18 THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010 21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT 19 Britain The Monday Interview The Monday Interview Britain

t is just as well that Richard won it, perhaps he has no need to buy deaf, I’d always had this fear, Ian, of Telegraph owner Lord Conrad Black, ‘I’VE GOT SO MUCH Desmond has given himself the The Sun, an ambition he mischievous- going deaf or blind at my peak.” is now in prison in America. They are unlikely soubriquet of Mr Bad- ly alluded to on Radio 4’s Today pro- Music gave Desmond his way out, on good terms too. “I visited him. ger. There are few who would gramme. His current focus is on aged 13, when he saw blues musician Ooh, it was bloody horrible. They had dare to suggest to his face that broadcasting. Newspaper proprietor John Mayall at a local club and was three huge factories full of prisoners, MONEY IT’S RIDICULOUS’ he resembles a stockily-set “If ITV comes at the right price it’s Richard Desmond in his office on so mesmerised that he persuaded the and that was low-security; my good- Iomnivore who has associations a trophy; however I still think it’s the banks of the river Thames owner to give him a job checking ness, what the high-security must with weasels and skunks. overpriced,” he says. In the mean- SUSANNAH IRELAND coats. A year later, having left school have been like? They had orange uni- But Mr Badger prefers that others time, he is believed to have chosen without qualifications, he applied for forms, shackles, it was horrible.” use a different tag – “The Saviour of the cheaper option of making a bid another cloakroom role at Thomson It was a claim by author Tom the Express” – in recognition of his for Channel Five, though he will not Newspapers, but eventually talked Bower that Desmond had been achievements as a newspaper propri- comment on the subject. himself into a job flogging classifieds. “ground into the dust” by Black that etor. In an industry where all around In the meantime, to make things An obsessive drummer, Desmond prompted the Express owner to him are haemorrhaging money, Brit- more interesting, he will apply the started promoting dances. That was launch an expensive libel claim which ain’s most unorthodox press baron is cattle prod to his pressured rivals how he acquired his nickname. “I he lost last year. During that case, laden with cash and hinting that he’s next month by selling the Daily Star said to my mate ‘We will call it ‘The Roy Greenslade, a blogger for The Richard Desmond, the owner of the ‘Express’, still gets a buzz from on the verge of adding a new and for just 10p, thus embarking on a Badges’ and I was going to give Guardian and professor of journalism famous prize to his portfolio. Both price war which could cost hundreds everyone a badge. He said, ‘Oh Bad- at City University in London, business as he nears 60 – and he’s not done yet. By Ian Burrell The Sun and ITV tempt him, and he of millions of pounds in lost circula- ger, that’s a good name because that’s described him as having the worst is understood to have made a bid for tion revenue. “The most cost-effec- what you do, you badger people.’ reputation of any newspaper propri- Channel Five. tive way for us to get the numbers is “See? So we had a drawing of a etor since the Second World War. “I’ve got so much money it’s ridicu- to reduce price,” he says, his eyes badger and we used to call it, ‘Mr Bad- “Very, very, very upsetting. I don’t lous,” he says. “I know exactly what I lighting up as he does the mental ger presents … When I bought the get upset very often but that really want and exactly what I’m going to do.” arithmetic. “It will only cost the Mir- house, I thought it was a good gag. upset me,” he says, accusing Greens- EMERGENCY APPEAL He has a fearful reputation based on ror – let’s work it out – a million What a laugh that this guy has come lade of hypocrisy. “They call him Roy legendary tales of his expletive-strewn, copies, so 35p times a million is 350 from putting on a dance on a Friday Greenslime and I understand why.” vein-bursting outbursts, of executives grand a day … that’s £100m a year.” night for tu’pence ha’penny and bought He is wounded by continuing refer- Photo: Rachel Palmer, Save the Children, Niger, 11/05/10 locked in cupboards or being attacked He met Trinity Mirror’s chief exec- a great pad. We’ll call it The Badgers.” ences to himself as a pornographer – with cattle prods by enemies from the utive Sly Bailey recently and was sur- The young Desmond was also his material has been distributed via New York mafia. His sense of loyalty prised to find himself impressed by known, prophetically enough, as WHSmith and Freeview, he says. “If mirrors that of the Cosa Nostra. “As her business acumen. Why did he Rich. In 1974 he combined music it was pornography you would end up CHILDREN good a friend as I am,” he once told a think he wouldn’t like her? “Just the and advertising to found his first in prison because pornography is ille- close associate, “I’m the worst enemy way she looked, she’s got a funny look, magazine, International Musician, gal,” he says, suddenly addressing the you’ll ever have.” a very bleached look, hasn’t she?” followed by Home Organist, whose female photographer. “I’ve published But he doesn’t care that he’s widely He is more disparaging of Carolyn editor contributed the old school everything from bicycle magazines to OF NIGER disliked, not when he is sitting in an McCall, who is leaving Guardian Med- motto Forti Nihil Difficile (“Nothing venture capitalist magazines.” office which former visitors have ia Group to head up his beloved easy- is difficult for the strong”) which is He has invested minimally in digi- FOOD CRISIS: HELP NOW compared to a ballroom and a foot- Jet. “I think she’s a ridiculous appoin- still used by Desmond’s Northern & tal technology. The 30 per cent fall in ball pitch, with its 10-storey-high, tment. This woman single-handedly Shell publishing empire. circulation of his beloved OK! maga- 180-degree river view from Tower ruined The Guardian, ridiculous!” There is an irony to the way he zine (now selling 6 million a week in Bridge to the Palace of Westminster. There is an underlying fear to his first hit the national press in 1981. 23 international editions) when he “It’s great at night when you turn aggressive demeanour in business; “The man who has made it to the top experimented with OK! television in the lights off and see everything he is scared of losing everything. at the age of 29,” ran the admiring 1998 was “a great lesson”, he says. sparkling,” he says. “I’ve been in this “You cannot give your content away.” office now for six years and I still get Even now he is fretful about the a great kick. I have a little smile to The 30 per ‘I visited Conrad cannibalistic tendencies of even the myself. Fantastic.” cent fall in Black [left] in basic websites his group produces. Each morning, by a quarter to sev- circulation of prison in the “It worries me that the punters are en, Mr Badger is taking the air on OK! when he US. Ooh, it was using it more, it’s a huge worry.” He is Hampstead Heath in north London, launched OK! bloody horrible. not a technophobe, he claims, though having emerged from “The Badgers” television in 1998 was They had three huge he gave his iPad to his son to deci- – his sett, if you will – a mansion on ‘a great lesson’. ‘You factories full of prisoners pher. “I love my BlackBerry, I love my The Bishops Avenue, which is known cannot give your content in orange uniforms Apple Mac, I love technology.” locally as “Millionaires’ Row”. He has away,’ he says and shackles’ The old cigar-chomper has even placed a deposit on a $60m (£40.4m) fallen in love with exercise gadgetry. Gulfstream G650, reckoned to be the “Of course! And that’s why, hope- headline, alongside a picture of a “I’ve got a great bike I just bought, gold standard in business aviation, fully, I don’t do too much flash,” says a bearded Desmond, Montecristo cigar 255 quid. Bargain it was,” he says. but he’s not beyond booking his holi- man with a personal wealth estimat- in mouth, standing alongside his “It’s great isn’t it, all this exercise day flight with easyJet or dining on ed at £950m. I was out for dinner last two-tone gold Rolls-Royce Silver lark? I used to laugh at people on fish and chips (“If you eat lobster all night, there were three people and Shadow II with his left hand gripping treadmills, now I love it.” day long you forget about haddock”). the bill came to £300. On the way the car’s Spirit of Ecstasy radiator Mr Badger is looking leaner. He Almost 400,000 children are facing starvation. £50 is enough Like the underground mammal home I was justifying it to myself. Is ornament as if terrified it was sud- seems disappointed that The Indepen- with which he aligns himself – he has that stupid?” denly going to disappear. dent declines his pot of green tea. to save a child through one of our treatment programmes. a company called Badger Property Desmond is famously parsimo- That article, purring at Desmond’s “I’ve got a bit more balance, a bit Partners – Richard Desmond displays nious, a trait borne of a north London ethic of “long days, long weeks and more gym, a bit more running, a bit Please make an urgent donation today. contrasting shades of black and white. upbringing that necessitated his no time for hobbies”, was in the Daily more drumming and a bit more char- He boasts of the times when he being a child worker for his own fami- Mail, of all places. But that was ity,” he says of his healthier lifestyle. paid himself £52m a year (“One day I ly. The memory of his first advertis- before Desmond began selling sex. These days he drums for charity in thought, ‘Let’s have some fun,’ and ing deal, negotiated at the age of six- By the time he entered the national a star-studded band. When you’re 0800 8 148 148 for a few years I took out £1m a and-a-half, remains with him. newspaper industry in 2000, he had playing with the likes of Roger Daltrey week”), but this year he’ll take the His father, Cyril, a senior executive many enemies and Associated News- and Robert Plant, he says, “You don’t www.savethechildren.org.uk wage of one of his desk editors. for Pearl & Dean, the cinema adver- papers, owner of the Mail, was really want to fuck it all up do you?” “I’m taking out £50,000 as a salary. tising company, had been struck among the most powerful. “Porn It’s the first time the man who Private There’s no point, the tax breaks as down by an illness which left him Publisher to Buy Express”, ran a Eye calls “Dirty Des” has used the “f” GIVE NOW BY PHONE, ONLINE OR SEND THIS COUPON they are, the national insurance, it’s deaf; but he continued to try to work, headline in the London Evening Stan- word, 67 minutes into the interview. just ridiculous. To effectively lose 70 using the youngest of his three chil- dard, then part of Associated. He seems remarkably calm – per- Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Initials £25 £50 £100 £ Please accept my gift of: Other per cent of your cash is crazy – let the dren as his ears. Badger-baiting was outlawed in haps due to the fact that he has a new Surname I enclose: Cheque Postal Order CAF Voucher business have it.” “The fella in the advertising agency Britain in 1835, but many thought girlfriend – as he approaches his 60th Address (Please make payable to SAVE THE CHILDREN) OR This is smart management, he was talking about Domestos and of Desmond, who had expanded his birthday in 18 months’ time. The oth- Postcode Please charge my: Master Card Visa CAF Maestro would say. “Everyone calls me a cost- course he couldn’t hear. So I jumped publishing empire to include a large er press barons thought they’d finish Email cutter and it’s actually not true, we in and pulled the contract out and catalogue of adult titles such as him off years ago. To keep our costs down, if you provide your email, we may email you about our Credit Card Number/Switch Number work and how you can help. are cost-conscious.” Commentators went through it. That was where I Asian Babes and Horny Housewives, Desmond talks excitedly of anoth- Tel No (Maestro only) criticise the paucity of journalistic was brought up.” had it coming. er new pal, a ball of energy whom he Maestro Issue No. resources at the Daily Express (daily Desmond’s parents’ marriage “They tried to destroy me,” says met eating fish and chips in a London Use Gift Aid and make your donation sales are currently 665,731, down 7.8 broke up and his mother, Millie, took Desmond, who, when cornered, came club. This friend is 98 years old. So  worth more at no extra cost to you. Card Start Date Card Expiry Date per cent on last year) and scoff at its him to live with her in a small flat out snarling by publishing stories what next for Mr Badger? “I’d like to Gift Aid allows Save the Children to claim tax back from HMRC on your donation. For every £1 you give, they’ll add an extra 25p from your taxes. It doesn’t cost you Signature Date / / front pages, but Desmond claims the above a garage. “I didn’t have a back about the personal life of Jonathan do a big deal, yeah I really would,” he a penny. Simply complete your details above, including your full name and postcode (Credit cards only) title is “in tune with the nation”. garden, I had windows that didn’t Harmsworth (Lord Rothermere), says. “I’ve got to, I’ve only got anoth- and we will do the rest. I am a UK taxpayer and would like Save the Children to Please return to: FREEPOST RSCJ-SLCC-GECC, Save the Children, treat all donations I have made over the past four years and all donations I make in Valldata House, 2a Halifax Road, Melksham SN12 6YY the future (until I notify you otherwise) as Gift Aid donations. Tick here GA. “Everything we’ve been crusading open,” he says. chairman of Associated. Though he er 30 years left before I retire.” I’m If you tick the Gift Aid box your additional support will help fund the whole of For security reasons, please do not send cash through the post. for … we were mocked, laughed at His father’s sudden illness still still makes reference to the “Daily laughing. But when I look at Richard Save the Children’s work. It is critical to our work with children that we can communicate with our supporters. By providing your details, you agree Date / / to receive information about our work and how you can help via post and telephone. If you would rather not hear from us and ridiculed. [But] the immigration frightens him, as he has had severe Malicious”, Desmond claims that the Desmond, he isn’t. You must pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax at least equal to please: email [email protected] or telephone 020 7012 6400 or write to: Supporter Services, the tax that the charity reclaims on your donations. Save the Children, 1 St John’s Lane, London EC1M 4AR. situation, the pension situation and problems with his eyesight. “Without war is over. “Jonathan Harmsworth inheritance tax were the three spot- Moorfields [Eye Hospital] I could be and I are quite friendly, we’ll have a Journalists and All donations received for this appeal will be spent on our work in Niger. Where donations exceed the appeal target we will use your money to fund A10042007 our work with vulnerable children around the world. Registered charity England and Wales (213890) Scotland (SC039570) on things that frankly decided the blind. I had acute angular glaucoma. Chinese meal together.” power do not mix election.” If it was the Express what And you know, with my father going Another old rival, the former Daily Media Studies, Viewspaper, page 5