Anton Rippon (born 20 December 1944) is a British award-winning newspaper columnist, journalist, author and publisher.

Career as a journalist

He was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

and grew up there. He has spent almost all his working life in the newspaper and publishing industry including working as a reporter for the '' Derby Evening Telegraph'' and as a feature writer for the ''

Nottingham Evening Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is published Monday to Saturday ...

''. He was a football writer for the ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...

'', covering the Midlands and

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, and editor of the ''Footballer Magazine'' and the ''Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain Year Book'' and he also worked for Derby County's media department.

Published books on sport and wartime history

He is the author of more than 60 books, on sport and wartime history, and including an autobiographical memoir ''A Derby Boy'', which was published in 2007. His work has appeared in a wide range of national newspapers and magazines including ''The Guardian'', ''The Times'' and ''The Independent'' and he has written

radio documentaries A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary, or feature, covers a topic in depth from one or ...

for the BBC. He has appeared on BBC TV, ITV and Sky Sports.

Founder of publication company

In 1982, he founded Breedon Books, the sports and history publisher that he sold in 2003 to resume writing full-time. In 1993, the Derby County Former Professional Players' Association elected him an honorary member, and in 2015 named him as the recipient of its annual merit award for services to the club. He is also a member of the

Sports Journalists' Association The Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) is an association for British sports journalists. It represents the British sports media on the British Olympic Association's press advisory committee and acts as a consultant to organizers of major eve ...

, the International Society of Olympic Historians and the Football Writers' Association. His book ''Gunter Plüschow: Airman, Escaper, Explorer'', was published by Pen & Sword in 2009. A collection of his columns from the ''Derby Telegraph'' – ''A Derby View'' – was published by Wharncliffe in October 2010. He worked with showbusiness stars Sir Norman Wisdom, Max Bygraves and Bill Maynard on the publishing of their respective autobiographies. He was a member of the editorial team for the ''2010 FIFA World Cup Official Book''. His forebears include Major Sir Richard Whieldon Barnett MP, who represented Great Britain at rifle shooting in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

; Thomas Whieldon, the respected potter and business partner of Josiah Wedgwood.

Honorary degrees and awards

In 2016 the University of Derby awarded him an honorary master's degree for services to journalism. Rippon was named Newspaper Columnist of the Year in the 2017 Midlands Media Awards.

Award judge

He is a judge for the British Sports Journalism Awards, and the Midlands Media Student Awards.

Temporary retirement and columns about the COVID-19 pandemic

In April 2019, Rippon ended the column that he had written every week in the ''Derby (Evening)Telegraph'' for the past 20 years (over 1,000 in all) as well as the Derby County column that he had written for the past 10 years. He also covered news stories for the paper, and news features on subjects such as the work of Macmillan Cancer nurses, and the NHS contaminated blood scandal. Rippon then signed a deal with Pen & Sword Publishers. His ''Britain 1940: The Decisive Year on the Home Front'' was published in March 2020. Books on Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC followed. He also co-authored several books on wartime history with his daughter, Nicola Rippon. During the 2020-21

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he rejoined the ''Derby Telegraph'', writing a column initially entitled 'Anton in Lockdown', and again contributing feature articles. His latest book ''Soccer Scandals: When the Beautiful Game Turned Ugly'' was published by Pen & Sword in March 2025.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *''2014 How Britain Kept Calm and Carried On: True stories from the Home Front'', Michael O'Mara *''Gunter Plüschow: Airman, Escaper, Explorer'', Pen & Sword, 2009, https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Britain-1940-Hardback/p/17296

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rippon, Anton Living people 1944 births 20th-century English journalists 21st-century English journalists 21st-century English historians 21st-century English memoirists English male journalists Writers from Derby English columnists