Stephen "Stig" Paul Abell (born 10 April 1980) is an English
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 ...
,
newspaper editor and
radio presenter. He currently co-presents the Monday to Thursday breakfast show on
Times Radio with
Kate McCann.
Abell was from 2016 to 2020 editor of ''
The Times Literary Supplement'' and from 2013 to 2016 managing editor of ''
The Sun''. He was formerly a fiction reviewer at ''
The Spectator'' and reviewer at
Telegraph Media Group as well as ''The Times Literary Supplement''. He was also a presenter on
LBC Radio.
Education
Abell was born in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
and educated at fee-paying
Loughborough Grammar School, and studied English at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating with a double first.
Career
In September 2001, Abell joined the
Press Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Ind ...
as a complaints officer; he completed other roles at the PCC including press officer, assistant director and deputy director before being appointed director of the PCC on 19 December 2010.
In August 2013, Abell joined ''
The Sun'' as managing editor, his role until the end of April 2016.
In March 2014, Abell started co-presenting a show on
LBC Radio alongside
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
television presenter
Kay Burley from 8am to 11am on Sundays. Burley was the main presenter while Abell reviewed the papers and added political comment.
From August 2014, the show was co-presented by Abell and LBC's Petrie Hosken. In January 2015, he was given his own show from 8am to 10am on Sundays. From April 2016, Abell moved to the afternoon slot on Sundays of 3pm to 6pm.
Abell was heavily criticised for publishing an article in 2015 in ''The Sun'' by
Katie Hopkins. The article argued for "gunships sending these boats back to their own country", and described migrants as "like cockroaches". It concluded that Britain should "force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats".
In May 2016, Abell became the editor of ''
The Times Literary Supplement'', succeeding
Sir Peter Stothard, who had edited the paper for the previous 14 years. He held the post until June 2020, when he was succeeded by
Martin Ivens.
He is a regular presenter on the
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 ...
series ''
Front Row''.
In May 2018, Abell's first book, ''How Britain Really Works'', was published by
John Murray.
In April 2020, it was announced that Abell would be joining the upcoming radio station
Times Radio as a presenter. He was also named as the station's launch director.
In November 2020, he released his second book, ''Things I Learned on the 6:28'', a guide to reading. In September 2021, ''
The Bookseller'' reported HarperCollins had agreed a three-book deal with Abell's agents including his first work of crime fiction and a non-fiction title.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abell, Stig
1980 births
Living people
English radio presenters
English newspaper editors
English male journalists
Mass media people from Nottingham
People educated at Loughborough Grammar School
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge