Misplaced Pages

Tom Rubython: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 22:03, 9 January 2006 edit82.71.15.17 (talk)No edit summary← Previous edit Latest revision as of 11:25, 6 July 2024 edit undoCitation bot (talk | contribs)Bots5,441,400 edits Added date. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Spinixster | Category:British journalist stubs | #UCB_Category 171/722 
(219 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
'''Tom Rubython''' is perhaps the most libelous writer in the history of English journalism. His career has been punctuated by bad debts, dissolved companies and over 100 visits to London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
{{Use British English|date=September 2016}}
'''Thomas Anthony John Rubython''' (born 22 August 1955) is a British author and publisher with an interest in business and motor racing.


== Biography ==
The 60-year-old writer has 17 defunct companies to his credit and numerous prosecutions for libel. In his 30-year career running companies and launching magazines he has cost hundreds of people their jobs and lost millions of pounds. Rubython has written variously on a number of subjects from gambling and marketing to business and motor sport. More recently he has turned his attention to Formula One, where he has become a familiar face due mainly to his cheap suits and Bobby Charlton-esque comb-over.
Tom Rubython is a well known publisher and was the founder and publisher of ''Marketeer'' (weekly), ''Amusement Business'' (monthly), ''LeisureWeek'' (weekly), ''BusinessAge'' (monthly), '']''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/profile-the-man-who-would-be-a-mogul-1319542.html|title=Profile; The man who would be a mogul|date=1996-02-18|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> (weekly), ''EuroBusiness'' (monthly), ''Formula 1 Magazine'' (monthly)'', BusinessF1 magazine''<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/rubython-faces-another-libel-writ/|title=Rubython faces another libel writ|date=August 25, 2005|website=Press Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> (monthly)'', and ]'' (monthly). He has written nine books, biographies of ] (racing driver),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2063586-monaco-grand-prix-reliving-ayrton-sennas-1988-qualifying-and-race|title=Monaco Grand Prix: Reliving Ayrton Senna's 1988 Qualifying and Race|last=Harden|first=Oliver|website=Bleacher Report|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/nigel-mansell-reveals-new-details-from-ayrton-senna-punchup/news-story/53d81c034622bc308d3aff3030392e54|title=The day I grabbed Senna by the throat|date=2015-10-19|website=NewsComAu|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> ] (businessman), ] (racing driver),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jalopnik.com/james-hunt-bedded-33-flight-attendants-in-two-weeks-5666660|title=James Hunt Bedded 33 Flight Attendants In Two Weeks|website=Jalopnik|date=18 October 2010 |language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/fast-moves|title=Fast Moves|last=Lane|first=Anthony|date=2013-09-23|access-date=2019-11-21|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-13399439|title=Star Burton's 'risky womanising'|date=2011-05-16|access-date=2019-11-21|language=en-GB}}</ref> ] (financier),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/06/19/2016/should-you-trade-late-jesse-livermore|title=Should You Trade Like the Late Jesse Livermore?|last=DePorre|first=James "Rev Shark"|date=2016-06-19|website=RealMoney|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.omaha.com/archives/hansen-tale-of-omaha-s-black-widow-is-too-tempting/article_ef518d6f-cba2-5ed0-af4d-e855255e03ec.html|title=Hansen: Tale of Omaha's 'black widow' is too tempting to not investigate|last=Hansen|first=Matthew|date=Oct 27, 2015|website=Omaha.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> and ] (singer) and two non-fiction motor racing books called ''In The Name Of Glory''<ref name=":2" /> and ''Fatal Weekend''.''<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.themyrtlepress.com/team-and-history.php |title = The Myrtle Press &#124; the Team}}</ref>'' His book ''Shunt'' was the basis for Ron Howard's film ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/59539-tantor-media-more-than-audio.html|title=Tantor Media: More than Audio|last=Milliot|first=Jim|date=Oct 11, 2013|website=www.publishersweekly.com|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> He has also published many yearbooks and annuals including the ''Leisure Industry Yearbook'', the ''Offshore Finance Annual'', the ''Formula One Annual'', and the ''Formula One Black Book''.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}


In 2020 Rubython relaunched ''BusinessF1'' magazine. <ref>{{cite web |last1=Rubython |first1=Tom |website=Businessf1magazine.com |ref=https://businessf1magazine.com/}}</ref>
In every sector he has been sued for libel. To name a few, Rubython has been successfully prosecuted for libel by Conde Nast managing director, Nicholas Coleridge, former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates and Alan Donnelly, a consultant to motor sport’s governing body Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile. He has even been prosecuted by Kelvin Mckenzie, the former editor of tabloid newspaper The Sun, who is more used to being on the other side of the dock.


== Libel suits ==
Throughout this time Rubython has surrounded himself with criminals. His biggest backer for his various projects has been disgraced media tycoon Owen Oyston, who was jailed for six years in 1996 for raping a 16-year-old girl in the back of his sports car. Even after this, Rubython got himself in trouble with the law, naming the girl in question in his Sunday Business newspaper, just four days after Oyston went to jail. One senior media industry figure commented at the time: “Naming the victim in a rape case is as bold a flouting of the law as you can think of.” Rubython was again prosecuted and again lost.
Rubython has interviewed many famous figures over the years from ] to ]. He has enjoyed a controversial journalistic career and has reputedly been sued for libel more times than any other British journalist including lawsuits from figures such as ], ], George Walker, ], ], ],<ref name=":0" /> and ].<ref name=":0" /> Most of the lawsuits were later settled, though he lost one to Tony Purnell,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pitpass.com/27413/Purnell-wins-ruling-against-Business-F1-and-Tom-Rubython|title=Purnell wins ruling against Business F1 and Tom Rubython|date=2006-03-16|website=Pitpass|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> he won against Richard Woods.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/jury-backs-rubython-in-action-against-fia-man/|title=Jury backs Rubython in action against FIA man|date=March 30, 2007|website=Press Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref>


== Politics ==
But Rubython had already got himself well acquainted with libel law by that stage. A former market trader, he first entered the world of publishing in the early eighties with an industry title about fruit machines and gambling. He was in his element in the murky world of gambling but soon folded the magazine after he insulted a senior member of the gambling establishment. He went on to launch a string of unsuccessful publications before his biggest publishing venture Business Age, a weekly business magazine. At its peak, Business Age had a £6,000 a week budget for legal costs. It was in this publication that Rubython libeled Coleridge, Bates and Mckenzie. Each eventually received published apologies and were paid damages. But none of the damages came from Rubython’s pockets. With the business weighed down with debt Rubython soon jumped ship in search of other projects.
In 2012 he briefly dabbled in politics and stood for the ] in ] at the ], receiving 6,354 votes (16%).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000861|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511022635/http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000861|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-05-11|title=Northampton North parliamentary constituency - Election 2015 - BBC News|date=2015-05-11|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref>


== Personal ==
In 1996 he launched Sunday Business, a weekly business magazine. The first incarnation of Sunday Business (it was later bought out and relaunched by the Barclay brothers) was one of the biggest disasters in recent newspaper history. Rubython, the publisher and editor in chief, gave the editorship to his good friend Anil Bhoyrul. But the money ran out almost before he had started. This was when Rubython capitalised on his relationship with Oyston. The tycoon bailed out the venture with a heavy investment. Suffice to say, Rubython soon lost all the money. But he stayed loyal to Oyston and even visited him in jail, solidifying their friendship.
{{Importance section|date=June 2020}}


Meanwhile, Sunday Business, which was widely considered to be wild and unreliable, staggered on for almost two years before Rubython was ousted and it was sold on. Bhoyrul went on to write a business column called City Slickers in the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper. He would later be found to be trading on his own share tips and was sacked. Bhoyrul is still under investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry and faces a long jail sentence should he ever return to England from Dubai. After leaving Sunday Business, Rubython set up a new venture with Oyston. Scottish Data Ltd was an internet recruitment company based in Clydebank, Scotland. Rubython employed locals to create an internet database of job opportunities and even finagled a £75,000 grant aid from local government. But the cracks began to show very quickly. Wages were paid late or not at all and there were repeated failed attempts to find new investors.


Tom Rubython was a bachelor, until in 2013, at the age of 58, he married his girlfriend of two years, Beverley. He was one of the first people in the UK to clone a dog after his beloved cocker spaniel, Daisy died in 2016. Famously he hid the fact from his wife until the two new spaniels, cloned from Daisy, arrived at Heathrow from Seoul in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.9news.com.au/world/60-minutes-dog-cloning-technology-pets-science/966a0743-6e08-42e6-add3-a80ec86f2344|title=The murky moral dilemma of dog cloning|website=www.9news.com.au|date=16 September 2018 |access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/08/dog-cloning-animal-sooam-hwang|title=Inside the Very Big, Very Controversial Business of Dog Cloning|last=Duncan|first=David Ewing|date=August 7, 2018|magazine=Vanity Fair|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref>
Rubython even employed Paul Greenhalgh, a criminal straight out of jail with no qualifications, to take up a senior management position at the company. This was at the behest of Oyston, who Greenhalgh had helped out during their time in prison together. The Scottish Data venture was short lived, even by Rubython’s standards. Within months, Rubython had pulled out of the business premises, leaving around 40 employees with no wages and with no jobs.


==References==
One employee, computer operator Joe Bacchetti, said at the time: "We were supposed to be creating a database of jobs, but we were always worried about our own. Rubython was always ready with excuses. In the end we got let down very badly." Furious Scottish MPs are understood to still be investigating why over £75,000 in grant aid was handed out for Rubython to launch and ruin yet another company. Clydebank MP Tony Worthington, said at the time "I'm reporting this to the Department of Trade and Industry to make sure this man never gets another penny of public funds."
{{reflist}}


{{Authority control}}
Rubython escaped prosecution and was already planning his next project following meetings with another wealthy individual, Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone.


{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubython, Tom}}
When Rubython edited Business Age magazine in the mid-90s, the best-ever selling issue was one that carried a picture of Ecclestone alongside the question: ‘Would you trust this man to run a public company?’ The article incurred Ecclestone’s wrath – with the result that he summoned Rubython to his offices in central London. The result, via protracted negotiations, was EuroBusiness – an Ecclestone-Rubython joint venture which, for a business title, had an abnormally high pro-Formula One content. Rubython was also put in charge of another Ecclestone-backed project, F1 Magazine. It was not long before he started causing trouble again. McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis cancelled a photo shoot with the magazine for his driver David Coulthard after branding its coverage of events "tasteless". Dennis said at the time: "I'm not against the media and freedom of speech, but both myself and several team owners are unhappy over different issues. It is in my opinion tasteless, often inaccurate and not a positive reflection on Formula One.”
]
]
]


Soon afterwards, Rubython was sacked from both magazines. But he was to carry on his now trademark “tasteless” and “inaccurate” themes in his next publication BusinessF1, a magazine that combined his two favourite areas of journalism. However, his nose was soon put out of joint when he was denied a Formula One press pass before the first issue of the magazine was published.


{{UK-journalist-stub}}
Even though it is highly unusual for a new launch magazine to receive a press pass and especially not a trade magazine with, at best, a tiny readership, Rubython took it personally. He began writing fallacious articles about the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, which issues the passes. Rather than proving the magazine’s credentials and then applying for a pass, Rubython hit the self-destruct button, libeling anyone he took a disliking to.

BusinessF1 currently has at least nine libel cases against it brought by various upstanding members of the motor sport industry. Hearings are due to take place in the UK, Monaco, Germany, France and the United States.

Rubython has already lost one libel case at the magazine. Alan Donnelly, a consultant for the FIA, was awarded £8,500 in damages plus a further £120,000 in legal costs from Rubython following a story which falsely alleged he had diverted fees from the FIA for personal use when they should have gone to his company, Sovereign Strategy.

Other cases include a writ brought by Willi Weber, who manages Michael and Ralf Schumacher, issued after an article in the March issue of BusinessF1 alleged he had been involved in criminal activities including prostitution and drug running. Weber is demanding damages of up to £100,000 for the piece, which he says is untrue, has severely damaged his personal and professional reputations and caused him hurt, distress and embarrassment.

Latest revision as of 11:25, 6 July 2024

Thomas Anthony John Rubython (born 22 August 1955) is a British author and publisher with an interest in business and motor racing.

Biography

Tom Rubython is a well known publisher and was the founder and publisher of Marketeer (weekly), Amusement Business (monthly), LeisureWeek (weekly), BusinessAge (monthly), Sunday Business (weekly), EuroBusiness (monthly), Formula 1 Magazine (monthly), BusinessF1 magazine (monthly), and SportsPro (monthly). He has written nine books, biographies of Ayrton Senna (racing driver), Tony O'Reilly (businessman), James Hunt (racing driver), Richard Burton (actor), Jesse Livermore (financier), and Barry White (singer) and two non-fiction motor racing books called In The Name Of Glory and Fatal Weekend. His book Shunt was the basis for Ron Howard's film Rush. He has also published many yearbooks and annuals including the Leisure Industry Yearbook, the Offshore Finance Annual, the Formula One Annual, and the Formula One Black Book.

In 2020 Rubython relaunched BusinessF1 magazine.

Libel suits

Rubython has interviewed many famous figures over the years from Donald Trump to Tony Blair. He has enjoyed a controversial journalistic career and has reputedly been sued for libel more times than any other British journalist including lawsuits from figures such as Sir Alan Sugar, Tony Ryan, George Walker, Max Mosley, Bernie Ecclestone, Ken Bates, and Kelvin Mackenzie. Most of the lawsuits were later settled, though he lost one to Tony Purnell, he won against Richard Woods.

Politics

In 2012 he briefly dabbled in politics and stood for the UK Independence Party in Northampton North at the 2015 General Election, receiving 6,354 votes (16%).

Personal

This section may contain information not important or relevant to the article's subject. Please help improve this section. (June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)


Tom Rubython was a bachelor, until in 2013, at the age of 58, he married his girlfriend of two years, Beverley. He was one of the first people in the UK to clone a dog after his beloved cocker spaniel, Daisy died in 2016. Famously he hid the fact from his wife until the two new spaniels, cloned from Daisy, arrived at Heathrow from Seoul in 2017.

References

  1. ^ "Profile; The man who would be a mogul". The Independent. 18 February 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  2. "Rubython faces another libel writ". Press Gazette. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  3. Harden, Oliver. "Monaco Grand Prix: Reliving Ayrton Senna's 1988 Qualifying and Race". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  4. "The day I grabbed Senna by the throat". NewsComAu. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  5. "James Hunt Bedded 33 Flight Attendants In Two Weeks". Jalopnik. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  6. ^ Lane, Anthony (23 September 2013). "Fast Moves". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  7. "Star Burton's 'risky womanising'". 16 May 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  8. DePorre, James "Rev Shark" (19 June 2016). "Should You Trade Like the Late Jesse Livermore?". RealMoney. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. Hansen, Matthew (27 October 2015). "Hansen: Tale of Omaha's 'black widow' is too tempting to not investigate". Omaha.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  10. "The Myrtle Press | the Team".
  11. Milliot, Jim (11 October 2013). "Tantor Media: More than Audio". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  12. Rubython, Tom. Businessf1magazine.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |ref= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  13. "Purnell wins ruling against Business F1 and Tom Rubython". Pitpass. 16 March 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  14. "Jury backs Rubython in action against FIA man". Press Gazette. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  15. "Northampton North parliamentary constituency - Election 2015 - BBC News". 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  16. "The murky moral dilemma of dog cloning". www.9news.com.au. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  17. Duncan, David Ewing (7 August 2018). "Inside the Very Big, Very Controversial Business of Dog Cloning". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 21 November 2019.


Stub icon

This article about a British journalist is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: