Felix Dennis
| Felix Dennis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
27 May 1947 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England |
| Died | 22 June 2014 (aged 67) Dorsington, Warwickshire, England |
| Residence | Dorsington and Mustique |
| Occupation | Founder of Dennis Publishing |
| Years active | 1973–2014 |
| Net worth | More than £750m |
| Website | www |
Felix Dennis (27 May 1947 – 22 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times, the company added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week, which is published in the UK and the United States. He was the first person to say "cunt" on live TV.
Felix Dennis was born on 27 May 1947 in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, the son of a part-time jazz pianist who ran a tobacconist's shop. He grew up poor in northeast Surrey, for a time living in his grandparents' tiny terrace house in Thames Ditton, not far from his birthplace, with his mother, Dorothy, and brother Julian. A place with "no electricity, no indoor lavatory or bathroom ... no electric light, but gas and candles".
In 1958, he passed his 11+ exam to enter St. Nicholas Grammar School in Northwood Hills, Middlesex. His first band, the Flamingos, was formed with friends at school.
In 2006, Dennis said in an interview with Oliver Marre of The Observer newspaper:
I was brought up in rather unusual circumstances. When I was twelve, my father emigrated to Australia and for reasons I've never wanted to know, my mother didn't follow him. Eventually they got divorced, which was incredibly unusual at that time. So I was brought up by a very strong woman who set out to prove that her early failure, which is how she must have seen it, was not going to blight her children's lives. She went to nightschool, trained as a chartered accountant, and turned us middle-class. Meanwhile, I was the alpha male in the family. When I was about 14, my mother remarried a gentle giant. He was a wonderful man, but for me he was a second alpha male in the house and that meant I left home very early.
In 1964, Dennis moved into his first bedsit at 13 St Kildas Road, Harrow, earning rent playing in R&B bands and working as a window display artist in department stores. Briefly working as a sign-painter, he also enrolled at Harrow College of Art.
...
Wikipedia