'' in US *''Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince and Princess of Wales'' (1981) *''A Week In The Life Of The Royal Family'' (1983) *''Great Royal Front Pages: A Scrapbook of Historic Royal Events from Queen Victoria to Baby Prince William'' (1983) *''Anthony Holden's Royal Quiz'' (1983) *''Of presidents, Prime Ministers And Princes'' (1984) *''Queen Mother'' (1985) *''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

: The Translation'' (1987, with Amanda Holden) *''

: A Biography'' (1988, reissued 2007) *''Charles: A Biography'' (1988); published as ''King Charles III'' in US *''The Last Paragraph. The Journalism of David Blundy'' (1990, editor) *'' Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player'' (1990) *''The Queen Mother: A 90th Birthday Tribute'' (1990) *''A Princely Marriage: Charles & Diana, the First Ten Years'' (1991) *''Behind The Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards'' (1993) *''H.M.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

In Private'' (1993) *''The Tarnished Crown'' (1993), Viking Publishers, . *''

'' (1995) *''Diana: Her Life and Legacy'' (1997) *''Charles at Fifty'' (1998) *''

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

: His Life and Work'' (1999) *''Liber Amicorum for Frank Kermode'' (1999, editor with Ursula Owen) *''The Mind Has Mountains: a.alvarez@lxx'' (1999, editor with

Frank Kermode Sir John Frank Kermode, FBA (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a British literary critic best known for his 1967 work '' The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction'' and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing. He wa ...

) *''The Drama of Love, Life and Death in Shakespeare'' (2000) *''Shakespeare: An Illustrated Biography'' (2002) *''The Wit in the Dungeon'' (2005), biography of

* ''All In: Texas Hold'em as Played on Late-Night TV'' (2005) *''

, The Man Who Wrote Mozart'' (2006) *''Olivier'' (2007, Max Press) * '' Bigger Deal: A Year on the New Poker Circuit'' (2007) *''Holden on Hold'Em'' (2008) *''Poems That Make Grown Men Cry'' (2014, editor with Ben Holden) *''Poems That Make Grown Women Cry'' (2016, editor with Ben Holden) *''He Played For His Wife and other stories'' (2017, editor with Natalie Galustian) *''Based on a True Story: A Writer's Life'' (2021)

References

External links

Holden's articles for ''The Observer''Holden discusses his biography of Shakespeare with ''Charlie Rose''
(originally broadcast 31 July 2000)
Shakespeare NorthHendon Mob profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Anthony 1947 births 2023 deaths 20th-century English biographers 20th-century English journalists 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford British gambling writers English male journalists English republicans Deaths from brain cancer in England English poker players Game players from Merseyside English male biographers People educated at Oundle School People from Southport Shakespearean scholars Tchaikovsky scholars The Observer people The Times journalists The Sunday Times people 21st-century English biographers