Gareth Powell
| Gareth Powell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 May 1934 Caerwys, North Wales |
| Died | 16 September 2016 (aged 82) Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia |
| Occupation | Publisher, journalist, author, editor |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Ethnicity | Welsh |
| Spouse | Jenny; previous wives: Brenda; Josephine |
| Children | 5, Sian, David, Tom, Ben, Roo |
Gareth Powell (26 May 1934 – 16 September 2016) was a Welsh-born publisher, journalist, author, and editor.
During the 1960s, Powell was managing director of two London publishing houses, Mayflower Books and then the New English Library, and achieved a measure of notoriety for publishing Fanny Hill for the former and The Carpetbaggers for the latter. In 1967 he and his family emigrated to Australia. There he published magazines (including men's magazine Chance International and women's magazine POL) and books (including bestseller Now You'll Think I'm Awful), introducing new standards of production quality to the Australian market.
After problems with the importation of Chance — an issue was barred by Australian Customs on the grounds of obscenity and upheld by court order — Powell moved his business to Hong Kong where his magazines were printed. He continued, however, to write and publish books, copy, and magazines for Australian and international personal computing and travel markets. During the 1980s and 1990s he also wrote columns for the Sydney Morning Herald, becoming their computer/technology editor and later travel editor and supplements editor. He left the Herald after a September 1994 Media Watch episode identified allegedly plagiarised material under his byline, insertions which, according to Powell, had been made by a junior colleague while he was on leave.
After leaving the Herald, he continued to write books on personal computing, motoring and travel, as well as columns for a range of old and new media.
Gareth Powell was born in Caerwys, North Wales on 26 May 1934. He was the seventh child of Calvinist Methodists Thomas Norman Powell, a miner, and his wife Blodwyn (née Hughes). When Powell was two, his family moved to Pontypridd, and then when nine to Wallasey. He was expelled from school at the age of 15.
On turning 17, he joined the British Army as a regular soldier, where he served in the field security stream of the Intelligence Corps for two years and a half years, including in Malaya, and attaining the rank of sergeant. After discharge, he worked in various jobs including as a truck driver and circus hand, before joining local paper Wallasey and Wirral Chronicle in 1955.
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