Toby Young
Toby Young
Toby Youngis a British journalist and educationalist. Young is the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine. He served as a judge in seasons five and six of the television show Top Chef and co-founded the West London Free School...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionJournalist
literate people picked talked undergone
I've never been to a shrink. But my parents were very psychologically literate - my father had undergone Freudian analysis - and we often talked about other people in psychological terms, so I picked up a lot of that.
aptitude academic-work mechanic
I tried being a mechanic and I tried catering, but I realized I had even less aptitude for semi-skilled labour than for academic work.
ambition cat eye
My life's ambition is to play a James Bond villain. I have the cat and the eye-patch, so I'm just waiting for the call. For some reason, though, the phone hasn't rung.
humorous writing thinking
I really like the Observer. I think I'd love to have a column with a broad reach that would enable me to do some proper reporting, but keep it on sort of a humorous level. I've always had a very happy experience writing for them.
owners masters describe-myself
I wouldn't describe myself as a master of anything.