Editing Christopher Booker (section)

===1960s===
With fellow [[Shrewsbury School|Salopians]] [[Richard Ingrams]] and [[Willie Rushton]] he founded ''[[Private Eye]]'' in 1961, and was its first editor. He was ousted by Ingrams in 1963. Returning in 1965, he remained a permanent member of the magazine's collaborative joke-writing team thereafter (with Ingrams, [[Barry Fantoni]] and current editor [[Ian Hislop]]) till his death.<ref>[https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/07/03/43469/christopher_booker,_private_eye%e2%80%99s_first_editor,_dies_at_81 Christopher Booker, Private Eye's first editor, dies at 81] Published by Chortle and retrieved on 12 July 2019</ref>

Booker began writing jazz reviews for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' while at university.<ref name="Tobitt">{{cite web |last1=Tobitt |first1=Charlotte |title=Private Eye founding editor and Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker dies aged 81 |url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/private-eye-founding-editor-and-telegraph-columnist-christopher-booker-dies-aged-81/ |website=Press Gazette |access-date=3 July 2019 |date=3 July 2019}}</ref> From 1961 to 1964, he wrote about jazz for ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'' as well. His contributions included a positive account of a concert given by the pianist [[Erroll Garner]], which did not happen; it was a late cancellation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/edition/register/christopher-booker-obituary-bpxfr7j3c|title=Christopher Booker obituary|work=[[The Times]]|date=4 July 2019|access-date=4 July 2019}} {{subscription required}}</ref> In 1962, he became the resident political scriptwriter on the [[BBC]] satire show ''[[That Was The Week That Was]]'', notably contributing sketches on Home Secretary [[Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor|Henry Brooke]] and Prime Minister Sir [[Alec Douglas-Home]] which have often been cited as examples of the programme's outspoken style.

From 1964 he became a ''[[The Spectator|Spectator]]'' columnist, writing on the press and TV, and in 1969 published ''The Neophiliacs: A Study of the Revolution in English Life in the Fifties and Sixties'', a highly critical analysis of the role played by fantasy in the political and social life of those decades. He was married to the novelist [[Emma Tennant]] between 1963 and 1968.