Brown, Tina 1953–

PERSONAL:

Born November 21, 1953, in Maidenhead, England; daughter of George (a film producer) and Bettina (a writer) Brown; married Harold Evans (an editor and writer), August 19, 1981. Education: St. Anne's College, Oxford, M.A.

CAREER:

Punch magazine, London, England, columnist, 1970s; Tatler, London, editor-in-chief, 1979-83; Vanity Fair, New York, NY, editor-in-chief, 1984-92; New Yorker, New York, NY, editor-in-chief, 1992-98; founder of Talk magazine, 1999-2001; head of Talk/Miramax Books, 2001—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Young Journalist of the Year award, 1978; drama award, Sunday Times (London, England), for the play "Under the Bamboo Tree"; Catherine Pakenham Award.

WRITINGS:

Loose Talk: Adventures on the Street of Shame, M. Joseph (London, England), 1979.

Life as a Party, Deutsch (London, England), 1983.

The Diana Chronicles, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2007.

PLAYS

"Under the Bamboo Tree" (one-act), first produced in London, 1973.

"Happy Yellow," first produced in London at Bush Theatre, May 19, 1977.

Contributor of articles to newspapers and magazines, including New Statesman, Sunday Times (London, England), and Sunday Telegraph Magazine (London, England).

SIDELIGHTS:

In January of 1984, at the age of thirty, Tina Brown became editor in chief of Vanity Fair magazine, which, she told a Newsweek interviewer, she intended to revitalize with "a sophisticated, young, modern, literate approach." Named after a celebrated literary and arts journal published from 1914 until 1936, Vanity Fair had floundered with uncertain editorial direction and disappointing circulation and advertising gains since its inception in 1983. Brown has sought to revive the monthly and appeal to a style-conscious, affluent readership by redesigning the layout, promoting new writing talents, and featuring entertainment-oriented articles and interviews with celebrity personalities.

Her approach is derived in part from past experience as editor in chief of the London Tatler, a monthly devoted to the affairs of the socially prominent. Only twenty-six years old when she took Tatler's helm, Brown introduced a subtly satirical tone to the writing, broadened coverage to include celebrities beyond the traditional aristocracy, and achieved a substantial increase in circulation for the magazine. In the words of Spectator reviewer Kathy O'Shaughnessy, Brown brought the Tatler "to brilliant and shameless life," transforming it "from a ‘dowdy dowager’ to ‘delicious debutante.’"

Brown's first two books, Loose Talk: Adventures on the Street of Shame and Life as a Party, are collections of her own articles for Tatler. Loose Talk features interviews with such celebrities as Brigitte Bardot and Bianca Jagger, as well as human interest reporting on topics ranging from a description of Playboy Club bunnies to the author's personal experience as a finalist in a holiday camp bathing beauty contest. Books and Bookmen critic Brian Masters found some of the articles "very funny," citing especially Brown's "mercilessly exact descriptions of people."

Life as a Party compiles Brown's profiles of celebrities and socialites in Tatler. "Tina Brown is perceptive and exceedingly funny on social mores," noted Kathy O'Shaughnessy in her Spectator review of the book. "She has a gift for the pithy and witty turn of phrase, an eye for giveaway detail, an ear for amusing inflexions. Whatever the subject matter, her talented prose rarely loses its poise." Brown's sketches include those of novelist Erica Jong, model Jerry Hall, Princess Caroline of Monaco, and cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder.

Brown's 2007 biography of the deceased Princess of Wales, The Diana Chronicles, takes a look at the life and death of Diana Spencer from a new perspective, addressing it from the viewpoint of a journalist who marveled at the extraordinary marketability of a single woman and her actions. The story of Diana and her fairy-tale wedding, followed by what at first appeared to be the requisite fairy tale marriage, combined with Diana's shy yet strong personality and the genuine kindness she exhibited to create a powerful package in a world that was becoming increasingly fascinated with the lives of celebrities. Diana recognized the marketability of her face and her story, particularly as her marriage to Prince Charles was revealed to be failing in the public arena. According to Brown, Diana was astute enough to use her fame and her public role to maintain the sympathy of the population. Caroline Weber, in a review for the New York Times Online Web site, remarked that "Brown offers an insightful, absorbing account of the pas de deux into which, to her eventual peril, Diana joined with the paparazzi." A reviewer for the London Times Online Web site, noted: "Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles is not a book on Diana. It is the book. Not only does it put the story of Diana in its proper historical context of British politics, journalism and the changing mores of the past quarter century, but it is also a perfect example of the nosy-parker's art. It conveys, better than anything I have ever read, the basic intelligence of its subject."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Books and Bookmen, October, 1979, Brian Masters, review of Loose Talk: Adventures on the Street of Shame; November, 1979, review of Loose Talk.

Newsweek, January 16, 1984, interview with Tina Brown.

Spectator, November 12, 1983, Kathy O'Shaughnessy, review of Life as a Party.

ONLINE

New York Times Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (June 10, 2007), Caroline Weber, "Tabloid Princess."

Times Online (London, England), http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ (June 17, 2007), review of The Diana Chronicles.