Running away from Harrow at 16 "to join the alternative society," Wheen had early periods as a "dogsbody" at
The Guardian and the
New Statesman, before attending
Royal Holloway College, University of London, following a period spent at a
crammer. which won the
Deutscher Memorial Prize in 1999, and has been translated into twenty languages. He followed this with a notional "biography" of
Das Kapital, which follows the creation and publication of the first volume of Marx's major work as well as other incomplete volumes. Wheen had a
column in
The Guardian for several years. He wrote for
Private Eye and became the magazine's deputy editor. He retired from
Private Eye in October 2022, though he still occasionally contributes. His collected journalism,
Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies, won him the
Orwell Prize in 2003. He has also been a regular columnist for the London
Evening Standard. In April 2012, Wheen suffered the loss of his entire book collection, his "life's work", and an unfinished novel, in a garden shed fire.
Broadcasting work Wheen broadcasts regularly, mainly on
BBC Radio 4, has made many appearances on
The News Quiz, in which he has often referred to the fact that he resembles the former
Conservative Party leader
Iain Duncan Smith. He has also several times been a guest on
Have I Got News for You. Wheen wrote a
docudrama,
The Lavender List, for
BBC Four on the final period of
Harold Wilson's premiership, concentrating on his relationship with
Marcia Williams. First screened in March 2006, it starred
Kenneth Cranham as Wilson and
Gina McKee as Williams. In April 2007, the BBC paid £75,000 to Williams (then Baroness Falkender) in an
out-of-court settlement over claims made in the programme. ==Political views==