Time Out founder and editor
BORN JANUARY 7, 1947 – DIED JULY 17 2020, AGED 73
WHEN long-haired rebellious student Tony Elliott launched Time Out in 1968 as a basic listings guide for gigs in London he had no idea it would turn into a multimillion-pound global magazine.
Helped by rising disc jockey Bob Harris, later known as “Whispering Bob”, the crude publication, which sold for one shilling and six old pence in the King’s Road in Chelsea, informed readers Pink Floyd were performing at the Roundhouse.
A few years later and after he had finished studying French at Keele University, the weekly magazine had a readership of 25,000.
A workaholic with sound printing production skills he expanded the editorial content to include features, reviews and newsy items to interested readers who had savoured the Swinging Sixties of London and were constantly looking for the next musical sensation.
For Elliott, getting the
magazine out on the streets was like having a “hit record” every week.
However, with a largely left-wing staff intent on exposing corruption in society, the tone of the magazine changed dramatically and they noisily objected when he planned to bring in talented journalists on higher wages.
When what he called the “lesbian Marxist” faction went on strike, he called their bluff and sacked them all. Hiring new staff, he was defiantly back on the streets within a month.
The launch of Time Out New York in 1995 was a significant milestone in his global ambitions which would see versions available in 58 countries.
Tony Elliott was married to TV presenter Janet Street-Porter and is survived by his second wife, Jane Coke, and three sons.