Patrick Ensor (2 December 1946 – 1 July 2007) was a British newspaper journalist. He was the editor of '' Guardian Weekly'' from 1993 until his death in 2007.

Early life and career

Patrick Ensor was born in December 1946 in Bournemouth. His father, Michael de Normann Ensor, was a civil servant in Gold Coast (now Ghana), whose mother was the theosophical educationist Beatrice Ensor. He was educated at St George's school in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, South Africa, until he was 10, then at

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the ...

in Dorset. He studied philosophy and economics at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. Ensor's early journalism posts were at ''

The Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'', ''

Oxford Mail ''Oxford Mail'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Oxford, England, owned by Newsquest. It is published six days a week. It is a sister paper to the weekly tabloid ''The Oxford Times''. History The ''Oxford Mail'' was founded in 1928 by MP Fra ...

'', ''

Times Higher Education Supplement ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'', ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' and the ''Tower'' community newspaper. He joined ''The Guardian'' in 1974 as a features subeditor and he became the Arts Editor in 1980. He was associate/features editor of the

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

newspaper '' The Dominion'' from 1985 to 1991, where he helped editor Geoff Bayliss "rejuvenate" the paper. While at ''The Dominion'' he trained the poet Andrew Johnston as a subeditor. He returned to the UK in 1992 to rejoin ''The Guardian'' as a features subeditor before becoming the editor of ''Guardian Weekly'' in 1993, in succession to John Perkin. Ensor wrote for the '' Pacific Journalism Review'' in 2003, and contributed once a fortnight to

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

Alan Rusbridger Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist and editor of ''Prospect (magazine), Prospect'' magazine. He was formerly editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Rusbridger ...

said of Ensor: "He was a punctilious editor of the old school as well as a quick-witted, tireless and kind colleague." Roger Alton said he was "a ferociously sharp journalist, clever, dedicated, hugely industrious - shamingly so to many of his colleagues like me - and hugely creative." Ensor's deputy editor,

Natalie Bennett Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966), is an Australian-British politician and journalist who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...

, became editor after he died.

Personal life

Ensor was married to Judith Thomas, an artist and naturopath osteopath. He sang in a choir, swam, and played cricket, football, tennis and golf. He was diagnosed with auto-immune haemolytic anemia in February 2007 and died that July at his holiday home in Provence. He was survived by his wife, author and creator of Portals of Light Meditation Cards, and by his brother Jeremy. His niece, Josie, was the Middle East correspondent for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' based in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and has won the Marie Colvin Award and an Amnesty International Award. She is now based in New York for

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 ...

. His nephew, Charlie, is currently Senior Media Manager for '' Action Aid'' based in London.

References

External links

Patrick Ensor
in

Sound Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Ensor, Patrick 1946 births 2007 deaths British male journalists British newspaper editors The Guardian journalists Writers from Bournemouth Alumni of the University of Bristol