Felix Dennis
Encyclopedia
Felix Dennis is a British
magazine
publisher, poet
, and philanthropist
. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing
, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times the company has added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week
, which is published in Britain, the United States and Australia.
of Art, Dennis claims to have wasted a great deal of time playing in R&B bands. In 1971 he was imprisoned as a co-editor of Oz
magazine at the culmination of the longest conspiracy trial in English history. Dennis at this time recorded a single with John Lennon to raise money for a legal defence fund.
Following acquittal by the Court of Appeal, Dennis went on to found his own magazine publishing company in 1973. Success came early with Kung Fu monthly making over £60,000 (a small fortune in 1974) aided by the rising popularity of martial artist Bruce Lee. The then small company also managed to break into the US where others had failed.
For Dennis, a crucial observation was the emergence of personal computers. He set up Personal Computer World which he later sold to VNU, and MacUser which he sold to Ziff Davis Publishing in the mid-eighties. He also co-founded MicroWarehouse
, a $2 billion computer mail order company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ and formed the bulk of his personal wealth.
In 2001, following a second life-threatening illness, Dennis took up poetry. Within a year, he wrote his first book of verse A Glass Half Full, published by Hutchinson in the UK. The launch of this book was accompanied by the first of Dennis's UK-wide poetry reading tours entitled “Did I Mention the Free Wine?” Audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s cellar whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.
Within seven years, he has become one of the biggest selling poets of original verse in recent times, and his poetry has been featured on radio interviews, in the national press and the subject of two major television documentaries.
Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK including The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro and Viz. Its flagship brand The Week is also published in the US and Australia.
With a keen eye and 'devil in the detail' approach, Dennis was quickly promoted to co-editor and became involved in the longest conspiracy trial in English history over the much-misunderstood "School Kids" edition - the editors invited contributions from children, including a sexually explicit drawing of Rupert the Bear.
This invoked the wrath of the establishment and resulted in a visit from the police and the subsequent arrest of Jim Anderson, Richard Neville and Felix Dennis. An account of the trial by Dennis can be read on The First Post.
At the conclusion of the trial, the "Oz Three" who were defended by John Mortimer, were found not guilty on the charge of “Conspiracy to deprave and corrupt the Morals of the Young of the Realm”, but were convicted of two lesser offences and sentenced to imprisonment.
The convictions were later quashed to the relief of Neville, Dennis and Anderson wearing rented schoolgirl outfits.
Dennis later told author Jonathan Green that on the night before the appeal was heard, the Oz editors were taken to a secret meeting with the Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, who told them that they would be acquitted if they agreed to give up work on Oz. It is alleged that MPs Tony Benn
and Michael Foot
had interceded on their behalf.
Dennis went on to set up Dennis Publishing in 1973 leveraging the writers, photographers and illustrators who had finished their "summer of love" and were feverishly looking for work.
Success came early with the title Kung-Fu Monthly courtesy of the popularity of martial artist, Bruce Lee
. Dennis also crucially signed worldwide distribution rights and recalls banking £60,000 (a small fortune back then) and thought they were 'rich beyond their wildest dreams'.
Another critical observation by Dennis was spotting the emergence of personal computing and setting up MacUser and Personal Computer World. These were later sold to VNU and Ziff Davis
Publishing respectively in the mid-eighties. Dennis launched further successful IT titles in the form of Computer Shopper and PC World.
Apart from publishing, Dennis co-founded a $2 billion computer mail order company (Microwarehouse) on the back of Macusers success, along with Peter Godfrey and Bob Bartner in 1987. The business model for the mail order company was simple. It was about keeping operating costs to a minimum and using direct marketing via high quality catalogues.
Informed customers could browse in–home or office and phone through their order for next day delivery. The rapid growth of the firm and its market access resulted in major IT brands dealing with the firm - a move that was unprecedented at a time when the market relied heavily on in-store demos and high pressure sales.
The company went public in December 1992 and was sold to a private investment group in January 2000. MicroWarehouse
at the time had 3500 employees in 13 countries with worldwide sales in 2000 of $2.5 billion. The company eventually went public on the NASDAQ and became a major contributor to Dennis's personal wealth.
Dennis was awarded the Marcus Morris Award in 1991, which is the highest accolade in UK magazine publishing.
In 1995, Dennis Publishing created Maxim, a title that became the world's biggest selling men's lifestyle magazine and global brand.
In 1996, Dennis acquired a stake in what is now the flagship brand The Week which is published in the UK, US and Australia and. as of 2009, translates to a global circulation of over 700,000 (ABC audited). Over the following years it purchased the remainder from its founder Jon O'Connell.
2003 saw the purchase of IFG (I Feel Good) from Loaded
founder James Brown
. The purchase involved titles Viz
, Fortean Times
and Bizarre being added to the Dennis Publishing stable.
In 2006, Dennis wrote a best-seller on how he became a multi-millionaire in How to Get Rich (ISBN 009191265-2), published by Ebury Press. As well as anecdotes from his life, the book imparts the 'knack' on what it takes to get rich with a stark warning on the personal sacrifices required. Indeed for Dennis, the financial excess resulted in a crack cocaine addiction and admission to spending over $100 million dollars on drugs and women.
In June 2007, Dennis sold his US magazine operation which published the magazines Blender
, Maxim
and Stuff
to a private equity group, Alpha Media Group, for an undisclosed figure.
In 2008, Dennis Publishing asserted its presence as a multi-format publisher with digital magazines iGizmo and iMotor along with Monkey and the purchase of The First Post
.
Early 2010 saw the release of Dennis's follow-up to wealth creation book, 88 The Narrow Road. As Dennis states, this is not an arm chair read and in fact a book for those that do. 88 The Narrow Road
Today, Felix Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, which is still a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK (including its flagship brand The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro, Viz and The Week in the US and Australia.
and within a year had written his first book of verse, A Glass Half Full, published by Hutchinson in the UK.
Dennis is reported to spend up to four hours each day studying and writing verse and has written over 1000 to date.
Within seven years, he has become the biggest selling poet of original verse in recent times and Dennis's verse has attracted critical acclaim from, among others, Tom Wolfe, Christopher Rush, Mick Jagger, Stephen Fry and Dawn French.
Dennis’s poetry is regularly featured on radio programmes and in the national press, and has been the subject of two major television documentaries.
With the publication of A Glass Half Full, Dennis embarked on the first of his now famous “Did I mention the Free Wine?” tours. Covering 12 cities across the UK, audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s cellar whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.
In October 2003, Dennis appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company
, along with several well-known RSC actors, reading from his work at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.
With the publication of A Glass Half Full in the US in 2004, Dennis embarked on a fifteen date coast-to-coast tour of the US (including another RSC performance in New York). The same year Lone Wolf, Dennis's second book of verse came out, again accompanied by a fourteen-date UK tour.
Since then, three more poetry books have followed, When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times, Island of Dreams and Homeless in my Heart, all published by Ebury Press.
At the end of 2008, Dennis again toured with an eleven-date 'sell out' tour around the UK and Ireland, coinciding with the release of Homeless in my Heart, described as his most revealing work to date. Both the 2008 and 2010 tours were filmed and a DVD release is expected in the early part of 2011.
Many of Dennis's poetry performances have been made available on YouTube. In 1994, Dennis was made a Fellow of the National Library for the Blind
in recognition of his continued support for that charity. Accordingly, many of Dennis's books are released in braille.
which is based in Warwickshire
in the UK's West Midlands.
Over the last ten years, Dennis has established a young forest of native deciduous trees. It already covers one thousand acres with approximately 600,000 saplings planted to date. The forest also includes a small percentage of ancient woodland.
Trees include native varieties of oak, ash, lime, beech hornbeam, hazel, field maple, aspen, hawthorn, willow, alder, black poplar, holly, wild cherry, rowan and occasional stands of Scots pine, along with numerous shrubs and bushes. Where possible, saplings are sourced from locally collected seed.
The planting of saplings will continue indefinitely with the aim of eventually providing between 10,000 and 20,000 acres.
The forest will then be opened to the public to enjoy and, as Dennis fervently insists, it will be up to the people to decide the name. 'The Forest of Dennis is only the name of the charity'.
on live British
television
, on the 7 November, 1970 edition of David Frost
's The Frost Programme. As a result, most "live" transmissions are delayed by 15 seconds.
Dennis was the subject of Desert Island Discs
, hosted by Kirsty Young
on BBC Radio 4
, first broadcast on 12 August 2007.
In an interview with Ginny Dougary
published in The Times
on 2 April 2008 Dennis said that in the early 1980s he had killed a man who had been abusing a woman he knew by pushing him off a cliff; Dennis later said he had been talking "a load of hogwash" whilst drunk.
actor Chris O'Dowd
in the upcoming film Hippie Hippie Shake, which tells the story of Oz magazine and the landmark 1960s' indecency trial. Prior to filming, Dennis agreed to meet up with O'Dowd. "He was an incredibly charismatic man," O'Dowd stated. Dennis also gave O'Dowd a complimentary subscription to his current affairs publication, The Week
.
It is now believed that this film has been indefinitely shelved by its production company.
magazine. As this was outside court privilege, Dennis was able to successfully sue the magazine, which agreed to pay £10,000 to charity. Dennis refrained from suing Argyle personally: "Oh, I don't want to make him a martyr of the Right: there's no glory to be had in suing an 80-year-old man and taking his house away from him. It was just a totally obvious libel."
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
publisher, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing
Dennis Publishing
Dennis Publishing Ltd. is an independent publisher. It was founded in 1974.As of April 2010 the company publishes 31 magazine or online titles, predominately in the UK....
, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times the company has added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week
The Week
The Week, styled as THE WEEK, is a weekly news magazine.-History:It was founded in the United Kingdom by Jolyon Connell in 1995. In April 2001, the magazine began publishing an American edition; an Australian edition followed in October 2008. Dennis Publishing publishes the U.K. and Australian...
, which is published in Britain, the United States and Australia.
Biography
Felix Dennis is one of Britain's best known self-made entrepreneurs. He was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1947. After leaving Harrow CollegeHarrow College
Harrow College is the largest college in the London Borough of Harrow. It opened in 1999 following a merger of two former local colleges, Greenhill College and Weald College .Ofsted has reported the college as Outstanding for Social and Educational Inclusion...
of Art, Dennis claims to have wasted a great deal of time playing in R&B bands. In 1971 he was imprisoned as a co-editor of Oz
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
magazine at the culmination of the longest conspiracy trial in English history. Dennis at this time recorded a single with John Lennon to raise money for a legal defence fund.
Following acquittal by the Court of Appeal, Dennis went on to found his own magazine publishing company in 1973. Success came early with Kung Fu monthly making over £60,000 (a small fortune in 1974) aided by the rising popularity of martial artist Bruce Lee. The then small company also managed to break into the US where others had failed.
For Dennis, a crucial observation was the emergence of personal computers. He set up Personal Computer World which he later sold to VNU, and MacUser which he sold to Ziff Davis Publishing in the mid-eighties. He also co-founded MicroWarehouse
MicroWarehouse
MicroWarehouse is one of the UK's largest and longest established direct resellers of branded IT products and services to business. At the height of their industry dominance Micro Warehouse had 3500 employees in 13 different countries. By 2000 Micro Warehouse was the leading direct marketer and...
, a $2 billion computer mail order company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ and formed the bulk of his personal wealth.
In 2001, following a second life-threatening illness, Dennis took up poetry. Within a year, he wrote his first book of verse A Glass Half Full, published by Hutchinson in the UK. The launch of this book was accompanied by the first of Dennis's UK-wide poetry reading tours entitled “Did I Mention the Free Wine?” Audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s cellar whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.
Within seven years, he has become one of the biggest selling poets of original verse in recent times, and his poetry has been featured on radio interviews, in the national press and the subject of two major television documentaries.
Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK including The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro and Viz. Its flagship brand The Week is also published in the US and Australia.
Publishing
Dennis started his career as a street seller for the underground counter culture magazine OZ in 1971. The magazine regularly enraged the British establishment with a mixture of left-field stories, discussions of drugs, sex and contentious political stories.With a keen eye and 'devil in the detail' approach, Dennis was quickly promoted to co-editor and became involved in the longest conspiracy trial in English history over the much-misunderstood "School Kids" edition - the editors invited contributions from children, including a sexually explicit drawing of Rupert the Bear.
This invoked the wrath of the establishment and resulted in a visit from the police and the subsequent arrest of Jim Anderson, Richard Neville and Felix Dennis. An account of the trial by Dennis can be read on The First Post.
At the conclusion of the trial, the "Oz Three" who were defended by John Mortimer, were found not guilty on the charge of “Conspiracy to deprave and corrupt the Morals of the Young of the Realm”, but were convicted of two lesser offences and sentenced to imprisonment.
The convictions were later quashed to the relief of Neville, Dennis and Anderson wearing rented schoolgirl outfits.
Dennis later told author Jonathan Green that on the night before the appeal was heard, the Oz editors were taken to a secret meeting with the Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, who told them that they would be acquitted if they agreed to give up work on Oz. It is alleged that MPs Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
and Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
had interceded on their behalf.
Dennis went on to set up Dennis Publishing in 1973 leveraging the writers, photographers and illustrators who had finished their "summer of love" and were feverishly looking for work.
Success came early with the title Kung-Fu Monthly courtesy of the popularity of martial artist, Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
. Dennis also crucially signed worldwide distribution rights and recalls banking £60,000 (a small fortune back then) and thought they were 'rich beyond their wildest dreams'.
Another critical observation by Dennis was spotting the emergence of personal computing and setting up MacUser and Personal Computer World. These were later sold to VNU and Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis Inc. is an American publisher and Internet company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of its history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich hobbies such as cars,...
Publishing respectively in the mid-eighties. Dennis launched further successful IT titles in the form of Computer Shopper and PC World.
Apart from publishing, Dennis co-founded a $2 billion computer mail order company (Microwarehouse) on the back of Macusers success, along with Peter Godfrey and Bob Bartner in 1987. The business model for the mail order company was simple. It was about keeping operating costs to a minimum and using direct marketing via high quality catalogues.
Informed customers could browse in–home or office and phone through their order for next day delivery. The rapid growth of the firm and its market access resulted in major IT brands dealing with the firm - a move that was unprecedented at a time when the market relied heavily on in-store demos and high pressure sales.
The company went public in December 1992 and was sold to a private investment group in January 2000. MicroWarehouse
MicroWarehouse
MicroWarehouse is one of the UK's largest and longest established direct resellers of branded IT products and services to business. At the height of their industry dominance Micro Warehouse had 3500 employees in 13 different countries. By 2000 Micro Warehouse was the leading direct marketer and...
at the time had 3500 employees in 13 countries with worldwide sales in 2000 of $2.5 billion. The company eventually went public on the NASDAQ and became a major contributor to Dennis's personal wealth.
Dennis was awarded the Marcus Morris Award in 1991, which is the highest accolade in UK magazine publishing.
In 1995, Dennis Publishing created Maxim, a title that became the world's biggest selling men's lifestyle magazine and global brand.
In 1996, Dennis acquired a stake in what is now the flagship brand The Week which is published in the UK, US and Australia and. as of 2009, translates to a global circulation of over 700,000 (ABC audited). Over the following years it purchased the remainder from its founder Jon O'Connell.
2003 saw the purchase of IFG (I Feel Good) from Loaded
Loaded (magazine)
Loaded, first published in 1994, is a British magazine for men that is considered to be the "original lads' mag". Its motto is "For men who should know better".-History:...
founder James Brown
James Brown (editor)
James Brown is a British journalist. He is best known for creating the modern men's magazine market with the launch of his title Loaded in 1994, a magazine that was said to define a generation...
. The purchase involved titles Viz
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
, Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
and Bizarre being added to the Dennis Publishing stable.
In 2006, Dennis wrote a best-seller on how he became a multi-millionaire in How to Get Rich (ISBN 009191265-2), published by Ebury Press. As well as anecdotes from his life, the book imparts the 'knack' on what it takes to get rich with a stark warning on the personal sacrifices required. Indeed for Dennis, the financial excess resulted in a crack cocaine addiction and admission to spending over $100 million dollars on drugs and women.
In June 2007, Dennis sold his US magazine operation which published the magazines Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
, Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
and Stuff
Stuff (magazine)
Stuff is a men's magazine featuring reviews of consumer electronics, and other articles of interest to a predominantly male audience.- UK edition :...
to a private equity group, Alpha Media Group, for an undisclosed figure.
In 2008, Dennis Publishing asserted its presence as a multi-format publisher with digital magazines iGizmo and iMotor along with Monkey and the purchase of The First Post
The First Post
The First Post is a British daily online news magazine based in London. It was launched in August 2005. It publishes news, current affairs, lifestyle, opinion, arts and sports pages, and it features an online games arcade and a cinema featuring short films, virals, trailers and eyewitness news...
.
Early 2010 saw the release of Dennis's follow-up to wealth creation book, 88 The Narrow Road. As Dennis states, this is not an arm chair read and in fact a book for those that do. 88 The Narrow Road
Today, Felix Dennis remains the owner of Dennis Publishing, which is still a privately owned company with headquarters in both London and New York City. It has over 50 magazine titles, digital magazines, websites and mobile sites in the UK (including its flagship brand The Week, Monkey, Auto Express, PC Pro, Viz and The Week in the US and Australia.
Poetry
In 2001, and following on from what he calls a "life-threatening illness", Dennis took-up poetryPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and within a year had written his first book of verse, A Glass Half Full, published by Hutchinson in the UK.
Dennis is reported to spend up to four hours each day studying and writing verse and has written over 1000 to date.
Within seven years, he has become the biggest selling poet of original verse in recent times and Dennis's verse has attracted critical acclaim from, among others, Tom Wolfe, Christopher Rush, Mick Jagger, Stephen Fry and Dawn French.
Dennis’s poetry is regularly featured on radio programmes and in the national press, and has been the subject of two major television documentaries.
With the publication of A Glass Half Full, Dennis embarked on the first of his now famous “Did I mention the Free Wine?” tours. Covering 12 cities across the UK, audiences are offered fine French wine from Dennis’s cellar whilst watching Dennis perform his poetry on stage.
In October 2003, Dennis appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, along with several well-known RSC actors, reading from his work at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.
With the publication of A Glass Half Full in the US in 2004, Dennis embarked on a fifteen date coast-to-coast tour of the US (including another RSC performance in New York). The same year Lone Wolf, Dennis's second book of verse came out, again accompanied by a fourteen-date UK tour.
Since then, three more poetry books have followed, When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times, Island of Dreams and Homeless in my Heart, all published by Ebury Press.
At the end of 2008, Dennis again toured with an eleven-date 'sell out' tour around the UK and Ireland, coinciding with the release of Homeless in my Heart, described as his most revealing work to date. Both the 2008 and 2010 tours were filmed and a DVD release is expected in the early part of 2011.
Many of Dennis's poetry performances have been made available on YouTube. In 1994, Dennis was made a Fellow of the National Library for the Blind
National Library for the Blind
The National Library for the Blind was a public library in the United Kingdom, founded 1882, which aimed to ensure that people with sight problems have the same access to library services as sighted people. NLB was taken over by RNIB on 1 January 2007.-Origins:The Lending Library for the Blind...
in recognition of his continued support for that charity. Accordingly, many of Dennis's books are released in braille.
Trees
Dennis is very involved in planting trees and sustainable forestry. One of his continuing projects is the Forest of DennisForest of Dennis
The Forest of Dennis is a very young forest consisting mainly of native English deciduous trees located near Bidford on Avon, Warwickshire, England. The forest was started in 2001 by the English businessman and philanthropist Felix Dennis. The forest currently covers 4.5 square kilometres...
which is based in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
in the UK's West Midlands.
Over the last ten years, Dennis has established a young forest of native deciduous trees. It already covers one thousand acres with approximately 600,000 saplings planted to date. The forest also includes a small percentage of ancient woodland.
Trees include native varieties of oak, ash, lime, beech hornbeam, hazel, field maple, aspen, hawthorn, willow, alder, black poplar, holly, wild cherry, rowan and occasional stands of Scots pine, along with numerous shrubs and bushes. Where possible, saplings are sourced from locally collected seed.
The planting of saplings will continue indefinitely with the aim of eventually providing between 10,000 and 20,000 acres.
The forest will then be opened to the public to enjoy and, as Dennis fervently insists, it will be up to the people to decide the name. 'The Forest of Dennis is only the name of the charity'.
In the media
Dennis is credited with having been the first person to say the word cuntCunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...
on live British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, on the 7 November, 1970 edition of David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
's The Frost Programme. As a result, most "live" transmissions are delayed by 15 seconds.
Dennis was the subject of Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
, hosted by Kirsty Young
Kirsty Young
Kirsty Jackson Young is a Scottish television presenter and radio presenter. She is the main presenter of Crimewatch and Desert Island Discs. She is married to millionaire club owner Nick Jones.- Career :...
on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, first broadcast on 12 August 2007.
In an interview with Ginny Dougary
Ginny Dougary
Ginny Dougary is a British interviewer and feature writer for The Times. She is the author of The Executive Tart & Other Myths, and a contributor to several anthologies including OK, You Mugs and Amazonians - New Travel Writing by Women...
published in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
on 2 April 2008 Dennis said that in the early 1980s he had killed a man who had been abusing a woman he knew by pushing him off a cliff; Dennis later said he had been talking "a load of hogwash" whilst drunk.
Film
Felix Dennis is portrayed by The IT CrowdThe IT Crowd
The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
actor Chris O'Dowd
Chris O'Dowd
Chris O'Dowd is an Irish comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Roy Trenneman in British sitcom The IT Crowd...
in the upcoming film Hippie Hippie Shake, which tells the story of Oz magazine and the landmark 1960s' indecency trial. Prior to filming, Dennis agreed to meet up with O'Dowd. "He was an incredibly charismatic man," O'Dowd stated. Dennis also gave O'Dowd a complimentary subscription to his current affairs publication, The Week
The Week
The Week, styled as THE WEEK, is a weekly news magazine.-History:It was founded in the United Kingdom by Jolyon Connell in 1995. In April 2001, the magazine began publishing an American edition; an Australian edition followed in October 2008. Dennis Publishing publishes the U.K. and Australian...
.
It is now believed that this film has been indefinitely shelved by its production company.
Lawsuit
In 1995, Justice Argyle reiterated allegations about Dennis in The SpectatorThe Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
magazine. As this was outside court privilege, Dennis was able to successfully sue the magazine, which agreed to pay £10,000 to charity. Dennis refrained from suing Argyle personally: "Oh, I don't want to make him a martyr of the Right: there's no glory to be had in suing an 80-year-old man and taking his house away from him. It was just a totally obvious libel."
External links
- in-depth filmed interview from Dec 2007 on Access Interviews.com
- Interview with Felix Dennis
- Video interview with Felix Dennis by Lusso MagazineLusso MagazineLusso is a United Kingdom-based quarterly magazine dealing with all aspects of the luxury lifestyle market. It is published by SWR Media, an independent company based in London, UK...
- Old Stomping Grounds
- Felix Dennis website
- How to Get Rich website
- Dennis sues The Spectator over Argyle allegations
- Writing in The Sunday Times
- BBC Article
- THE WEEK: US online edition
- The Forest of Dennis / Heart Of England Forest Project
- Desert Island Discs
- Maxim Publisher Felix Dennis: I've Killed a Man
- Review of How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis'
- Publisher Felix Dennis' odes to vice and consequences on TED.com