Dylan Jones



Profile:


Full name: Dylan Jones

Area of interest: Contemporary Culture and Lifestyle

Journals: The Independent, The Mail on Sunday

Email: [mailto:d.jones@independent.co.uk d.jones@independent.co.uk]

Website: Independent.co / Dylan Jones

Blog: The GQ Blogs: Dylan Jones

Agent:

Networks:



Biography:
Education: Central Saint Martins College: Graphic design

Career: Began at i-D magazine, became Editor in 1984; moved to edit Arena, 1987 (also contributing to The Face in this period); The Observer (magazine): associate editor; The Sunday Times: editor-at-large; joined GQ in 1999

Current position/role: The Independent: Columnist; Mail on Sunday: regular column


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles: Editor of GQ magazine (UK)

Other activities: Author

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight: Dylan Jones: At the court of King Dylan: 'It's hard to decide which is more impressive - his suits or his contacts book. Dylan Jones, the editor of 'GQ', talks to Ian Burrell', The Independent, 11th September 2006

TV/Radio: Appeared as a mentor on Channel 4's Debutantes show

Controversy/Criticism: Cosmo Landesman: Jones the plug and his cosy magazine mafia: 'The editor of GQ is at the centre of a network of media chaps who make a living out of promoting each other’s products', The Times, 15th October 2006

Awards/Honours: BSME Editor of the Year award four times, once for his work on Arena, and three times for GQ

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Jim Morrison, dark star (1992) OCLC 22206984
 * Paul Smith: True Brit (1995) OCLC 60147052
 * iPod, therefore I am: thinking inside the white box (2005) OCLC 58456426
 * Rules for the Modern Man (2007) OCLC 154705014

Latest work: Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones OCLC 229463693, 2008

Speaking/Appearances:
 * Publishing Innovation: the annual publishing conference at the London College of Communication, 13th March 2008

Current debate: 

The Independent: 'Talk Of The Town':
Column remit:

Section:

Role:

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: Independent.co / Dylan Jones

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity:

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2010

 * think I’m on safe ground when I say that I make the best potato salad in the world'' - 22nd May
 * Pearl & Dean theme tune became ironic decades before irony was commodified'' - 15th May
 * of the sexiest things I’ve seen is David Bailey’s short film of his wife Catherine eating an egg'' - 8th May
 * has started dictating the soundtrack of my life'' - 1st May
 * Hart leaves you in no doubt as to the motivation that propelled him out of his predicament'' - 24th April
 * we like to think of ourselves as egalitarian, we still care about class very deeply'' - 10th April
 * Nicholls' book is the sort of thing you can't put down'' - 3rd April
 * a cappuccino after dinner is fundamentally wrong'' - 27th March
 * wish I could say that the first single I bought wasn't Gary Glitter's 'I Didn't Know I Loved You', but it was'' - 20th March
 * Guetta was simply meant to direct Banksy's film. Now he's selling everything with his name on it''' - 13th March
 * makes you think of Woody Allen, who shot the restaurant scene in 'Manhattan' here''' - 6th March
 * you've forgotten what it feels like to play air guitar in public then this is the place for you'' - 27th February
 * heard that the 'NME' kingpin Nick Kent knew things about Morrissey that no one else did. And boy, was I right'' - 20th February
 * take great pride in weaving the most unlikely samples together – the Carpenters with Sonic Youth, for instance'' - 13th February
 * is still a wilfully old-fashioned paradise that is determined to maintain the status quo'' - 6th February
 * all her problems, Judee Sill made music which sounds as vital today as it did in the late Sixties'' - 30th January
 * who has ever read Gordon Burn will understand that his work will live on longer than he thought it might'' - 23rd January
 * Next Big Thing usually consists of a bunch of indie kids from Oregon wearing lumberjack shirts'' - 16th January
 * of the joys of living near Hay-on-Wye is the Saturday trawl through the secondhand bookshops'' - 9th January
 * Groucho Club was loathed as much as it was loved. And boy, did some people hate it'' - 2nd January

Articles: 2009

 * Ballet have often been ignored, but the music was not only timely, it was groundbreaking'' - 26th December
 * shall not only be wearing my new double-breasted suit at Christmas, I shall be wearing it all winter'' - 19th December
 * landmark deal between Google and authors' associations in America will let readers search millions of books'' - 12th December
 * Suicide Notes' is a funny, acute stocking filler that should appeal to any half-decent misanthropist'' - 5th December
 * Rik Mayall snivelled around in an old raincoat, the American comics simply shouted at people'' - 28th November
 * is better than old, pretty is better than ugly, movies are better than music, and anything is better than politics'' - 21st November
 * hijacked a London bus and successfully steered it along the Bayswater Road, albeit at a glacial pace'' - 14th November
 * a period in the Sixties, Eel Pie Island became so popular it even began issuing its own passports'' - 7th November
 * love the fright masks, the scary sweets, the useless plastic Halloween gifts in all the supermarkets'' - 31st October
 * was home to Norman Mailer. Now it's the most fashionable resort in North America'' - 24th October
 * room lit up when the Hoff walked in. It was like some sort of visitation. And verily we were blessed'' - 17th October
 * many have endured plastic surgery in order to look like Elvis, no one has ever been able to match his hair'' - 10th October
 * you want your new kitchen to look like a corner shop in an Ealing comedy, Bailey's is the place for you'' - 3rd October
 * 25 years ago I started a heavy-metal band called Devil Bitch. Now we're going to reform'' - 26th September
 * restaurants of Abergavenny display a genuine enthusiasm that is sadly lacking in less rural areas'' - 19th September
 * into a house party on Ibiza and the music you'll hear will probably be a Hed Kandi compilation'' - 12th September
 * evening at the Peralada Festival is one of the most magical experiences you can have in Spain in the summer'' - 5th September
 * frontman dressed as a Hassidic Jew while I was head-to-toe in Vivienne Westwood'' - 29th August
 * a wonderful evocation of the secret capital, we come across feral meths drinkers and shoeless children'' - 22nd August
 * Dali's garden is full of trompe-l'oeil figures and has a swimming pool in the shape ofan erect penis'' - 15th August
 * wife hates Neil Young with a passion she usually reserves for the people who man BT phone lines'' - 8th August
 * town of Deal was perfectly attuned to the melancholy demeanour of a sullen 13-year-old boy'' - 1st August
 * knee-jerk fuss over Andy Coulson wasn't that dissimilar from the whole Michael Jackson freak show'' - 25th July
 * Brian Wilson perform live is complicated because it highlights his fragile state'' - 18th July
 * else was wearing pink velour and denim cut-offs. And we're not just talking about the women here'' - 11th July
 * Bernard Ingham says that Thatcher never read leaders – 'to her it was a waste of time''' - 4th July
 * Alert allows you the opportunity to live parallel lives, a different one for every hour of the day'' - 27th June
 * in My Veins sounds like Chrissie Hynde is lost in a maelstrom of lust... It whispers sex'' - 20th June
 * never heard so many complaints at the Hay Festival that weren't directed at the weather'' - 13th June
 * a social history of London in the Seventies, Savage's book is beyond compare'' - 6th June
 * is the point of looking at Elvis's rhinestone loo seat, or Jim Morrison's broken zipper?'' - 30th May
 * champagne socialists are looking to swap sides - but they want to do it with dignity'' - 23rd May
 * one of the nightclubs you can still reserve a VIP table for the rather worrying sum of £8,000'' - 16th May
 * problem is that most buzzwords go out of fashion before people get to hear of them'' - 9th May
 * and intelligence gave Alan Clark a freedom denied even to the most gifted politicians'' - 2nd May
 * people in Hollywood know who Gordon Brown is – but few could pull him out of a line-up'' - 25th April
 * was an idiosyncratic singer who brought levity to the self-regarding world of jazz'' - 18th April
 * Jones showed me enough Clash ephemera to keep an old punk happy for days'' - 11th April
 * think that Paris Hilton is masquerading as a shallow bimbo'' - 4th April
 * the only person I know who likes Wings, Bon Jovi and Bob Seger'' - 28th March
 * work is a sexfest that even now would be impossible to reproduce in a newspaper'' - 21st March
 * de Gaulle was once a halfway house between '2001' and 'The Ipcress File''' - 14th March
 * the gents in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a urinal probably used by Iggy Pop'' - 7th March
 * Georgia's mind, one would simply write the news on the chocolate with a 'large pointed stick''' - 28th February
 * denim is back – from the bus stops on the Edgware Road to the gastropubs of Soho'' - 21st February 2009
 * hype said The Wire was better than The Sopranos, which it clearly couldn't be'' - 14th February 2009
 * had the snottiest shop assistants in the whole of Paris – sexless, odd-looking fashion victims'' - 7th February 2009
 * is where Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Nan Goldin all gravitated to in London'' - The new Whitechapel Gallery is due to open in eight weeks time, and a very fine thing it is too - 31st January 2009
 * was introduced to the most dangerous cocktail I will drink this year: the Nicolashka'' - 24th January 2009
 * proudly pointed out his new acquisition – the actual bass drum from the 'Sgt Pepper' album cover'' - 17th January 2009
 * is the great cultural melting pot to end them all, the fulcrum of all that is seismic and cool'' - 10th January 2009
 * the film of 'London Hyde Park 1969', Steve Winwood is a revelation; a genuine pop icon'' - 3rd January 2009



Articles: 2008

 * Perfect Art Party could be defined by one thing and one thing only. Tracey Emin'' - 27th December 2008
 * 'There are two important choices at Christmas: where you pray and where you celebrate''' - 20th December 2008
 * always nice to see socialists drinking someone else’s free champagne in these tough times'' - 13th December 2008
 * sat next to a couple who looked like Mr and Mrs Badiddlyboing from the Harry &Paul show'' - 6th December 2008
 * heart, Barney Bubbles was an artist –which led to the creative strain he put himself under'' - 29th November 2008
 * vibrancy of Hong Kong is extraordinary'' - 22nd November 2008
 * 'Three of the world's biggest rock stars stormed out of the studio''' - 15th November 2008
 * more you listen to George Harrison's solo work the more you hear the line back to the Sixties'' - 8th November 2008
 * of the Gambon is the Guv’nor. Just watching him get out of a chair will give you goosebumps'' - 1st November 2008
 * are living in an age in which art galleries are more popular than theme parks'' - 18th October 2008
 * Ivy Club's entrance is so white that it feels as if you're walking into a huge iPod'' - 11th October 2008

archive



The Independent: 'If You Ask Me...'
Column remit: Contemporary Culture and Lifestyle

Section: The Independent Magazine

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:d.jones@independent.co.uk d.jones@independent.co.uk]

Website: Independent.co / Dylan Jones

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2008
no recent columns in this series
 * Prescott got close to the flame but seemed to learn little about the fire'' - 4th October 2008
 * rock heritage industry is in danger of eating its own tail...'' - 27th September 2008
 * has to choose between the world's oldest white guy and an arrogant black rock star - View from the West Wing - 20th September 2008
 * are far too many people in this world content to define themselves by what they buy in gift shops'' - 13th September 2008
 * is the real sound of India?'' - 6th September 2008
 * don't yet know quite how good Mad Men is going to be'' - 30th August 2008
 * used to lying in small dark rooms as men and women work their magic'' (I have been having a lot of acupuncture) - 16th August 2008
 * ...I never thought I'd be staring at my TV screen and nodding appreciatively at Kevin Costner - 9th August 2008
 * ...Hazelwood’s 1973 album Poet, Fool or Bum got a one-word review: ‘Bum’ - 2nd August 2008
 * ...Paul Smith's furniture shop in Albemarle Street is potentially the most dangerous shop in London - 26th July 2008
 * ...Gordon Brown's former apologists should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves - 19th July 2008
 * ...no sombre moment can possibly be complete without Gonzales' extraordinary album Solo Piano - 12th July 2008
 * ...Giffords is probably the best circus in Britain. Theatrical, whimsical, exotic, celestial... - 5th July 2008
 * ..."Blue and Green" by Van Morrison is as good a blues record as you're likely to hear - 28th June 2008
 * ...Keith Waterhouse can lay claim to inventing the art of identifying the modern social stereotype - 21st June 2008
 * ...the razor clam is the only thing to eat right now (it's certainly the only mollusc to eat right now) - 14th June 2008
 * ...Las Vegas might just be the most wilfully illiterate place in America - 7th June 2008
 * ...Dawn Dusk or Night by Yasmina Reza is probably the most pretentious political biography ever written - 31st May 2008
 * If you ask me – and not to put too much of a dampener on the delights to follow – pets are for the birds - 24th May 2008
 * ..."Baby, It's Cold Outside" is the greatest seduction tool known to mankind - 17th May 2008
 * ...this year's furore over China hosting the Olympics hasn't even properly begun - 10th May 2008
 * ...'Provided You Don't Kiss Me' will probably turn out to be the best sports book you read all year - 3rd May 2008
 * ...Oman is in something of a quandary. - 26th April 2008
 * ...I'm still rather shocked that politicians find it so difficult to learn from their predecessors' mistakes. - 19th April 2008
 * ..."Nessa" Jenkins is the funniest Welsh ex-Who roadie of a certain size currently working on BBC3 - 12th April 2008
 * ...we should all stop beating ourselves up about liking things we shouldn't - 5th April 2008
 * ...everyone should be able to sum themselves up in one single sentence - 29th March 2008
 * ...networking is a waste of time. It's tedious. Obvious. Unnecessary - 22nd March 2008
 * ...the Venetians deserve everything they get - 15th March 2008
 * ...the political cartoon is the calendar by which we remember it all - 8th March 2008
 * ..."Wichita Lineman" just might be the best song ever written - 1st March 2008
 * ...Berlin is very much a work in progress - 23rd February 2008
 * ...Gordon Brown's new smile... could turn out to be his defining characteristic - 16th February 2008
 * ...committees tend to be groups of people who individually can do nothing but as a group tend to decide that nothing can be done - 9th February 2008
 * ...the Bristol might just be the best hotel in Paris - 2nd February 2008
 * ...you can tell almost all you need to know about a person by asking them what sort of music they like - 26th January 2008
 * ...the state of professional football could be improved exponentially by adopting some extremely simple measures - 19th January 2008
 * ...we need seriously to watch what we say - 12th January 2008
 * ...The Godfather: part III is to the first two Godfather films as Cut the Crap is to the rest of The Clash oeuvre - 5th January 2008



Mail on Sunday:
Column name: Dylan Jones

Column remit: Contemporary Culture and Lifestyle

Section: Live Mag

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: Mail On Sunday / Live Mag / Dylan Jones

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2009

 * At this year's ski-resort party, it was all downhill - The Davos World Economic Forum was full of long faces but that didn't stop the after-hours socialising - or Naomi Campbell turning up - 11th February 2009
 * Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? - Johnny Rotten never burned out, like rock rebels are supposed to. Instead he seems to have faded to the status of a fangless old eccentric - 4th February 2009
 * Enter the suit for our new-look Dark ages - Just as the black suit defined ears in the past - the film noir chic, rock-star cool - so it's making a return in our credit-crunch world - 31st January 2009
 * Shop where even the big cheeses fear to spend - In the land of the seriously rich - the Cotswolds - lies the world's most tempting organic shop. Just don't take your credit card... - 24th January 2009



Articles: 2008

 * Stepping out with the best of them - Be careful where you tread...a walk is all well and good but it only really makes sense if there's a fine restaurant at the end of it - 30th December 2008
 * MP3s at dawn in the battle for the iPod - Sick of listening to the soundtrack to High School Musical 3? Then it's time to teach the whipper-snappers in your house a musical lesson... - 23rd December 2008
 * The day I met the devil in Ms Jones - Grace Jones is enjoying a revival in 2008 - but has she really changed much since a certain encounter back in 1986? - 16th December 2009
 * Is Obama the man to end the Yo! generation? - Just think: no more bling, homies, songs about bling and Uzis and gangsta - maybe the President-Elect could really make a change - 2nd December 2008
 * It's not the journey, it's the getting there - Wanting it all, wanting it now is a good credo in the boardroom, but it has limited practicality when applied to a suburban - 2nd December 2008
 * It's not the journey, it's the getting there - Wanting it all, wanting it now is a good credo in the boardroom, but it has limited practicality when applied to a suburban - 25th November 2008
 * A fruitless weekend without my BlackBerry - What would any well-connected man about town do when his little matt-black friend vanishes in the countryside... Panic! - 18th November 2008
 * Jaywalking - can this be the new joyriding? - Forget speed cameras - gangs of youths ambling over the road in front of you are turning into the newest form of traffic control - 11th November 2008
 * Whatever happened to the heroes? - Bored of Nick Drake? So over Barrett? Just as our cultural icons run out of steam, a true Boy's Own adventurer comes to the rescue - 4th November 2008
 * Why I'll always take it to the bridge - Do you want to impress real-life Vesper Lynds? Forget hold 'em and partner up for an infinitely more civilised game of bridge - 28th October 2008
 * You expect waiter service and food? - Why the hot new restaurants in town are the last places you should to if you want to enjoy a relaxing meal out - 22nd October 2008
 * Want my opinion? Well, just blog off - Engaging with your public at large may be a great idea - but don't go looking on the internet to find any rational thought... - 14th October 2008
 * Why it's bad to mix in crop circles - Close-cropped hair when you're not a natural domehead says only thing: that you're as lazy and apathetic as White Van Man - 7th October 2008
 * Writing a bestseller? Surely it's child play - Got a brilliant idea for a book? Are you quite sure? Because your great British novel might just read like the drivel of a two-year-old - 23rd September 2008
 * Keep your cards close to your chest... - Travelling abroad? Leave your business cards at home and you could be in more trouble than you think - 16th September 2008
 * The future is here, the future is...matt black - Technology is a little like buses: you wait for ages, then when you’re least expecting it along comes a bendy-bus - 9th September 2008
 * Hey pal, hands off my friends - Even as you sit there, people you think you can trust may be lining up your pals with a view to appropriating them - 2nd September 2008
 * The bar stays in the picture - Forget the ultra-cool, post-modern hangouts, the place where deals are made in Los Angeles is still the Bel Air hotel - 26nd August 2008
 * Think you're a rock star? Just don't air your G strings in public - Playing an imaginary guitar should be confined to your private arena. Unless you are Christine Hamilton... - 19th August 2008
 * A man to make the Mad Men proud - Obama is a marketing dream: unassailable and seemingly unstoppable. And no-one dare say anything un-PC about him - 12th August 2008
 * Are smart teachers going out of fashion? - If schools want to turn our children into smarty pants, they should start by giving them a lesson in how to dress well - 29th July 2008
 * When it's alright not to show your hand - Your mother told you never to put your hands in your pockets. So how comes it's what all the successful men seem to do? - 22nd July 2008
 * ''Las Vegas, where the show goes on (and on)' - Elvis loved it, and so did the Rat Pack. So, what is it about showbiz town that makes them all shout, 'Viva Las Vegas'? - 15th July 2008
 * Hanging out with Jay-Z in hip-hop time - The truth is, it's not every day I'm asked to host a dinner with Jay-Z - 9th July 2008
 * Warning... please engage your brain before speaking - Don’t worry if you’re not sure what today’s politicians are talking about – a lot of the time, they’re not certain either… - 2nd July 2008
 * Call at your convenience - unless it's a public one - Would you take an all important call from Gordon Brown with your trousers round your ankles? - 25th June 2008
 * Dash it all, an Aston is simply a class act - It may have a dashboard that's impossible to read, but an Aston Martin is still in a luxury sports car league of its own - 17th June 2008
 * Boris Johnson: All tanked up and ready to go - ‘Sorry old boy, I’m a bit pushed for time,’ said Boris. ‘You couldn’t deliver the tank to The Spectator could you?’ - 11th June 2008
 * The phrase of the day? Two words: sat nav... - Spoken in the style of Rob Brydon's Bryn in Gavin & Stacey, that is. But will it be one of the catchphrases that define this decade? - 4th June 2008
 * Naff in the sixties but now we dig gardening - When I was a boy, the words I dreaded more than any other were, ‘Shall we go to the garden centre? - 28th May 2008
 * Would Sir care for a little more rudeness? - Once, British service in shops was second to none. Nowadays, the answer to a request for assistance is likely to be 'Whatevva...' - 21st May 2008
 * Falling in love with a Swede sensation - How do you know when your boy racer days are finally behind you? When a thumping great Nordic estate car gets your heart racing - 14th May 2008
 * It's not big and it is most definitely not clever - You think your favourite multi-hued party shirt makes you hip, says Dylan Jones. But what it really says is, 'Warning: I'm a deluded buffoon. Keep back!' - 1st May 2008
 * Child’s play – or the height of cool… - Lifelong vertigo can’t keep you safe from taking the plunge on a paraglider when your own kids are questioning your nerve - 27th April 2008
 * Posh and white? We don't need your sort - A workie’s life is hard enough without a helping hand from the equal-opportunities government - 20th April 2008
 * Flattery is always the best policy - Lying about the books we've read is one of the things all men do well - 11th April 2008
 * Down on your luxe? Find your inner slob - The world of luxury becomes more complicated and more convoluted by the day, and this week has certainly been no exception - 4th April 2008
 * Question: When are boys more vain than girls? - Please study the photograph below - 28th March 2008
 * How to avoid boring people - You learn to sing for your supper in my business - 21st March 2008
 * Dino: the true leader of the Rat Pack - The ultimate lounge lizard, Dean Martin eclipses both Frank and Elvis if only because his cool was born of sheer indifference - 7th March 2008
 * Dylan Jones has Prescott syndrome: it's big but not clever - Now I may not be innately grumpy, I may not look like Jabba the Hutt reincarnated as a Northern stand-up comedian and I may not have the dress sense of a carrier bag (at least not during the week), but in spite of all this, I fear I may be turning into John Prescott - 29th February 2008
 * The high Roller life is not for me - In the pantheon of 21st-century luxury icons, the Bentley has become the car to beat, the only one that matters - 22nd February 2008
 * How to avoid a Valentine's massacre - Around this time of year I have to have a quiet word with my postman - 8th February 2008
 * Dylan Jones visits the ugliest town in England - This much we know: it is a man's divine right to get lost when he's driving - 1st February 2008
 * Why we should burn all hoodies - I suppose it was the Victorians who started it all, who would regularly fall over their crinolines and pantaloons in order to invent a new tradition and then pretend it had always existed - 25th January 2008
 * Dylan Jones on the high-maintenance girlfriend - And if you can't see her then you'll certainly be able to hear her - 18th January 2008
 * How I became a real party animal - There are many jokes about being Tory, and few if any of them are kind - 11th January 2008



Links:

 * The Spectator: articles
 * Wikipedia bio