Matthew Lewis Engel (born 11 June 1951) is a British writer, journalist and editor.

Early life and education

Engel was born in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

, son of solicitor Max David Engel (1912-2005) and Betty Ruth (née Lesser). His grandfather had escaped anti-Semitic persecution in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He was educated at Great Houghton Prep School, Carmel College,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Career

He began his career in 1972 as a staff journalist on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper for nearly 25 years, reporting on a wide range of political and sporting events including a period as Washington correspondent beginning on 9/11. He later wrote columns in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' and now contributes to both these papers. Engel edited the 1993–2000 and 2004–2007 editions of ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', with a short break when he worked in the US. He has been a strong critic of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

, international cricket's ruling body. Engel was the visiting professor of media at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

for 2011. He was elected as a councillor for

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

in October 2023 in a by-election for Golden Valley South ward.

Personal life

Engel lives on an old farm in

. In 1990, he married former editorial director at

Pan Books Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. History Pan Books began as an indepe ...

Hilary, daughter of Laurence Davies. They had a son, Laurie, and adopted a daughter, Victoria (Vika), from Russia. Laurie died of cancer in 2005, aged 13, and Engel set up a successful charity fund in his memory, the Laurie Engel Fund, which has raised more than £1.2m in partnership with the Teenage Cancer Trust to build a new unit for patients in Birmingham (opened 2010) and for a cancer centre scheduled for 2018. The proceeds of a book he wrote, ''Extracts from the Red Notebooks'' (Macmillan), are donated to this fund. His book, ''That’s The Way It Crumbles: The American Conquest of the English Language'' (Profile Books) was published in June 2017.

Works

*''The Reign - Life in Elizabeth's Britain: Part I: The Way It Was, 1952-79'' (Atlantic Books, 2022) *''That’s The Way It Crumbles: The American Conquest of the English Language'' (Profile Books, 2017) *''Engel's England: thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man'' (Profile Books, 2014) *''Eleven Minutes Late: A Train Journey to the Soul of Britain'' (Macmillan, May 2009) *''Extracts from the Red Notebooks'' (Macmillan, 2007) and hi
''Financial Times'' column
about it *''The Bedside Years: The Best Writing from the Guardian 1951–2000'' (Atlantic, 2001) ASIN B000Y11LQW *''Tickle The Public: One Hundred Years of the Popular Press'' (Orion, 1996) , paperback (Phoenix, 1997) *''Thirty Obituaries from Wisden'' (editor) (Penguin Books Ltd, 1996) *''The History of

Northamptonshire CCC Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northa ...

(County Cricket History)'' (with Andrew Radd) (Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd, 1993) *''Sports writer's eye: an anthology'' (Queen Anne Press, 1989) *''The Guardian Book of Cricket'' (Pavilion Books, 1986) (Penguin Books, 1987) *''Ashes '85'' Pelham Books, 1985) *''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' (editor) (John Wisden & Co Ltd) **''2007'' , paperback , large print **''2006'' , paperback **''2005'' , paperback **''2004'' , paperback , audio **''2000/The Millennium Edition'' , paperback **''1999'' , paperback **''1998'' , paperback **''1997'' , paperback **''1996'' , paperback **''1995'' , paperback **''1994'' , paperback **''1993'' , paperback *''The Sportspages Almanac: Complete Sporting Factbook'' (with Ian Morrison) (Simon & Schuster Ltd) **''1992'' **''1991'' **''1990''

References

External links

*
Column archive
at

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

Column archive
at

Author profile
at PanMacmillan
The Laurie Engel Fund
''official website'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Engel, Matthew 1951 births Living people British sportswriters Cricket writers Editors of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack English male journalists The Guardian journalists British people of German-Jewish descent British people of Polish-Jewish descent