Craig Brown

Artist, writer, critic & satirist

Craig Brown is a British artist, writer and critic, best known for work in the fortnightly satirical Private Eye. Educated at Eton before going up to the University of Bristol, Brown began his career as a freelance journalist, contributing to The Tatler, The Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement and the Literary Review. He has held regular columns at the Evening Standard, The Times and the Sunday Times. Other major newspapers he has worked with are The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday.

Brown is the creator of several parodical characters found within the British media columns, including the ultra-trendy Blairite ‘Bel Littlejohn’ in The Guardian, and the extremely reactionary conservative ‘Wallace Arnold’ for The Independent on Sunday. His Private Eye Diary has meticulously ridiculed public figures from the Queen to Jackie Collins, Martin Amis to Max Clifford. Jeffrey Archer and Harold Pinter have found themselves made repeated victims of Brown’s humour. He has worked in television and radio, including on his own show, This Is Craig Brown, for BBC Radio 4, and has collaborated with the cream of British impressionist comedy, including Rory Bremner and Harry Enfield. His written works include 1966 and All That (2005) and This is Tony’s Britain: Craig Brown’s Blair Years (2005).