Damien McCrystal (born 23 March 1961)[citation needed] became the first City editor of The Sun, News International’s daily tabloid, in September 1987 after Robert Worcester, the founder of Market & Opinion Research International (MORI, now Ipsos MORI) told Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News International, that the wave of utility company privatisations in the UK had turned one-quarter of The Sun’s readers into share-owners.[1][2]
At the time The Sun was selling approximately 4.2 million copies a day, with the highest circulation of any daily English language newspaper in the world.[3] It was generally reckoned by News International and its advertisers, in those days, that each copy was read by up to three people. This translated, according to Worcester’s calculations, into three million share-owning Sun readers. As a direct result, Murdoch ordered The Sun’s editor Kelvin MacKenzie to launch a page dedicated to business news[1] and McCrystal was hired as its editor from another News International title, Today, where he was assistant City editor.
McCrystal used the new platform to campaign for the resignation of Sir Nicholas Goodison, the chairman of London's Stock Exchange (1976–1988),[4] claiming that he had failed adequately to prepare the Exchange for de-regulation (the so-called Big Bang of 1986) or the government's privatisation programme. McCrystal's campaign employed scantily dressed young models in the City of London distributing badges and tee-shirts bearing the legend "The Sun Says Goodison must Go".[1][5] Goodison retired the following year. After falling out with MacKenzie, McCrystal left The Sun in May 1988.[6] The Sun has maintained its City page ever since, in largely similar format.
After leaving the Sun, McCrystal went on to work as a freelance broadcaster for a time, writing bulletins and occasionally presenting features for TV-am and presenting programmes for Channel 4’s Hard News series, before joining The Daily Telegraph in 1991 as editor of the City Diary in the newspaper’s business pages.[7]
At The Daily Telegraph, he was briefly caught up in the so-called Dirty Tricks dispute between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic when his attempts to investigate a story highlighted the intensity of the two sides' claims and counter-claims.[8] Virgin's then head of corporate communications, Will Whitehorn, has been a friend of McCrystal for 30 years.[9]
In 1996, he became the Director of Corporate Communications at Union Bank of Switzerland's investment banking arm in London[10] and a year later left to join Lanica Trust, an investment vehicle run by the entrepreneur Andrew Regan, who was attempting to win control of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (now the Co-operative Group) in a bitter and hotly contested takeover bid.[11]
When the Co-op bid failed, McCrystal went back into journalism and in December 1997 became a founding staff member of Sunday Business in its second incarnation, under editor Jeff Randall. There he wrote the Diary and a rather louche restaurant review[12][5] which gained a following amongst City readers for whom the long lunch had largely become a thing of the past. At the same time, he began contributing to The Spectator magazine.[13][better source needed]
Since 2005 he has been working primarily as a media and PR consultant.[citation needed]
In February 2010, Horlick settled a legal dispute with McCrystal, withdrawing a controversial "super-injunction" and apologising to him. The following statement was jointly issued by Horlick's and McCrystal's respective London solicitors, Schillings and Taylor Wessing:
"In May 2009 after receiving false information from a third party, Nicola Horlick obtained an injunction and launched an action for damages against Damien McCrystal relating to matters of a private nature. Nicola Horlick has now discontinued proceedings against Damien McCrystal and is happy to accept that he did not and would not divulge any personal information and was not at fault. Nicola Horlick is sorry for this misunderstanding, as is reflected in the terms of the agreed costs settlement, which nonetheless remain confidential. The parties have no further comment to make on this matter."[14][15]
In 2008 McCrystal founded a “green” shareholder pressure group, Environmental Investor Services, which lobbies companies and industries to improve their environmental performance.[16]
References edit
- ^ a b c Chippindale, Peter; Horrie, Chris (1999). Stick it Up Your Punter!: The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper. Simon & Schuster. pp. 222–225. ISBN 978-0-671-01782-8.
- ^ Shawcross, William (1992). Rupert Murdoch: Ringmaster of the Information Circus. Chatto & Windus. p. 413. ISBN 978-0-7011-3451-8.
- ^ Greenslade, Roy (14 May 2008). "Sun's battle to lift sales can't hide problem for all red-tops". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ "Saving art for the nation". HM Treasury. 7 July 2003. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008.
- ^ a b Hodgson, Jessica (25 April 2002). "The Observer signs McCrystal". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ "Whizz Kid Crash", front page, UK Press Gazette, 23.5.88
- ^ McCrystal, Damien (2008). "It's more fun on the 'Dark Side'". British Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ Gregory, Martyn (1994). Dirty Tricks: The Inside Story of British Airway's Secret War Against Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. Little, Brown. pp. 164–166. ISBN 978-0-316-90846-7.
- ^ Magee, Kate (17 June 2009). "Profile: Will Whitehorn, special adviser to Sir Richard Branson and president, Virgin Galactic". PRWeek. Archived from the original on 30 December 2009.
- ^ "News: Stop Press". PRWeek. 3 November 1995. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012.
- ^ "Poor victims of Co-operative failure". The Guardian. 9 August 2003.
- ^ "Media Diary". The Guardian. 22 April 2001.
- ^ "Search Results". Spectator. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
- ^ Waller, Martin (12 February 2010). "Horlick says goodnight to McCrystal action". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
- ^ Busfield, Steve (12 February 2010). "Nicola Horlick withdraws her superinjunction". The Guardian.
- ^ Attwood, Karen (4 March 2008). "Green investor group targets nickel firm". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008.