Tim Dowling

Dowling worked in data entry for a films database before he became a freelance journalist, first working for GQ, then women's magazines and the Independent on Sunday.{{cite news|url=http://theearlyhour.com/2016/12/26/tim-dowling-fatherhood-marriage/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815070650/https://theearlyhour.com/2016/12/26/tim-dowling-fatherhood-marriage/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 15, 2020|title=Tim Dowling on fatherhood, marriage and freelancing|last=Ridout|first=Annie|date=December 26, 2016|work=The Early Hour|accessdate=June 18, 2017}} He is a columnist for The Guardian and has a weekly column in the paper's Saturday magazine, Weekend. His column replaced Jon Ronson's in 2007. He writes observational columns, often about his wife.{{cite news|url=http://www.xcityplus.com/interview-tim-dowling/|title=Interview: The Guardian columnist, Tim Dowling|last=Muller-Heyndyk|first=Rachel|work=Xcity Plus|publisher=City University|date=March 24, 2017|accessdate=June 18, 2017}} Sam Leith of The Guardian noted that "Dowling's a very fresh and smart writer, as he needs to be. Stories about machete massacres or ebola pandemics pretty much write themselves: writing about nothing much, week in, week out, is the real test."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/12/how-to-be-a-husband-tim-dowling-review|title=How to Be a Husband review – Tim Dowling's take on marriage|work=The Guardian|date=June 12, 2014|last=Leith|first=Sam|accessdate=June 19, 2017}} Dowling also worked as a cartoonist for a short time.{{cite news|url=http://www.signature-reads.com/2015/02/deciphering-daddy-a-qa-with-tim-dowling-author-of-how-to-be-a-husband/|title=Deciphering Daddy: A Q&A with Tim Dowling, Author of How to Be a Husband|last=Sauer|first=Patrick|work=Signature|date=February 20, 2015|accessdate=June 20, 2017}}

Dowling's books include a 2001 book about the inventor of the disposable razor, King Camp Gillette,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4723420/Genius-at-the-cutting-edge.html|title=Genius at the cutting edge|first=Tim|last=Dowling|date=May 10, 2001|accessdate=June 20, 2017}} Suspicious Packages and Extendable Arms, a collection of his writing from The Guardian, and The Giles Wareing Haters' Club, his 2007 debut novel concerning a journalist Googling himself (narcissurfing{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/context-narcissurfing-1.895266|title=ConText: NNarcissurfing|first=Kevin|last=Courtney|work=Irish Times|date=February 19, 2008|accessdate=June 20, 2017}}) who finds an online club of people who hate him, inspired by Dowling searching for his name online.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/apr/14/comment.media | title=Comedy of manners| accessdate = January 1, 2009 | work=The Guardian | location=London | first=Tim | last=Dowling | date=April 14, 2007}} Giles Wareing was reviewed by TLS.{{cite news|url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/the-giles-wareing-haters-club/|title=The Giles Wareing Haters' Club|first=Alex|last=Clark|date=July 6, 2007|accessdate=June 20, 2017}} Metro said it is "a fine comedy of domestic triviality".{{cite news|url=http://metro.co.uk/2007/05/31/the-giles-wareing-haters-club-426674/|title=The Giles Wareing Haters' Club|work=Metro|date=May 31, 2007|accessdate=June 20, 2017}}

Dowling said of his 2014 book How to Be a Husband: "It got quite a bit of publicity in the U.K. when it came out and [my wife] wasn't prepared for all that."{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/03/13/guardian-columnist-tim-dowling-on-how-to-be-a-husband.html|title=Guardian columnist Tim Dowling on how to be a husband|last=Hunter|first=Jennifer|work=Toronto Star|date=March 13, 2015|accessdate=June 19, 2017}} Tom Hodgkinson writing in The Spectator called this book "a rare delight".{{cite news|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/07/how-to-be-a-husband-by-tim-dowling-review/|title=A guide to marriage, moving and fatherhood – and also not a bad tool with which to beat your solicitor to death|last=Hodgkinson|first=Thomas W.|work=The Spectator|date=July 12, 2014|accessdate=June 18, 2017}} Leith in The Guardian said there is "pleasure and treasure here." David Evans wrote in The Independent: "It's a rare thing to be able to write about life as a husband and father in such a way as to elicit nods of recognition among those who are neither of those things; Dowling does it with panache."{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/paperback-book-reviews-the-lives-of-girls-and-women-by-alice-munro-how-to-build-a-girl-by-caitlin-10285403.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/paperback-book-reviews-the-lives-of-girls-and-women-by-alice-munro-how-to-build-a-girl-by-caitlin-10285403.html |archive-date=2022-05-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Paperback book reviews: The Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro, How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran, Gut by Giulia Enders, How to be a Husband by Tim Dowling, The Mongol Empire by John Man|work=The Independent|last=Evans|first=David|date=May 30, 2015|accessdate=June 20, 2017}}{{cbignore}}

• Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette 1855–1932 (Faber & Faber, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0571208104}})
• Not the Archer prison diary (Ebury Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0091892392}}
• Suspicious Packages & Extendable Arms (Guardian Newspapers Ltd, 2007, {{ISBN|0-85265-087-6}})
• The Giles Wareing Haters' Club (Picador, 2008, {{ISBN|0-330-44617-7}})
• How to Be a Husband (Fourth Estate, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-00-752766-3}})
• Dad You Suck (Fourth Estate, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0-00-752769-4}})
• How To Be Happy All The Time: The Unexpected Joys of Being A Cynic (Everything Bad is Good for You Book 2)(Hodder & Stoughton, 2019,{{ISBN|978-1-52-934500-1}} )

Dowling was born in Connecticut. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father was a dentist, and he has a brother and two sisters. He moved to the UK from New York at the age of 27 and currently lives in London with his wife Sophie de Brandt{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/oct/11/5live-daily-womans-hour-today-radio-review-miranda-sawyer|last=Sawyer|first=Miranda|title=5 Live Daily; Woman's Hour; Today – radio review|date=October 11, 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=June 18, 2017}}{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p028bf81|title=Tim Dowling and his wife Sophie de Brandt go to war|work=Woman's Hour|publisher=BBC Radio 4|date=October 9, 2014|access-date=June 19, 2017}} and their three sons.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/15/tim-dowling-domestic-negotiation | title='I have known my wife for many years, and the children are right to be afraid' |access-date=January 1, 2009 | work=The Guardian | location=London | first=Tim | last=Dowling | date=November 15, 2008}} Dowling has played banjo (which his wife bought for his birthday) in the band Police Dog Hogan[http://www.policedoghogan.com/ Police Dog Hogan]{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10957943.Top_dogs_find_middle_ground___interview_with_Police_Dog_Hogan/|title=Top dogs find middle ground – interview with Police Dog Hogan|last=Hughes|first=Tim|work=York Press|date=January 23, 2014|access-date=June 18, 2017}} since 2009, and he writes about their festival gigs, including Glastonbury, in his column.{{cite news|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-06-25/youre-never-too-old-for-glastonbury|title=You're never too old for Glastonbury

|last=Dowling|first=Tim|date=June 25, 2015|work=Radio Times|access-date=June 20, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02v539y|title=Tim Dowling: The Joy Of Playing In A Part-Time Band|last=Hobbs|first=Mary Anne|work=BBC 6 Music|date= June 20, 2015|access-date=June 20, 2017}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cherwell.org/2013/02/15/middleagedmanband/|title=Middle-Aged-Man-Band?|work=Cherwell|last=Smith Hughes|first=Harriet|date=February 15, 2013|access-date=June 20, 2017}}

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Category:1963 births

Category:American newspaper journalists

Category:Living people

Category:The Guardian journalists

Category:Writers from Connecticut