Simon Barnes is an English journalist. He was chief sports writer of ''

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 ...

'' until 2014, and wrote a wildlife opinion column in the Saturday edition of the same newspaper. He has written three novels. The son of Edward Barnes, a co-creator of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

children's TV programme

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

, Barnes was educated at

Emanuel School Emanuel School is a private, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and today occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ...

, and studied English literature 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 ...

, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2007. After beginning his journalism career on local newspapers in Britain, he travelled to Hong Kong, where he wrote for travel magazines and, briefly, the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

''. After his return to Britain, he became a sports writer for ''The Times'', being promoted in time to the position of Chief Sports Writer. He is the author of 16 books, including three novels. His latest book, ''Birdwatching With your Eyes Closed: An Introduction to Birdsong'', was published in 2011. Barnes has appeared in a number of programmes on BBC Radio 2, including a reading of his book ''How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher''. Barnes lives in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. He was on ''The Times'' team at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, the seventh summer Games that he has covered for the newspaper. In March 2009 he was runner-up in the

Sports Journalists' Association The Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) is an association for British sports journalists. It represents the British sports media on the British Olympic Association's press advisory committee and acts as a consultant to organizers of major eve ...

's 'Sports Columnist of the Year' award, an award he won in 2008. In June 2014 Barnes was sacked by ''The Times'' after 32 years' employment, the newspaper having informed him it could no longer afford to pay his salary. Speculation in some sections of the UK media was that the real reason may have been Barnes's outspoken views expressed in his wildlife opinion column. The column blamed illegal activity by

red grouse The red grouse (''Lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in Calluna, heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan (''Lagopus lagopus'') ...

shooting interests for the continued persecution and near extinction of the

hen harrier The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Palearctic, Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It bird migration, migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian ...

in England. Writing on his blog, which he began after leaving ''The Times'' in 2014, Barnes wrote: "Certainly I have annoyed some powerful people."

Bibliography

* * * * *, winner of

The Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has ov ...

/MCC Book of the Year * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

*
Bristol University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Simon British sportswriters Living people People educated at Emanuel School Alumni of the University of Bristol Year of birth missing (living people) Birdwatchers