Colin Tough
Colin Tough (born October 1959 in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire) is a British journalist and author, former Editor in Chief of What's On TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week, and former Managing Director of Future PLC's TV & Entertainment group.[1]
Early life
[edit | edit source]Tough attended Clydebank High School, where he was head boy in his final year.
Career
[edit | edit source]Tough started his career in Scottish newspapers and at 19 edited his first title, The Govan Press, where he commissioned Captain Clyde, one of the first comic strips by now-renowned comic book writer Grant Morrison.[2] He moved to London and the magazine industry in 1983. In the early 1990s, he edited the short-lived UK edition of TV Guide, joined TVTimes as deputy editor and was launch editor of TV & Satellite Week.
Tough launched IPC Media's digital initiative in 1994 and, as new media editor-in-chief and publishing director,[3] was involved in all of IPC’s early digital projects, including the Milia d’Or award-winning CD-Rom magazine, UnZip,[4] and the UK's first digital EPG.[5]
In 2002 he edited IPC’s market-leading Web User,[6] before taking over as editor of Britain’s best-selling magazine, What's On TV.[7] Three years later he launched the UK’s first compact TV magazine, TV easy.[8] In 2016 he was appointed editor-in-chief of all Time Inc TV titles.
Colin became managing director of Future PLC's TV & Entertainment group in July 2020.[9] He retired in 2021.
Shortlisted 15 times for the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) awards, Tough won the BSME Entertainment & Celebrity Editor of the Year award in 2018.[10] He also won the IPC Media Editor of the Year award in 2001, 2007 and 2012.
Since retiring, he has written three books – his autobiography, Guess Who I Met!, and two London walking guides. [11]
In addition to his journalistic work, Tough also devised Sounds Like Music, an afternoon game show which ran for two 26-show series on ITV.
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Tough is married with a son. His brother is Ian Tough of the comedy act The Krankies.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ "Future consolidates magazine verticals”, InPublishing magazine, March 25 2021
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ "New Head For IPC New Media", Mediatel, 5 May 1998
- ^ Sophia Chauchard-Stuart, "Jump in, have a quick read, jump out", The Independent, 27 November 1995
- ^ Mediatel staff. "IPC to launch interactive TV listings", Mediatel, London, 10 November 1995. Retrieved on 18 December 2016.
- ^ "Colin Tough to edit Web User", Time Inc press release, January 2002
- ^ Martin McNamara, "TV listings title gets Tough", The Guardian, May 27, 2002
- ^ John Plunkett, "IPC's £10m title stirs up TV listings", The Guardian, April 19, 2005
- ^ "Future consolidates magazine verticals”, InPublishing magazine, March 25 2021
- ^ “2018 BSME Awards Dinner", British Society of Magazine Editors Web site, November 20 2018
- ^ Books by Colin Tough at Amazon.com Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).