Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''

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 ...

'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' magazine.

Early life and education

Bradshaw was educated at

Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School) is a 4–18 boys Independent school (United Kingdom) in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school was ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

and studied English at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, where he was president of the

Cambridge Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

. He was awarded a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1984, followed by postgraduate research in the

Early Modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

in which he studied with Lisa Jardine and Anne Barton. He received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1989.

Career

In the 1990s, Bradshaw was employed by the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' as a columnist, and during the 1997 general election campaign, editor

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...

asked him to write a series of parodic diary entries purporting to be by the Conservative Party MP and historian

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tr ...

, which Clark thought deceptive and which were the subject of a court case resolved in January 1998, the first in newspaper history in which the subject of a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

sued its author. Bradshaw was not put into the witness box by his QC Peter Prescott, and the judge Gavin Lightman found in Clark's favour, granting an injunction, deciding that Bradshaw's articles were then being published in a form that "a substantial number of readers" would believe they were genuinely being written by Alan Clark. Bradshaw found it "the most bizarre and surreal business of my professional life. I'm very flattered that Mr Clark should go to all this trouble and expense in suing me like this." Since 1999, Bradshaw has been chief film critic for ''

'', writing a weekly review column every Friday for the paper's Film&Music section. He is a regular guest reviewer on the '' Film...'' programme broadcast on

BBC One 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 channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. He was on the jury for

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition. American filmmaker Terrence Malick won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for t ...

. He wrote and performed a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme entitled ''For One Horrible Moment'', recorded on 10 October 1998 and first broadcast on 20 January 1999, which chronicled a young man's coming of age in 1970s

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. Bradshaw's bittersweet short story "Reunion", first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 October 2016, was narrated by Tom Hollander and was described in a ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' review as "sad and sly, and connected impermeably to the mid-Seventies and what it felt like to be young". Another short story, entitled "Neighbours of Zero", first broadcast on Radio 4 on 17 November 2017, was narrated by Daniel Mays. Bradshaw's story "Senior Moment", first broadcast on Radio 4's '' Short Works'' strand on 22 May 2020, was narrated by Michael Maloney. Bradshaw co-wrote and acted in David Baddiel's television sitcom '' Baddiel's Syndrome'', first aired on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in January 2001.

Favourite films

In a 2022 '' Sight & Sound'' poll of cinema's greatest films, Bradshaw indicated that his ten favourites are: * '' The Addiction'' (USA, 1995) * '' Boyhood'' (USA, 2014) * ''

Annie Hall ''Annie Hall'' is a 1977 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay written by Allen and Marshall Brickman, and produced by Allen's manager, Charles H. Joffe. The film stars Allen as Alvy Singer ...

'' (USA, 1977) * '' Black Narcissus'' (UK, 1947) * '' Zama'' (Argentina, 2017) * '' Vagabond'' (France, 1985) * '' In the Mood for Love'' (Hong Kong, 2000) * ''

Kind Hearts and Coronets ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' is a 1949 British crime film, crime black comedy film directed by Robert Hamer. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays eight characters. The plot is loosely based ...

'' (UK, 1949) * '' Raging Bull'' (USA, 1980) * '' Singin' in the Rain'' (USA, 1952)

Bibliography

*''Not Alan Clark's Diary''; London,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1998 *''Lucky Baby Jesus''; London,

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

, 1999 *''Dr Sweet And His Daughter''; London,

Picador (imprint) Picador is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Pan Macmillan in the United Kingdom and Australia and of Macmillan Publishers (United States), Macmillan Publishing in the United States. Both companies are owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishin ...

, 2003 *''Night Of Triumph''; London, Duckworth Books, 2013 *''The Films That Made Me...''; London,

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, 2019 *'' The Body In The Mobile Library and Other Stories''; Lightning Books, 2024

Awards

Bradshaw has been shortlisted four times for

The Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by '' The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named H ...

in the Critic of the Year category: 2001, 2007, 2012 and 2013 when he was "Highly Commended". At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Bradshaw was presented with the Annual Achievement Award for an International Film Critic by the Arab Cinema Center."ACC presents its annual Achievement Award For Film Critics to Lebanese Film Critic Nadim Jarjoura and British Film Critic Peter Bradshaw"
''Arab Cinema'', 12 May 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradshaw, Peter Nicholas 1962 births Living people 21st-century British short story writers Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge British film critics British male journalists British male non-fiction writers British male short story writers People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School The Guardian journalists