Richard Seymour Norton-Taylor (born 6 June 1944) is a British editor,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He wrote for ''

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 ...

'' on defence and security matters from 1975 to 2016, and was the newspaper's security editor. He now works for the investigative journalism site '' Declassified UK''.

Early life and education

He was born to Lt. Seymour Norton-Taylor, R.A., and Gweneth Joan Powell (died 9 January 1978). Norton-Taylor was educated at The King's School in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, going on to study at Hertford College, a constituent college of 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 ...

, and the

College of Europe The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

Career

He was the European Community and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

correspondent for both ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' between 1967 and 1975, while also contributing to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' and 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 ...

''. Norton-Taylor joined ''

'' in 1975, concentrating on

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

, official secrecy, and behind-the-scenes decision-making. He became an expert on British and Soviet intelligence activities during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1988, he made an extended appearance on the TV discussion programme '' After Dark'', alongside (among others) Harold Musgrove, Hilary Wainwright and George Brumwell, discussing his book ''Blacklist: The Inside Story of Political Vetting'', co-written with Mark Hollingsworth. He has written several plays based on transcripts of public inquiries, including ''The Colour of Justice'' (1999), based on the hearing of the MacPherson Inquiry into the police conduct of the investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Another was ''Justifying War: Scenes from the Hutton Inquiry'' (2003), both of which premiered at the Tricycle Theatre. Norton-Taylor left ''The Guardian'' in July 2016 and currently writes for '' Declassified UK''.

Awards

In 1986 Norton-Taylor won the Freedom of Information Campaign award. That same year he was prevented initially by a court injunction from reporting the contents of '' Spycatcher'' (1987), the memoirs of Peter Wright, a former MI5 agent. The government's injunction was dismissed in the High Court by Lord Justice Scott. Norton-Taylor was one of the few journalists to cover the

Scott Inquiry The Scott Report (the ''Report of the Inquiry into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related Prosecutions'') was a judicial inquiry commissioned in 1992 after reports surfaced of previously restricted arms sales to ...

from start to finish. His play, ''Half the Picture'', based on the inquiry, received a 1994 '' Time Out'' Drama, Comedy and Dance award for its "brave initiative". In 2010, with fellow ''Guardian'' journalist Ian Cobain, he was awarded a Human Rights Campaign of the Year Award from

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

for their "investigation into Britain's complicity in the use of torture" by the United States against detainees at their facility at Guantanamo Bay and at black sites.

Personal life

In 1967, he married Anna C Rendle. He has two children and five grandchildren. His son Hugo is a judge of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Norton-Taylor is a Member of Council of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi) is a defence and security think tank with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1831 by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley ...

and a trustee of the Civil Liberties Trust and the London Action Trust.

References

External links