John Blake (English journalist)

Blake was born in Hitchin, ==Journalist==

Blake left school at the age of 17 and gained employment at the Hackney Gazette. concentrating on celebrity gossip. Launched when Kelvin MacKenzie was editor of The Sun, his immediate successor in the post was Piers Morgan. In 1988, Blake became editor of the Sunday People. It was a position he quickly came to dislike. "I had to wear a suit and I was stuck in an office on my own with a secretary outside", he told Emine Saner in 2004. In his first discussion with the Peoples owner, Robert Maxwell, he was told to cut costs: "So the very first job I did wasn't some great creative story or hiring a columnist, it was to make a hit list of people I was supposed to fire". Blake's post as editor of the Sunday People was short-lived. Maxwell hastily announced Blake was being appointed as president of the Mirror Group in the US during the period in 1989 when it was anticipated he would purchase the National Enquirer which lasted until the deal collapsed. In a 2004 interview he said he lost his job and Maxwell hid from him, but did receive a payoff equivalent to two years of his salary. Briefly, in 1990, Blake was a producer for Sky TV. ==Publishing==

In 1991, he founded Blake Publishing in partnership with his brother, David Blake. Six months later, he was joined by journalist Rosie Ries who became the company's managing director. In 1998, the company published autobiographies by bareknuckle fighters Lenny McLean and Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw. In 2004, Being Jordan by Katie Price was published by Blake after larger firms had rejected the book. While the advance to Price was £10,000, the book, ghost written by Rebecca Farnworth, sold a million copies. "It's the kind of book bought by people who would find going into Hatchards or Waterstone's rather intimidating", Blake said in 2007. A scoop in a book entitled Dead Lucky, purporting to have discovered the missing (now presumed deceased) Lord Lucan had lived in Goa, India, quickly collapsed. The Sunday Telegraph editor Dominic Lawson published the story in September 2003, believing it to be "a rattling good yarn", but "inherently improbable". The dead "Jungly Barry" turned out to be one-time Northern folk singer named Barry Halpin. Blake initially stood by the book but, while it sold 20,000 copies, the remainder of the 60,000 print run were destroyed. Blake the following year described the incident as being his biggest error. Rushdie did not seek any damages in his legal action. The first version of the book, which was serialised in The Mail on Sunday informing Rushdie of its existence, was rewritten and the original version's 4,000 print run was pulped. The company also publishes memoirs of football hooligans, including Cass by Cass Pennant, Massive Attack by Trevor Tanner and Undesirables by Manchester United hooligan Colin Blaney. Delays in paying royalties, apparently in breach of an obligation in 2,000 contracts, caused the publisher's authors to complain in the spring of 2016, Blamed on problems with a new computerised system intended to increase efficiency. Blake told The Bookseller that after "a slight hiccup", "virtually all" outstanding fees had been paid. The company was acquired by Bonnier Publishing in May 2016; the purchase price was not disclosed. The company published 110 books in 2015 and turnover was £2,2 million. Blake remained in charge of the division. Both Blake and Virgo, plus their staff, left JBP in 2018 and joined Bonnier's Kings Road Publishing division whose list includes Blink Publishing, Lagom and 535, all of which issue adult non-fiction titles. John Blake launched Ad Lib Publishing in 2020. ==Awards==

In 2005, John Blake Publishing received a 'Nibbie' national book award as Small Publisher of the Year. In 2010, John Blake Publishing won a second 'Nibbie' as well as the IPA Award for Independent Publisher of the Year. ==Personal life==

Blake's wife is Diane, his children are Emma, Charlotte and Adam. ==References==