Talk:Nigel Dempster

Punch?
Did he also do a society letters page in Punch Magazine? I'm sure it was him that I wrote a letter to about the Duke of Northumberland that was published. AndrewJFulker (talk) 13:20, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

Name
Dempster- famously- gave his father's forenames as 'Eric Richard Pratt' in his 1986 Who's Who entry (cue 'Private Eye' jokes on Dempster being a 'prat', etc etc); one would think he'd know his own father's name. E. R. P. Dempster was, per Tim Willis's book 'Nigel Dempster and the Death of Discretion' (also borne out by official records), the son of James Pratt Dempster, who married Charlotte Patton. In this book, Nigel Dempster's sister Erika is given as the source of the information that "the third forename on her brother's birth certificate WAS 'Pratt' and that at some time- she doesn't know when- he changed it by deed poll to the more elevated 'Patton'. (It was convenient that his paternal grandmother's surname began with the same initial)."

Eric's 1927 marriage record, however, gives his third name as 'Patton', suggesting- if anything- that it was he, and not his son, who preferred 'Patton' over 'Pratt'. If this be the case, it would surely be unlikely that he would bestow upon his only son the name that he himself so disliked. Perhaps Erika Dempster misremembered? I was unable to locate Nigel Dempster's birth record online to corroborate. The question is raised why Nigel Dempster, if he possessed and were embarrassed by/ disliked the name 'Pratt', would not seek to obfuscate in a similar way his father's own use of the name is unclear. One would imagine it'd make more sense not to draw attention to the name's existence by simply giving his father's middle initials, or putting 'Patton' in place of 'Pratt' as his father seems to have done. On the evidence, the most likely state of affairs would appear to be that Nigel Dempster WAS given the name 'Patton', and irrespective of his father's choice of using 'Patton' over 'Pratt', put his legal name in his Who's Who entry. It's perhaps also worth noting that Eric Dempster's probate record simply lists his first two names. [EDIT: A 1941 Calcutta birth record for 'Nigel Richard Dempster' indicates the absence of either 'Patton' or 'Pratt' in Nigel Dempster's own birth name]

Greatest Living Englishman - not!
We present Ingrams' opinion of Dempster as "the greatest living Englishman" as a plaudit. It was not, as would always seem likely when bestowed by satirists. The term was probably used ironically because Dempster was becoming too preening, too boastful and insufferable. See Adam Macqueen's Private Eye: The First 50 Years (2011) p 124. Macqueen is and was at the time of his writing a contributor to Private Eye & quotes Ingrams extensively on his book. - Sitush (talk) 04:55, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Private Eye
Dempster did not write for Private Eye till 1979, not 1969. There is no grovel column in the sixties. 82.132.233.66 (talk) 18:48, 13 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Checked the cited sources, The Independent obituary by Michael Leapman and the reference book edited by Dennis Griffiths. They both indicate Dempster began writing for Private Eye in 1969. A reliable source indicating 1979 would need to be found for a change to be made. Philip Cross (talk) 19:16, 13 December 2021 (UTC)