Richard Addis (born 23 August 1956) is a British journalist and entrepreneur. He is a former
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
of the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' newspaper, a former novice
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
and founder and former Editor-in-Chief of ''
The Day''.
Addis was educated at
West Downs School,
Rugby School
Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
and
Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...
, graduating with a
BA and an
MA. Between attending Rugby and Downing he spent two years as a novice at the Anglican priory of the
Community of the Glorious Ascension in Watchet,
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
.
His started in journalism as deputy editor of ''Homes & Jobs'' magazine where he was rapidly promoted to editor and, to save money, wrote the entire magazine under various pseudonyms. It was there where he first demonstrated his flair for design when his insisted that his staff should all wear a different colour each day and sit next to each other so their clothes and the editorial floor were colour-coordinated. When the title went bankrupt he got a job as a reporter on ''
Marketing Week
''Marketing Week'' is a website focused on the marketing industry, based in London, that grew out of what was a weekly, and latterly monthly, print magazine.
History and profile
''Marketing Week'' was launched in March 1978. Its co-founders were ...
'' where he remained for two years. His career took off when he was hired as a reporter on ''
Londoner's Diary'' of the ''
London 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 of charge in London, England. It is print ...
'' in 1985. He went on to become Editor of ''
Londoner's Diary'' and Assistant Editor (Features).
In 1989 he was appointed Deputy Editor of ''
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 Tele ...
''. In 1991 he was appointed features editor at the ''
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'' where his downhome and informal style of dress was admired and often imitated. In 1995, he was appointed editor of the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' and a year later became editor-in-chief of the ''Daily'' and ''
Sunday Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...
''. While on the ''Express'' he regularly invited the paper's
astrologer
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
Jonathan Cainer to join editorial conferences to give them an added perspective. He left the ''Express'' in 1999 to move to Canada as editor of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, a post he held from July 1999 – July 2002. In 2002 he returned to London as Assistant Editor in charge of design 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 ...
''. He was promoted to Editor of ''Weekend FT'' shortly afterwards while retaining his design duties, remaining there until 2006.
Overall he has taken his turn at editing seven ‘national’ newspapers (''Evening Standard'', ''Sunday Telegraph'', ''Daily Mail'', ''Daily Express'', ''Sunday Express'', ''The Globe and Mail'' and ''Financial Times'') which is believed to be a record among living British journalists.
Richard Addis left newspapers in February 2006 to launch his own media consultancy, Shakeup Media, working with publishers in Africa, the Middle East and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. For five years he attempted to launch various media start-ups including the UK's first hand-written newspaper (''The Manual'') and the UK's first quality free daily newspaper (''The Day'') which received investment support from backers including
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at 9 Derry Street in ...
before running into the
credit crunch
A credit crunch (a credit squeeze, credit tightening or credit crisis) is a sudden reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks. A credit crunch generally ...
of 2008. He wrote an award-winning book about the ethics of the global economic system (''Good Value'', Penguin, 2009) with
Stephen Green.
In January 2011 he finally launched ''The Day'' in a new incarnation as a daily online news title for "schools, colleges and inquiring minds". Claiming to be the "world's first current affairs teaching and learning website", 18 months after launch ''The Day'' had subscribers in 21 countries and a daily reach of over half a million teenagers. Richard left ''The Day'' in May 2025.
From March 2014 to July 2015 he worked with Newsweek to launch a fully independent European edition as its first European editor-in-chief.
Richard Addis is single and lives in London. For 20 years he was the partner of the British actress
Helen Schlesinger with whom he has two children, Theo and Sebastian. He was previously married for 20 years to the artist and translator Noonie Minogue with whom he has three children, Ferdie, Beatrice and Katharine.
External links
Richard Addis on Newsweek's relaunchA newspaper that goes back to the futureEx-editor confirms launch of ''The Day''''The Day'' website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Addis, Richard
1956 births
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
English male journalists
Living people
People educated at Rugby School
People educated at West Downs School
Daily Express people
The Globe and Mail editors