I was struck by the fact that you always had a clear sense of why you'd pursued this case. The damages were hugely reduced on appeal from 600 down to 60. So I think the site of private eye turning up in the high court and having to pay a million pounds to the wife of a serial killer threatened everybody's idea of natural justice. If someone said, well, you took money for your story, you got 600,000 extraordinary. You know, we sold a lot of copies and that was always the bottom line. And so successful was that fund that we distributed all of that money to the victims of the ripper rather than pay our own costs.
Samira Ahmed speaks to journalist, satirist, and editor of the magazine Private Eye, Ian Hislop. They speak about his life and career, from an upbringing in Nigeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong before returning to Britain to attend boarding school where he began his satirical career. Ian Hislop became editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye at just 25, in his 37 years as editor he has been reported as the most sued man in English legal history. This episode was recorded in April 2021 when Boris Johnson was still the prime minister of the UK.
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