James Leavey
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James Leavey (born 1947) is a controversial British writer and broadcaster who has gained some notoriety as a champion of smokers' rights. His appearance on the BBC Horizon programme ‘We love cigarettes’[1] attracted criticism in the press most notably from The Independent and The Times.[2] Critics challenged his suggestion that smoking had helped writers like Beckett, Wilde and Yeats produce great literature.[3]
In December 2015 Leavey won the Cigar Writer of the Year Award at the Snow Queen Cigar Smoker Awards Dinner at Boisdale, Canary Wharf, London.[4] Other winners at the 2015 event included Jonathan Ross who picked up the Cigar Smoker of the Year Award and Hollywood actor and director, Burt Reynolds, who received the Lifetime Cigar Achievement Award.[5]
Early years
The son of a German U-Boat commander [6] Leavey grew up in south London. He landed his first job in journalism at the age of 15 as a reporter on the magazine Southern Africa based in Fleet Street. He went on to write for African World, Rhodesia & Nyasaland Today, and the Royal Commonwealth Society’s African Affairs.
Leavey later worked for BT where he both renamed[7] and helped to launch the company’s first computer software label, Firebird.[8][9] Among other things he received a Gold Tape award from Home Computing Weekly for Booty, the first computer game to sell 100,000 copies in the UK.[10] In 1990 he left BT to pursue a career as a freelance writer and broadcaster.
Freelance career
As a contributor to the British weekly magazine, Punch,[11] Leavey wrote a regular column entitled ‘Sharing an ashtray’ consisting of interviews with celebrities on the subject of smoking.[12] Interviewees included Dame Beryl Bainbridge, Trevor Baylis, Sir Tom Courtenay, Tracey Emin, John Entwistle, Kinky Friedman, Sir James Galway, Roy Hudd, Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Patrick Moore, Sir John Mortimer, Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Springer and Geno Washington.
Leavey has written for numerous British newspapers [13] and magazines including The Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and Radio Times, as well as appearing on BBC Radio 4, BBC Two and Channel 4, often in the capacity of unofficial spokesman for the hard pressed smoker.
He is the author of the FOREST Guide to Smoking in London[14] which attracted press coverage both in the UK and overseas.[15][16] The book includes a foreword by Auberon Waugh and a closing comment by Jeffrey Bernard. Leavey subsequently wrote the FOREST Guide to Smoking in Scotland: Where To Light Up.[17]
He now lives on the Isle of Wight where he writes regularly for Cigar Journal [18] and other magazines.
References
- ↑ Cast and other details for BBC Horizon’s ‘We love cigarettes’
- ↑ Horizon’s mixed smoke signals, Times Online, 30 June 2006
- ↑ See 4m 7s into Horizon programme
- ↑ Tobacco Reporter story
- ↑ Daily Mail article on 2015 Cigar Awards
- ↑ About James Leavey
- ↑ See History: Telecomsoft labels
- ↑ See History: Telecomsoft labels
- ↑ See Firebird history
- ↑ See second paragraph from bottom
- ↑ Punch contributors
- ↑ Leavey's 'Sharing an ashtray' interviews
- ↑ See 32nd paragraph
- ↑ FOREST Guide To Smoking In London
- ↑ The Independent – book review
- ↑ New York Times - book review
- ↑ The FOREST Guide To Smoking In Scotland: Where To Light Up
- ↑ A Cigar Journal article by James Leavey
