Harry Mount
Harry Mount | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, journalist, editor |
| Years active | 2000s–present |
| Known for | Editor of The Oldie magazine; contributions to Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, Evening Standard |
Henry Francis Mount (b. 1971) is a British writer and journalist, currently serving as the editor of The Oldie magazine. He regularly contributes to publications such as the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph.
Early life
Born in 1971, Harry Mount is the son of Sir Ferdinand Mount, a journalist who also acted as an advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He is related as a second cousin to former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mount’s education began at North Bridge House School followed by attendance at Westminster School, where he was awarded an Honorary Scholarship. He graduated with first-class honours in both Ancient and Modern History from Magdalen College, Oxford, during which time he was affiliated with the Bullingdon Club.
He pursued further academic study in Architectural History at the Courtauld Institute, obtaining a Master’s degree. Although he qualified as a barrister, he did not secure a tenancy after completing pupillage. Additionally, Mount had a brief stint working within the banking sector.
Career
Harry Mount holds the position of editor at The Oldie, a British monthly magazine established in 1992 by Richard Ingrams. After Ingrams, Alexander Chancellor took over until his passing in 2017, when Mount assumed the editorial role.
His professional background includes work as a leader writer and New York correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, where he also maintained a regular column. Since 2002, he has been an active contributor to The Spectator, and from 2012 onwards, to the Evening Standard.
In 2022, during the final days of Boris Johnson’s premiership, Mount was appointed as an Independent Member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. This appointment was met with criticism from Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, who labeled it "a display of pure arrogance" on Johnson’s part. Mount began his term on 11 September 2022 but resigned before the month concluded.
Controversy
Mount’s involvement with the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University brought him some notoriety when he was famously rolled down a hill inside a portable toilet, an incident he likened to "emerging from Dracula’s coffin" in a 2007 piece for The New Yorker.
In 2004, Mount publicly criticized the diminishing presence of Classics education in the UK and disparaged the Cambridge Latin Course in an article for The Spectator. This critique elicited a defense from James Morwood, Dean of Wadham College, who praised the course for revitalizing Latin studies during the 1960s.
That same year, Mount refused to review David Mitchell’s critically acclaimed novel Cloud Atlas for The Sunday Telegraph, branding it as "unreadable."
His 2007 bestseller, Amo, Amas, Amat ... and All That, revisited his views on educational shortcomings and emphasized the elitism associated with Latin learning, stirring debate over class divisions in Britain.
In 2015, writing for The Daily Telegraph, Mount argued that Classics examinations had been significantly simplified, which sparked criticism from scholars and students alike. He recounted being labeled an "antediluvian ape" and anticipated that his forthcoming book would be dismissed as "bowel-achingly derivative." Mount defended himself by asserting that such critiques mistakenly conflated his reform proposals with far-right elitism.
Personal life
Mount lives in Kentish Town, located in the northern part of London.
Works
Mount has written multiple books, including:
- My Brief Career, which details his experience during pupillage at a barristers' chambers.
- Amo, Amas, Amat ... and All That (Hyperion, 2007), a widely popular guide to the Latin language that blends fundamental Latin grammar with cultural insights and personal stories. In the United States, this book was released under the title Carpe Diem: Put a Little Latin in Your Life.
- A Lust for Window Sills, a publication focused on British architectural styles.
- How England Made the English – from Hedgerows to Heathrow (Viking, 2012), which examines the traits of English identity alongside its landscape.
- Harry's Mount's Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus (Bloomsbury, 2015).
- The King and I: How Elvis Shaped My Life (Kindle Single, 2017).
- Summer Madness: How Brexit Split the Tories, Destroyed Labour and Divided the Country (Biteback, 2017).
- Et Tu, Brute? The Best Latin Lines Ever (Bloomsbury, 2022), co-written with John Davie.
- The Last Marchioness: A Portrait of Lindy Dufferin (Venn, 2023), which Mount both edited and introduced.
In June 2013, Bloomsbury published The Wit and Wisdom of Boris Johnson, a volume edited and introduced by Mount.
He is also responsible for editing a compilation of Auberon Waugh's journalistic work entitled Closing the Circle.