Toby Young

Journalist and broadcaster

Toby Young is an associate editor and columnist for the Spectator.

After reading Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford, he began his career in journalism at The Times. After this, he attended Yale as a Fulbright Scholar, before returning to England to work as a teaching assistant at the University of Cambridge’s Social and Political Science Faculty. He founded the Modern Review in 1991, but was forced to close it in 1995 due to financial difficulties. After this he began a five-year period working as an editor at Vanity Fair in America. His experiences there formed the basis for his book How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2009), which was later turned into a Hollywood film. A sequel to the book, The Sound of No Hands Clapping was released in 2006.

In 2005 Young co-wrote the play 'Who’s the Daddy?' (with Lloyd Evans), which earned him the Best New comedy Award at the 2006 Theatregoers’ Choice Awards. He also has ties with the culinary world – having served as a restaurant critic for the Evening Standard from 2002 until 2007, he now writes for the Independent on Sunday. He has also appeared on food-based television shows, such as Come Dine with Me and Hell’s Kitchen.