Age, Biography and Wiki
Hugh Massingberd was born on 30 December, 1946, is an English journalist and genealogist (1946–2007). Discover Hugh Massingberd's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 60 years old?
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Age |
60 years old |
Zodiac Sign |
Capricorn |
Born |
30 December, 1946 |
Birthday |
30 December |
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Date of death |
25 December, 2007 |
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We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 30 December.
He is a member of famous journalist with the age 60 years old group.
Hugh Massingberd Height, Weight & Measurements
At 60 years old, Hugh Massingberd height not available right now. We will update Hugh Massingberd's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.
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Dating & Relationship status
He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.
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Hugh Massingberd Net Worth
His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Hugh Massingberd worth at the age of 60 years old? Hugh Massingberd’s income source is mostly from being a successful journalist. He is from . We have estimated Hugh Massingberd's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.
Net Worth in 2024 |
$1 Million - $5 Million |
Salary in 2024 |
Under Review |
Net Worth in 2023 |
Pending |
Salary in 2023 |
Under Review |
House |
Not Available |
Cars |
Not Available |
Source of Income |
journalist |
Hugh Massingberd Social Network
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Timeline
His mother, Marsali (née Seal), was a schoolmistress who married John Montgomery after her first husband, Roger de Winton Kelsall Winlaw, died in 1942 on active service in the Royal Air Force.
Hugh was the first child of her marriage to John Montgomery.
Through his father, Hugh Massingberd was a great-grandson of women's-rights pioneer Emily Langton Massingberd.
He was a great-great-grandson of Charlotte Langton (born Wedgwood) who was herself a granddaughter of the potter and philanthropist Josiah Wedgwood and a sister of Emma Wedgwood, wife of Charles Darwin.
His boyhood enthusiasms included cricket, reading, horseracing, and showbusiness.
His father John Michael Montgomery was the son of a brother of Field Marshal Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd of Gunby Hall, Lincolnshire, while his mother was the sister of the Field Marshal's wife, Diana.
Hugh John Massingberd (30 December 1946 – 25 December 2007), originally Hugh John Montgomery and known from 1963 to 1992 as Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, was an English journalist and genealogist.
Massingberd began life as Hugh John Montgomery at Cookham Dean, Berkshire, in 1946.
To inherit their estate, in 1963 John and his son Hugh were obliged to adopt the name of Massingberd, and both decided to become Montgomery-Massingberds.
He said his inspiration was Roy Dotrice's performance in 1969 in Brief Lives in the West End in which Dotrice, after reading out a "dull, formulaic entry about a barrister, shut the book with a 'Pshaw' and turned to the audience to say" 'He got more by his prick than his practice'." Massingberd said that he resolved then "to dedicate myself to chronicling what people were really like through informal anecdote, description and character sketch". He felt it was possible to give a true assessment of the subject and to present "a sympathetic acceptance, even celebration, of someone's foibles and faults".
Massingberd famously referred to the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, a deceased man with a habit of indecent exposure, as "an uncompromisingly direct ladies' man."
He termed the late maverick Dead Sea Scrolls academician John Allegro, who later argued for Judeo-Christian cultism regarding mushrooms and sexual intercourse, the "Liberace of biblical scholarship."
Massingberd's sphere of influence was large.
Following his editorship tenure, obituaries in not only The Daily Telegraph but in many other British publications, such as The Times of London, took on the dryly impish character for which his writings had become famous.
He wrote over 30 books, many of them on the British aristocracy and the great houses of England, Scotland and Ireland, reviewed books for The Spectator, Country Life and the Telegraph, and also wrote a play based on the diaries of James Lees-Milne.
He was chief editor of Burke's Peerage/Burke's Landed Gentry from 1971 to 1983.
He was chief editor of Burke's Peerage from 1971 to 1983.
Often retold was the story of his having eaten the largest breakfast ever served at The Connaught hotel in 1972; the head waiter reported to his table that the previous record holder had been King Farouk I of Egypt.
In 1972 Massingberd married Christine Martinoni, with whom he had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Luke.
They were divorced in 1979 and he married, secondly, Caroline Ripley in 1983.
Massingberd was known for his wit in his private life as well as in his public life as a writer.
A friend once asked him, during one of Massingberd's low moods, what would cheer him up; after some thought, Massingberd replied, "To sing patriotic songs in drag before an appreciative audience."
Sometimes called the father of the modern obituary, Massingberd was most revered for his work as obituaries editor for The Daily Telegraph of London from 1986 to 1994, during which time he drastically altered the style of the modern British obituary from a dry recital of biographical data to an often sly, witty, yet deadpan narrative on the deceased person's life.
Massingberd then worked as a freelance columnist for The Spectator and The Field until taking up a position with The Daily Telegraph in 1986.
As obituaries editor at The Daily Telegraph, Massingberd entirely altered the reverential but otherwise factual style of the obituary.
He replaced the traditional tone of respect with one of adroitly subtle humour, and quickly drew readership.
The New York Times reported that "cataclysmic understatement and carefully coded euphemism were the stylistic hallmarks of his page."
However, in 1992 Hugh abandoned his original surname and thereafter was known simply as Hugh Massingberd.
After leaving school, he worked for three years as an articled law clerk, before gaining a place at Cambridge University to read history.
He then "drifted into publishing and journalism".
He was extremely proud of his reputation as a gourmand and a trencherman, posing at one time for a portrait with a garland of sausages.
A severe heart attack in 1994 forced Massingberd to undergo quadruple bypass surgery.
During his recovery period, he wrote as The Daily Telegraph's television critic, but resigned in 1996.
After his resignation, Massingberd continued to write, authoring book reviews for The Daily Telegraph as well as several theatrical works.
Massingberd was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and died on Christmas Day, 2007, five days before his 61st birthday.
After leaving school at Harrow, Massingberd discarded initial plans to attend the University of Cambridge, instead choosing to work as a law clerk.
He then moved to an assistantship at Burke's Peerage, the historic chronicler of the nobility and landed gentry of the British Isles.
When one of his theatre pieces, Love and Art, was produced at the Wallace Collection in 2005, Massingberd played one of the roles on stage.