Richard Boston

Biographical Information
Richard Boston (1938-2006) "was an author, journalist, and real ale champion. His early education started at Stowe School going on to Regent Polytechnic to study art, then to read English at King's College, Cambridge." "Returning to work in England he initially joined the staff of Peace News, followed by New Society where he was books editor. He later worked for the Times Literary Supplement, and wrote regularly for The Guardian as a columnist and feature writer. One of his most famous achievements was his weekly Guardian column on beer, where he pursued a campaign against big brewers and keg beer, whilst promoting the importance of small real-ale brewers. Together with the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) his campaign was a success. Richard infamously posed naked for the front cover of the first edition of the Weekend Guardian.

"In 1977 he set up and edited The Vole, a country magazine regarding threats to the environment, which was remarkably ahead of its time, raising issues including sustainability and greenhouse gases. Vole lasted until 1981. Richard also took over editorship of the monthly literary magazine Quarto in 1979. Not wanting to miss out on the perks of being a member of the European Parliament, Richard stood for the Boston Tea Party in 1994. Despite a demanding campaign his candidacy was unsuccessful.

"Richard had a successful career as an author researching and publishing a variety of books including the biographies 'The Admirable Urquhart' (1975), and 'Osbert: a Portrait of Osbert Lancaster' (1989). His other books include 'The Press we Deserve' (ed. 1969), 'An Anatomy of Laughter' (1974), 'Beer and Skittles' (1976), 'Baldness Be My Friend' (1977), 'The Little Green Book' (1979), 'CO Jone's Compendium of Practical Jokes' (1982), and 'Starkness At Noon' (1997)."