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Nigel Dempster
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Nigel Richard Patton Dempster (1 November 1941 in Calcutta, India – 12 July 2007 in Ham, Surrey) was a British journalist. Best known for his celebrity gossip columns in newspapers, his work appeared in the Daily Express and Daily Mail and also in Private Eye magazine. At his death, the editor of the Daily Mail Paul Dacre was reported as saying: "His scoops were the stuff of legend and his zest for life inexhaustible".

Career

[edit]

Dempster was the youngest of three children of Australian mining engineer Eric Richard Patton Dempster (1890–1980), who was 50 when Dempster was born, and his Anglo-Indian wife Angela (née Stephens). Dempster's parents were resident in India at the time of their son's birth due to Eric Dempster's position as managing director of the Indian Copper Corporation and because his wife was an Indian nurse.[1] The Dempster family descended from Dumfriesshire-born boat-builder's son Captain James Maclean Dempster (1810–1890), who migrated from England to Fremantle in Western Australia in 1831, and his wife Ann Ellen Pratt. The Dempsters went into business in such varied fields as shipping, coastal trading, farming, whaling, fishing, and gold mining.[2] Eric Dempster's father, James Pratt Dempster (1837–1910), had married Mary Louisa, daughter of wealthy merchant James Murray Patton, in 1887. His cousin was the politician and judge George Patton, Lord Glenalmond. After his first wife's death, James Dempster married her sister, Charlotte; Eric was the second of their three sons.[3]

Nigel Dempster was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset. After gaining three O-levels, he was expelled at 16[4] for being a "disruptive influence" after several misdemeanours.[5]

After short periods working in the City and in public relations, Dempster joined the Daily Express in 1963 and remained at the title until 1971. Here he was a contributor to the 'William Hickey' column, and used his contacts to gain stories about the aristocracy and other public figures. He was then on the staff of the Daily Mail from 1971 to 2003, where he was initially deputy to Paul Callan, but replaced him as the newspaper's diarist in 1973.[6] While Dempster was sometimes inaccurate, for instance dismissing suggestions that Prince Charles would marry Lady Diana Spencer, he forecast in 1975 that Harold Wilson would soon resign as Prime Minister,[7] three months before he did so in 1976. Supposedly this took everyone by surprise, but a contact of Dempster's had overheard the Foreign Secretary James Callaghan discussing it. Dempster also socialised with Princess Margaret, and broke the news of her liaison with Roddy Llewellyn.[8]

Dempster also wrote for Private Eye from 1969, where he was responsible with Peter McKay for the "Grovel" column,[6][9] but left in 1985, shortly before Ian Hislop succeeded Richard Ingrams as editor. In "Grovel", Dempster was able to include material which could not be published elsewhere,[10] and the column was the location of the first articles in the Eye to which James Goldsmith took exception. According to Hislop, Dempster fell out with the publication because he felt (in common with colleague Auberon Waugh) that he should be editor instead of Hislop.[11] The differences allegedly began over an article making false accusations concerning the Conservative politician Cecil Parkinson[4] and his new secretary (after Sara Keays) in Eye 606. The issue had to be reprinted (606A) after a court action with the offending and inaccurate item omitted. According to another source it ended when Dempster revealed that Richard Ingrams' marriage was in serious difficulties;[7] Ingrams, an admirer, had previously called Dempster the "greatest living Englishman".[12] As a result of the differences with Private Eye, Dempster was nicknamed 'Nigel Pratt-Dumpster' whenever he was subsequently mentioned, and became a frequent target of parody by the magazine. After he left the Eye, he began writing his column for The Mail on Sunday in 1986, and thus it now appeared seven days a week.[6]

Reportedly a difficult colleague, Dempster missed out on scoops about Princess Diana, and even boasted at one point that he had not met her, according to his Daily Telegraph obituary.[4] He began to drink more, with several incidents involving police breathalysers,[4] and wrote less; his columns had actually been the work of four people rather than Dempster alone. In the view of observers, Dempster's column in his last years lost its bite,[4][5] and in his industry he was considered something of a relic: "by now a brand rather than a journalistic asset".[4] Paul Dacre, who succeeded Sir David English as editor of the Mail in 1992, reportedly held a low opinion of Dempster's column,[7] and revived the 'Ephraim Hardcastle' feature, under the responsibility of Dempster's old colleague on the Eye Peter McKay, in 1996.

Dempster retired from editing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday diaries bearing his name in 2003 and lived with Lady Camilla Dempster, his ex-wife, who helped nurse him through the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy,[6] a nervous disorder with some characteristics of Parkinson's disease. He died at Ensleigh Lodge, Ham Common, on 12 July 2007 of progressive supranuclear palsy.[13][14][15]

Personal life

[edit]

In 1971 Dempster married Countess Emma Magdalen de Bendern, a daughter of Count John Gerard de Bendern and Lady Patricia Sybil Douglas. They divorced in 1974.

He subsequently married Lady Camilla Osborne in 1977 (divorced 2002). She was the daughter of John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds and his second wife, Audrey Young.

On 29 May 2004 Dempster converted to Roman Catholicism at the Brompton Oratory in London. He had been taking instruction for seven months prior to this and was a regular member of the congregation. Dempster died on 12 July 2007. According to his biographer, Tim Willis: "At his funeral, the priest declared that Dempster might have to spend a million years in purgatory – and paused just long enough to shock the congregation, before adding that, in eternity, a million years would pass in the snap of a finger."[16]

Books

[edit]
  • H. R. H. Princess Margaret: A Life Unfulfilled, Macmillan/Quartet, 1981
  • Heiress: Story of Christina Onassis, Grove Press, 1989
  • Behind Palace Doors, Orion, 1993 (with Peter Evans (author))

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Nigel Dempster

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Nigel Richard Patton Dempster (1 November 1941 – 12 July 2007) was a British specializing in and , whose columns chronicled the scandals, marriages, and intrigues of the , royalty, and for over four decades. Born in Calcutta to a Scottish father and Cornish mother who had become Australian nationals, with his father working as a , Dempster honed his craft amid Fleet Street's competitive landscape, transforming anecdotal reportage into a respected journalistic staple. Dempster's career began in 1963 at the , followed by a stint as a correspondent for the , where he later established his signature diary column that rivaled and often surpassed competitors through persistent sourcing and bold revelations. He expanded to the and contributed pseudonymous pieces to , achieving the rare feat of maintaining columns in both daily and Sunday editions simultaneously, a testament to his productivity and influence. His scoops ranged from political upheavals, such as Harold Wilson's unexpected , to royal and aristocratic affairs, often drawing legal challenges that he viewed as validation of his accuracy and tenacity. Dempster's defining characteristic was his unapologetic focus on verifiable misbehavior, eschewing for networked intelligence that made high-society a legitimate news genre, as contemporaries credited him with "practically inventing" it as a mainstay. Despite two marriages—to Lady Camilla Osborne and later Countess Emma de Bendern, ending in divorce in 2004—his personal life remained secondary to his professional output, which editors like praised as among the finest in British journalism's history. He died of complications from motor neurone disease, leaving a legacy of columns that prioritized empirical scoops over narrative embellishment.

Early Life

Birth and Family

Nigel Richard Patton Dempster was born on 1 November 1941 in , to parents of Australian nationality. His father, Eric Dempster, served as the managing director of the Indian Copper Corporation, a prosperous enterprise near Calcutta, and was of Scottish descent with a background in engineering that reflected entrepreneurial roots tracing to . His mother, of Cornish origin, maintained family ties despite the overseas posting. At the age of six, Dempster was sent from to , where he attended a preparatory school in , marking an early separation from his parents that contributed to his . During his schooling, his mother visited annually, but he saw his father only twice over five years, underscoring the physical and emotional distance inherent in colonial life. This environment, shaped by his father's executive role in India's resource extraction industry amid British imperial structures, provided initial exposure to stratified , though Dempster's family lacked direct aristocratic ties at birth; a , George Patton, Lord Glenalmond, later represented a tangential link to political and judicial elites.

Education

Dempster attended St. Peter's preparatory school in Lympstone, Devon, during his early years. He subsequently enrolled at Sherborne School, a public boarding institution in Dorset renowned for cultivating networks among Britain's upper classes, entering in 1955. At Sherborne's School House, Dempster's tenure lasted until 1958, when he was expelled at age 16 for exhibiting a disruptive influence and cheeky demeanor, traits that later characterized his journalistic style. The school's hierarchical environment, emphasizing tradition and social distinctions, provided early exposure to elite behaviors and gossip dynamics that informed his career interests, though no records indicate participation in school publications or formal extracurricular journalism. Without advancing to university, Dempster transitioned immediately to employment in upon leaving , leveraging the informal connections from his public school experience to navigate initial professional opportunities.

Career

Initial Roles in Journalism and PR

Dempster's initial foray into media-related work occurred in during the early , after brief and unsuccessful stints as a Lloyd's broker, a employee, and even a Hoover vacuum cleaner salesman. He joined of Kimberley Associates, a PR firm led by the of Kimberley, where he networked extensively at cocktail parties and social events, gaining direct access to celebrities, aristocrats, and society figures. This role cultivated his ability to build relationships with elites, providing practical insights into high-society dynamics and laying the groundwork for sourcing confidential . Transitioning from PR, Dempster entered in 1963 through minor contributions of tidbits to the 's William Hickey column, leveraging his established contacts for early scoops on social gossip. A pivotal chance meeting with Lord Beaverbrook at the regatta that year secured him a junior staff position as an assistant on the same column, marking his first formal reporting role. These entry-level tasks involved verifying rumors and cultivating informants among London's upper crust, refining his techniques for discreet information-gathering amid the competitive environment.

Daily Express Tenure

Dempster joined the Daily Express in 1963 as a junior reporter and assistant on the longstanding "William Hickey" gossip column, which focused on the activities of , celebrities, and . During his tenure through 1971, he contributed significantly to the column's content, developing a signature style characterized by sharp wit, irreverence toward social elites, and unsparing detail on personal indiscretions, which contrasted with the more deferential tone prevalent in earlier British society journalism. The column under Dempster's influence frequently exposed aristocratic scandals and elite dalliances, such as rumored affairs and lavish excesses among the upper classes, drawing criticism for its provocative edge while building his network of sources in London's social circles. His approach emphasized firsthand observation and insider tips over speculation, prioritizing verifiable titbits that highlighted the gap between public facades and private behaviors of the powerful. Dempster's aggressive coverage extended to rival publications, including pointed attacks on the Daily Mail's "Charles Greville" column, which showcased his competitive flair and helped elevate the "William Hickey" page's prominence in . This period solidified his expertise in diary journalism but coincided with broader industry transitions, including editorial changes and intensifying tabloid rivalries. In 1971, newly appointed editor David English recruited Dempster to launch a competing feature, prompting his exit from the Express.

Daily Mail Gossip Column

In 1973, Nigel Dempster launched his eponymous gossip column in the , marking a shift toward daily scrutiny of high society's private indiscretions and public facades. The column emphasized revelations about the behaviors of the , celebrities, and royalty, often highlighting contradictions between their elite status and personal conduct, such as extramarital affairs and lavish lifestyles funded by inherited wealth. This approach positioned the feature as a regular vehicle for accountability among figures insulated from ordinary scrutiny, drawing on Dempster's established contacts within these circles. The column's endurance spanned three decades, appearing five days a week until Dempster's retirement in 2003, a tenure described as remarkable for its consistency amid changing media landscapes. Over this period, it chronicled the evolving social dynamics of Britain's upper echelons, from discreet society notes to more pointed commentary on scandals that pierced the veneer of propriety. Dempster's routine involved leveraging a vast network of informants embedded in aristocratic and royal households, enabling timely dispatches that relied on insider access rather than speculation. Dempster's operational method treated libel challenges not as deterrents but as indicators of proximity to uncomfortable truths, with the Daily Mail's legal resources routinely defending the column's assertions grounded in verified sourcing. This resilience underscored the column's role in democratizing information about elite hypocrisies, fostering public awareness of how inherited privilege often masked moral lapses. By sustaining reader interest through factual exposures rather than alone, the feature elevated to a staple of journalistic commentary on power structures.

Notable Investigations and Scoops

Dempster's column frequently exposed concealed personal conduct among the British and royalty, linking private indiscretions to broader familial and institutional strains. In 1986, he exclusively revealed Prince Andrew's engagement to Sarah Ferguson, ahead of official announcements, highlighting the monarchy's efforts to project stability amid evolving public scrutiny of royal marriages. Similarly, his reporting on the deteriorating marriage of Prince Charles and , during the 1980s and early 1990s detailed extramarital involvements and emotional discord, foreshadowing their 1996 divorce and contributing to diminished public deference toward . Among high-society figures, Dempster uncovered playwright Harold Pinter's affair with historian in the late 1960s, information that reached Pinter's wife, actress , through his column and precipitated their marital collapse. His coverage extended to international elites, such as the 1975 scoop on Prime Minister Harold Wilson's planned resignation—disclosed in December before his actual departure in March 1976—exposing internal Labour Party fractures. In celebrity circles, Dempster broke the news of Mick Jagger's separation from in 1999, revealing the toll of prolonged relational instability on prominent entertainers. Dempster's investigations into figures like emphasized the consequences of unchecked privilege, chronicling her multiple failed marriages and health declines in the and early , which underscored how vast wealth often exacerbated personal dysfunction rather than mitigating it. These revelations, drawn from elite social networks, challenged official narratives of composure, demonstrating through documented patterns how suppressed behaviors inevitably surfaced to influence public perceptions and institutional credibility.

Personal Life

Marriages

Dempster's first was to Countess Emma Magdalen de Bendern, daughter of Count John Gerard de Bendern, in 1971. The union connected him to European aristocratic networks, providing social entree that bolstered his early journalistic contacts in . The ended in divorce in 1974, with no children born to the couple. In 1977, Dempster married Lady Camilla Dorothy Godolphin Osborne, daughter of , 11th , and former wife of Robert John Brownlow Harris. This partnership, which lasted 25 years until their divorce in 2002, produced one daughter, Louisa Beatrix Dempster, born in 1979. The couple maintained a close relationship post-divorce, reflecting the relative stability of the arrangement amid Dempster's demanding career.

Friendships and Social Circle

Dempster cultivated an extensive network within Britain's and , leveraging personal charm to secure lifelong friendships that provided unparalleled access to elite circles. He was particularly close to Princess Margaret, maintaining a bond that led to her sympathetic biography in 1981 and frequent social interactions reflective of mutual loyalty. Similarly, he enjoyed a direct line to Lord Glenconner (Colin Tennant), the owner of , during the 1980s, often drawing on their rapport for insights into royal-adjacent events hosted on the island. These ties extended to figures like Dai Llewellyn, a prominent Welsh known for his escapades, and celebrities including David Frost, Robin Day, James Goldsmith, and Robert Sangster, with whom he shared lunches and social engagements. His social prowess contrasted his professional tenacity, as he ingratiated himself at cocktail parties and gatecrashed high-profile functions, amassing connections among debutantes and . Dempster hosted lavish gatherings, such as a 130-guest party at Ascot, fostering loyalty through generosity and affability, though he harbored vendettas against rivals like Ross Benson, exchanging public barbs that underscored competitive undercurrents in his circle. Regular luncheons with peers like John McEntee, Ian Wooldridge, and at venues such as Langan's or the Savoy's River Room highlighted his sociable nature, where he reconciled disputes with handshakes and apologies, balancing ruthlessness elsewhere with personal magnanimity. This network, built on empirical reciprocity rather than mere , sustained his influence amid aristocracy's guarded exclusivity.

Illness and Death

In the early 2000s, Dempster was diagnosed with (PSP), a rare, terminal characterized by the progressive loss of neurons in the brain stem and , leading to difficulties with balance, , swallowing, and speech. The condition, often initially mistaken for due to overlapping symptoms like rigidity and falls but distinguished by the absence of and earlier onset of vertical gaze palsy, severely impacted his physical abilities while he continued his professional commitments as long as possible. The advancing symptoms of PSP forced Dempster to retire from his Daily Mail gossip column in 2003, ending a tenure that spanned more than 30 years and marking the cessation of his signature unsparing commentary on . Despite the illness's toll, which included frequent falls and reduced mobility, Dempster maintained a stoic demeanor, refusing to soften his forthright style in public appearances and later contributing to awareness efforts by sharing his experiences in a personal video testimonial about living with PSP. Dempster died on 12 July 2007 at age 65 from complications of PSP. His passing at his home in , , followed a prolonged battle that underscored the disease's relentless progression, typically leading to death from or immobility-related issues within 5 to 10 years of onset.

Authorship

Key Publications

Dempster's first major book, H.R.H. the Princess Margaret: A Life Unfulfilled, was published solo by Quartet Books in 1981, leveraging his journalistic access to royal circles for insights into the princess's personal struggles and relationships. The work presented a sympathetic account based on sources from Margaret's social orbit, marking an extension of his column's focus on aristocratic indiscretions into biographical depth. In 1989, he released Heiress: The Story of through Grove Weidenfeld, a solo effort chronicling the shipping heiress's tumultuous life via interviews and observations drawn from his long-standing elite contacts. Spanning 180 pages, the book capitalized on Dempster's reputation for uncovering high-society secrets, though it relied heavily on secondary reporting amid Onassis's reclusive final years. His final notable publication, Behind Palace Doors: Marriage and Divorce in the (1993), co-authored with Peter Evans and issued by Putnam, examined royal marital breakdowns using Dempster's network-derived anecdotes alongside Evans's investigative input. The 271-page volume built directly on his gossip column's Windsor family scoops, prioritizing firsthand whispers over official records.

Themes in His Writing

Dempster's books recurrently dissected the personal failings and relational instabilities within aristocratic and royal circles, portraying these elites not as paragons of virtue but as individuals prone to human frailties amplified by privilege and isolation. In H.R.H. the Princess Margaret: A Life Unfulfilled, he chronicled her failed romances with Peter Townsend, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, and , attributing her chronic dissatisfaction to the causal interplay of emotional repression, familial duty, and unchecked indulgence, which secrecy only intensified rather than resolved. Similarly, Heiress: The Story of Christina Onassis exposed the Onassis clan's internal corrosions, where vast wealth shielded predatory behaviors and inheritance disputes, leading to generational harm that public opacity prolonged. A core motif was the critique of pretensions that elites cultivated to evade , blending reluctant admiration for their social allure with insistence on ; Dempster argued implicitly through case studies that such insulation fostered dysfunctions, as seen in royal marital breakdowns detailed in Behind Palace Doors, where concealed infidelities eroded institutional stability. This countered idealized views of as inherently moral, emphasizing instead empirical patterns of and harm from unexamined privileges. Transparency emerged as a prescriptive undercurrent, with Dempster's revelations underscoring how bred greater scandals—such as Margaret's public emotional collapses or the Onassis family's unchecked excesses—while exposure enforced realism and potentially mitigated cascading damages, prioritizing societal candor over deference to status.

Reception and Legacy

Professional Achievements

Nigel Dempster maintained the Daily Mail's column for over 30 years, from 1973 until his retirement in 2003, marking him as the longest-serving diarist of his generation. His daily output, published five days a week, reached millions of readers and helped standardize the format of high-society and reporting in British newspapers. Dempster's reporting demonstrated tangible impact through exclusive scoops that influenced public and political events, such as being the first to reveal Harold Wilson's impending resignation in 1976. He also pioneered the integration of verifiable personal details into , shifting the from mere to a tool for exposing inconsistencies in elite narratives, thereby elevating its journalistic credibility. This approach contributed to the column's role in setting benchmarks for tabloid scrutiny of public figures' private conduct. A key metric of Dempster's effectiveness was the issuance of numerous libel writs against him—estimated at over 30 during his career—which he personally viewed as "Oscars" affirming the accuracy and discomfort his revelations caused among targets. These legal challenges, often withdrawn or resulting in no findings against him, underscored his precision in sourcing and the column's capacity to prompt accountability from otherwise insulated institutions. Dempster faced legal repercussions in a high-profile libel dispute involving Godfried van Bentinck. In 1995, Dempster published allegations in his column claiming the baron had engaged in fraudulent business practices related to art dealings, prompting a libel suit. The case settled out of court with Dempster's publishers paying £50,000 into court, but in October 1997, Judge Richard Walker fined Dempster £10,000 personally for after he commented publicly on the settlement in his column, breaching an undertaking not to do so; the judge described Dempster's conduct as "inept" and a "flagrant breach." Critics accused Dempster of viciousness and snobbery in his reporting style, portraying him as overly aggressive toward aristocratic subjects he deemed hypocritical. Biographer Tim Willis, in his 2010 Nigel Dempster and the Death of Discretion, detailed Dempster's pursuit of vitriolic vendettas against perceived and targets, including relentless coverage of personal failings among the to expose what he saw as double standards, though Willis noted this often veered into personal animus rather than detached . A notable feud erupted with Private Eye, where Dempster had initially contributed by inventing the satirical "Grovel" column in the 1970s, assigning nicknames to royals and socialites. The relationship soured into public acrimony, with Dempster denouncing editor Ian Hislop as a "pushy midget who knows nothing about journalism," while Private Eye mocked Dempster as "Humpty-Dumpster" and lampooned his society obsessions; the rift stemmed partly from competitive scoops and a 1980s dispute over a story involving politician Cecil Parkinson, whom Private Eye urged to sue Dempster directly. Defenders of Dempster's approach argued that such legal setbacks and interpersonal conflicts were occupational hazards for investigative columnists challenging privacy norms among the powerful, prioritizing in elite behaviors over absolutist discretion favored by figures; however, courts consistently ruled against him in documented instances, emphasizing procedural breaches over substantive truth defenses.

Cultural Impact

Dempster's columns played a pivotal role in shifting British media norms toward greater public scrutiny of elite figures, transforming anecdotal into a staple of mainstream that predated the excesses of 21st-century tabloid . By chronicling the personal failings and hypocrisies of aristocrats, royals, and celebrities—such as the marital breakdowns of and or Prince Charles and Diana—he democratized access to information previously confined to high-society whispers, fostering a cultural expectation of accountability among the powerful. This approach appealed to middle-class readers' curiosity about upper-class misbehavior, effectively bridging class divides through shared into elite indiscretions. Posthumous analyses following his 2007 death have aligned his work with emerging empirical validations of gossip's social functions, including its capacity to disseminate reputational data, enforce cooperative norms, and facilitate vicarious learning about social risks without direct experience. research underscores how such mechanisms, akin to grooming, promote group cohesion and deter by publicizing cheaters, suggesting Dempster's columns inadvertently advanced these adaptive utilities on a societal scale. However, this legacy also contributed to a broader erosion of expectations for public figures, normalizing invasive reporting that blurred lines between verifiable and unsubstantiated , particularly amid critiques of Fleet Street's overreach in the and . Critically, while Dempster's exposés often targeted establishment hypocrisies—exposing inconsistencies in moral posturing among figures insulated from consequence—they disproportionately affected conservative-leaning elites like royals, potentially amplifying accountability where institutional biases might otherwise shield progressive-leaning networks from equivalent dissection. This selective transparency yielded long-term cultural effects, including heightened public cynicism toward unexamined privilege, though at the cost of diminished discretion in . Empirical reflections post-2007 affirm gossip's net social value in curbing normalized elite deviance, yet highlight risks of amplified in less rigorous modern iterations.

References

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/europe/13dempster.html
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jul/13/guardianobituaries.media
  3. https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/nigel-dempster-nkn6qnrb9xv
  4. https://oldshirburnian.org.uk/obituaries/dempster-nigel-a-55-58/
  5. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/12/dailymail.pressandpublishing1
  6. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-467955/Daily-Mails-Nigel-Dempster-doyen-newspaper-diarists-dies-aged-65.html
  7. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Nigel-Dempster-columnist-made-gossip-a-news-2581262.php
  8. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/gossip-columnist-nigel-dempster-dies-idUSL12865578/
  9. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/12/dailymail.pressandpublishing
  10. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1557276/Nigel-Dempster.html
  11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6895780.stm
  12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6895649.stm
  13. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/13/pressandpublishing.uknews
  14. https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/magazine/low-tales-of-the-highborn.html
  15. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9539555/Farewell-Empress-Shock-grief-Queen-Victoria-passes-away-society-125-years.html
  16. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/sep/19/dailymail.pressandpublishing1
  17. https://quartetbooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/no-longer-with-us-nigel-dempster/
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/europe/13iht-obits.2.6646029.html
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  26. https://www.brainsupportnetwork.org/nigel-dempster-life-with-psp/
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  30. http://www.publishersweekly.com/9781555843847
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  33. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2058035.Princess_Margaret
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  38. https://www.the-independent.com/news/dempster-judged-inept-over-libel-against-baron-1235755.html
  39. https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/208642/Review-Nigel-Dempster-and-the-death-of-discretion-by-Tim-Willis
  40. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/sep/18/dailymail.pressandpublishing1
  41. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/13/uk.media
  42. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Nigel-Dempster-columnist-made-gossip-a-news-2581262.php
  43. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221004632
  44. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-01-27/Debate-4.html
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  46. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/psst-wanna-know-why-gossip-has-evolved-every-human-society
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