CHRISTOPHER LONG ...

Journalist, Editor & Foreign Correspondent

Curriculum Vitae

Former member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists (London).

For copyright reasons the selection of print and broadcast items linked to this and other pages is severely limited.

See Career Résumé

. . . is a British journalist, editor and broadcaster. Born and educated in England, he read Law (tort, crime, contract and land) at the Inner Temple, London. He then trained and worked in marketing management in the UK and overseas before becoming a journalist.

In 1978-83 he was a reporter for the London Newspaper Group and a specialist in London news and current affairs. He was also a feature writer and diarist (e.g. London Evening Standard), columnist and leader writer for several newspapers and magazines (e.g. London Portrait Magazine, and an editor of newspapers and books, – as well as an occasional radio broadcaster (e.g. LBC, BBC).

From 1987 to 1990 he was the founding editor of the award-winning World Magazine and of The Music Magazine, both later acquired by the BBC.

From 1991-99 he was one of the longest-serving war correspondents in the Balkans for British and overseas press (e.g. London Evening Standard), radio (e.g. Reuters, BBC and BBC World Service) and television (e.g. B-Sky-B and Channel 4/ITN), reporting from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia/Kosovo. In 1992-93 he was an investigative reporter for The Observer (London).

In 1994-95, as a member of the Internet Developers' Association, he was one of the first web site developers, with a particular interest in 'news on demand'. He continues to design and edit web content.

In 2003 he became a registered French sheep breeder specialising in the raising of pedigree Dorset Horn and Dorset Down sheep at Elevage Dorset in Normandy, France. He also works as an independent French/English interpreter for museums, associations, web sites and companies – as well as lawyers and their clients in Normandy (see links below). He remains a journalist and web designer/editor.


2010

  • Appeared in short documentary item for French television (TF1) on individual responses to General de Gaulle's 18 June 1940 'Appel'.
  • Hosted a day-long visit to the Bocage Virois by 32 historians and archaeologists from the Channel Islands and England, examining almost a dozen churches and manor houses dating from the C11th to C16th and notably from the rural Renaissance period.
  • Hosted a visit by students of the Lycée Agricole de Vire at Le Bosquet to develop their skills in the conservation of trees and hedgerows in the Bocage Virois. Hosted a similar group from the Lycée de Terre a few days earlier.
  • Gave a talk to the Club Photo de Pont-Farcy on the history and significance of the river Vire whose canalisation (completed in 1861) brought lime to the Bocage Virois leading directly to a world-renowned dairy industry in Normandy: De l'Eau, des Bateaux, de la Chaux et des Veaux.
  • Organised research visits to l'Aumoire at Morigny (Manche, Basse-Normandie): a well-preserved example of a C16th manor house with galleried hall, and an array of secondary buildings including: a separate manor house above a cider production facility, a bakery, a chapel and dovecote.

2009

2008

  • Founding president of Les Amis du Pont Bailey, formed to save a condemned British World War ll Bailey bridge (once part of the Mulberry 'B' artificial harbour at Arromanches). The last physical evidence in the bocage of British involvement in the Battle of Normandy after D-Day in 1944, the bridge was unveiled in Pont-Farcy on 17 October in the presence of sappers of the Royal Engineers who helped restore and set it up as a memorial.
  • Translated a variety of material (French-English) for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel including its web site.
  • Organised visits to Cornwall by French historians and archaeologists to promote the re-connection between St Michael's Mount in England and Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy (see TV documentary A Tale of Two Castles by Footloose TV, screened England in May 2008).
  • A judge of Dorset Down sheep presented at the Concours Général Agricole des Animaux (Salon de Paris) agricultural show. Also showed Dorset Horn sheep at the Bures-les-Mont 'Mediaeval Fair'.
  • Led the week-long third annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with Anne & David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James, Timur d'Vatz and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman, Roman, Saxon and Viking links in Durham, Yorkshire and Northumberland.
  • Provided web site and other translations for Les Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel in Vire, Normandy, in preparation for the 1,300th anniversaries of the founding and consacration of Mont-Saint-Michel (2008/2009), having instigated the proposed opening of 'pilgrim' routes in south-west England linking St Michael's Mount and Mont-Saint-Michel.
  • Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires; and translator/interpreter services to Alu Composites Yachting.

2007

  • Conceived and designed a web site promoting the town and annual fête of Landelles-et-Coupigny.
  • Translated from French into English the technical specifcations and publicity material for Alu Composites Yachting's Futuna 50', 57' and 70' ocean-going cruisers.
  • Conceived the idea of telling local history through bandes-dessinées, becoming a founding member of the team that created Chroniques de l'Armoire Temporelle, stories written and illustrated by 'Moloch' to explore episodes in the history of the Norman Bocage Virois, the first being Le Filigrane du Rat published by La Voix le Bocage on 7 Dec 2007, supported by 'Tourisme en Bocage Virois' and European 'Leader+' funding – featuring Sarah Long and Georges de Coupigny, also translated into English.
  • Organised a series of semi-official visits and tours of Le Mont-Saint-Michel – collaborating with David Nicolas-Méry and François Saint-James – in order to re-establish relations between St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy (for the first time about 700 years) in the run-up to the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Norman abbey.
  • Led the week-long second annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman and Saxon links in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Hampshire.
  • Produced the first pedigree Dorset Down lambs from a newly imported English Dorset Down ram [see Elevage Dorset] showing a ram and a ewe of this breed at the annual Saint Sever Sheep Fair.
  • Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; and to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires.

2006

  • Translated (French to English) three short films forming part of the Mont Saint Michel manuscripts' displays at the new Avranches Scriptorial museum (opened August 2006).
  • Produced the first pedigree Dorset Horn & Dorset Down lambs for sale through Elevage Dorset (see references in an article in La Manche Libre) – subsequently displaying the Dorset Horn breed at the Saint Sever sheep fair.
  • Continued to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; and to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires.
  • Led the week-long first annual Anglo-Norman 'Conquest' of England with David Nicolas-Méry, François Saint-James, Timur d'Vatz, Vanessa Gendrin, Didier and Sarah Long: exploring Anglo-Norman links in Dorset and Devon.

2005

  • Presented a talk to the London Hellenic Centre entitled Greek Migrations: Phanariot, Chian & Other Families, and the Secrets of their Success.
  • An occasional contributor to the local French media: e.g. Quality of Life.
  • Continued: to edit a web site for Respecter Le Bocage; to provide independent French/English translator and interpreter services to local notaires; and to develop Elevage Dorset.

2004

  • Founding member and web-site editor of Respecter Le Bocage, devoted to protecting the Calvados/Normandy environment and specifically demanding that cables carrying a proposed 400,000 volt electricity supply be buried rather than carried on pylons across a highly sensitive area of outstanding natural beauty.
  • Continued the web presentation of David Nicolas-Méry's study on the Donjon d'Avranches.
  • Registered with A.I.F.C.C. in Caen as an official, independent French/English translator and interpreter (resigned in 2005).
  • Devised and taught an English language training course to meet the needs of about 20 French secrétaires de mairie in Normandy.
  • Continued: to develop Elevage Dorset, using the press to publicise the merits of traditional hedge-laying (plessage) (a technique largely lost in Normandy); and to provide bi-lingual web authoring and editing services to new and existing clients.

2002 — 2003

  • A judge in the NetMedia 2003 European Online Journalism Awards.
  • Occasional contributor to French media on the impending war in Iraq – e.g. Radio France Bleu and La Voix Le Bocage.
  • Designing, editing and/or maintaining web sites, several with mutli-lingual capability: examples (finished, testing or under construction) include:
    1. L'Association Barbacane d'Avranches, Normandie – a society which explores the history, archeology and culture of Avranches in Normandy and which organises events and festivals devoted to Norman and Anglo-Norman heritage.
    2. Festival Equinox d'Avranches, Normandie – the annual Anglo-Norman festival held in Avranches and organised by L'Association Barbacane.
    3. The Donjon d'Avranches, Normandie – a large site explaining the extraordinary rediscovery in 2002 of the full extent of the remains of an important C11th Norman castle at Avranches.
    4. Jean-Louis Tamvaco, Paris – related to the author's previously published reserach into the history of opera as published as Les Cancans (CNRS Paris) and which includes some family Greek diaspora family history.
    5. Ste Marie Outre L'Eau, Normandie – a small site devoted to life in a tiny French commune in Calvados and to its annual fête in particular.
    6. L'Orangerie, Vire, Normandie – devoted to the sale of an historic property in Normandy (site now withdrawn).
    7. Le Parc, Le Tourneur, Normandie – information concerning an old Norman farmhouse in Calvados, available for holiday rental.
  • A judge in the NetMedia 2002 European Online Journalism Awards.
  • Established Elevage Dorset, an officially recognised small flock of pedigree Dorset Down & Dorset Horn sheep at Le Bosquet, Pont-Farcy, Normandy, France. The project, on 3 hectares (10 acres), plus additional grazing, aims to improve the two breeds, introduce their qualities to European breeders, and to provide breeding ewes, along with rams as terminal sires, to European breeders [Flock No.: FR 14-513-091 — Siren /Siret : 448 316 208 00017].

2001

  • Commissioned by RSCG (Corporate), Paris to translate and edit web site material for its French defence and avionics client, Thalès.

2000

1999

  • Consultant to the town of Albert, Somme, France, on the development of its municipal web site.
  • Consultant to the private bank Zarifi et Cie in Marseilles, France, for its corporate web site.
  • Carried out research for a prospective British TV documentary on Mediterranean history — in Vienna, Trieste, Livorno, Marseilles and the Aegean island of Chios.
  • Eleventh tour to The Balkans for B-Sky TV News, based in Skopje and on the Macedonia/Kosovo frontier, covering the Spring assembly of Nato's Extraction Force & Kfor components as conflict continued in Kosovo.
  • Toured Eastern Europe (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic) observing the situation 10 years after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.

1998

  • Continued as a specialist studio contributor to B-Sky TV News coverage of Balkan affairs during the Kosovo conflicts.
  • Featured in 'Sleep' a Twenty-Twenty TV series for Channel 4, screened 07-98, enacting the effects of stress-induced disturbed sleep.
  • Created a web site for the international educational project Crossing Borders.
  • Continued to provide editorial, IT, web & graphics skills to London design consultants Catalytico.
  • Created an outline Web site for the London based charity for refugees in Slovenia TFSR.
  • Provided testimony and evidence to prosecution investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal (Yugoslavia) (ICTY) on events in the Balkans, 1991 — 95 — see War Crimes Trials.
  • Contributed & edited news/policy items for Bulletins 12 and 13 of the National Consumer Council.
  • Continued to comment on Balkan developments — e.g. Kosovo Ignites for KPFK radio Los Angeles.
  • Continued to develop The Memory Bank 2000 project.
  • Continued to write and compile a practical handbook for journalists.

1997

  • Conceived and developed The Memory Bank 2000 as an on-line archive of popular C20th memory and experience in text, sounds and images.
  • Provided editorial, IT, web & graphics skills to London design consultants Catalytico.
  • Edited a number of advisory reports published by the National Consumer Council to assist British government policy-making on Environment, Health, etc.
  • Short assignment to write web articles for Price Waterhouse.
  • Studio and news-room assistance in ITN/LNR's General Election radio news coverage.
  • Monitoring and analysing the British General Election coverage in the national press for Carma International.
  • Began writing and editing a definitive practical handbook for trainee & graduate journalists.

1996

1995

  • Conceived and developed the Journalist Tracking Network (JTN) – a web-based service linking editors and news rooms with journalists and news sources world-wide.
  • Commentator for South African Radio (SABC) on Bosnia events and the Dayton peace process.
  • Contributor to The Journal of the CIoJ on the Lessons of War.
  • Tenth tour to The Balkans, contributing 22 live two-ways and reports to Reuters Radio News, London News Radio and BBC Radio News covering Bosnian Events, the summer offensives, UN hostage crises, the formation of Rapid Reaction Forces, UN policy failures and the assembly of the quasi-Nato Task Force. Followed front line developments from Ploce and Mostar to Vitez, Gornji Vakuf, Visoko and Zenica.
  • Frequent appearances as a specialist commentator for B-Sky TV's coverage from The Balkans.

1994

  • Founder member of the Internet Developers Association (London).
  • Ninth tour to The Balkans, for NHK TV (Japan), to devise, research & write 'The Bridge' as associate producer of a 20' Hi-Def TV documentary about civilian victims of war in the divided city of Mostar, screened 25-11-94.
  • Frequent specialist commentator on B-Sky TV's coverage from The Balkans.
  • Newsdesk shifts in London at Independent Radio News (IRN) and assisted in the setting-up of Reuters Radio News
  • A contributor to MacFormat magazine.
  • Eighth tour to The Balkans, examining illegal arms supplying to the war zones, sanctions-busting and the efficiency of UN frontier monitoring, observed from Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Albania, Macedonia and Greece.

1993

  • Adviser to Brit-Aid — a project to evacuate children at risk in war zones.
  • Specialist adviser to Channel 4 TV's week-long 'Bloody Bosnia' & 'Comment' content.
  • Contributor of Home, Foreign & Investigative news items to The Observer.
  • Conceived, developed and designed the 'Portudio' portable mixer-amplifier studio-link for radio reporters.

1992

1991

  • The first commentator to predict war in Bosnia-Hercegovina on ITN's Channel 4 News — 17-12-91.
  • Delegate at London's Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) conference and subsequent seminar on 'Yugoslavia'.
  • Specialist contributor on the war in Croatia for BBC Radio News, IRN, LWT, BBC TV News and ITN's Channel 4 News.
  • Exclusive interview with President Tudjman in his nuclear shelter for BBC Radio News ('Today') and Globus.
  • Exclusive interview with President Stipe Mesic aboard M.V. Slavija for Globus (Zagreb).
  • Two extensive tours in 'Yugoslavia', covering the wars in Slovenia and Croatia as a correspondent for the London Evening Standard and Globus (Zagreb). The only British newspaper journalist on the M.V. Slavija convoy to break the Dubrovnik Blockade.
  • Wrote a series of explanatory pieces and profiles for Globus (Zagreb), as the Serbo-Croatian war developed.
  • Contributed Balkan Suicide to Osmija (Belgrade).
  • Wrote the obituary for Sir Geoffrey Peacock, CVO, for The Times.
  • Continued to provide copy-writing services to IMS, London.

1990

  • Provided copy-writing services to IMS, London.
  • Conceived, designed, launched and edited The Music Magazine — later a BBC flagship title.
  • Founding director of The Yellow Guide Publishing Company.

1988 — 1989

  • Covered the 1989 military assault by the JNA on Pristina in Kosovo.
  • Investigated and revealed the Pamella Bordes Libyan security scandal as exclusives for the London Evening Standard and The Daily Express: 17/18-05-89.
  • Presented, in 1988, a paper to the International Conference on The Littoral (University of Lille) on the current state and likely future of the English Channel's coastal ecology.
  • Invented, in 1988, The Snowball (British Reg. Pat. No 88 26 895.8).
  • Emergency volunteer during the London Ambulance Service workers' strike.

1988 — 1992

1987 — 1988

  • Winner in the 1987/88 'Magazine of the Year Awards' and 'PPA Awards' as editor of World Magazine.
  • Founding editor, 1987, of World Magazine. Conceived, developed, designed and launched the double award-winning, 128-page, full-colour, international monthly (circ. 75,000 p.m.) — subsequently bought by the BBC in 1989.
  • Contributor of regular features to The Mayfair Times.
  • Researched & edited, 1989—90, Greek Fire by Helen Long (Abson Books, 1992) [see: Massacres of Chios].

1980 — 1987

1980 — 1996

1979 — 1992

  • Contributor of frequent 'overnights' to the London Evening Standard on Home, Foreign, Diary and Features desks.

1978 — 1983

  • Columnist on Time & Tide, the political monthly, until its closure.
  • Joined the staff of The London Newspaper Group as a news reporter, feature-writer and principal columnist on the Kensington News & Post, Marylebone Mercury, Fulham Chronicle and Chelsea News and Westminster & Pimlico News [see: Chelsea Vignette]. Over nearly five years produced around 3,200 news items, features, leaders and columns on Central London affairs, personalities and events. Provided cross-media coverage of the Iranian and Libyan embassy sieges and the IRA Central London bombing campaigns.

BEFORE BECOMING A JOURNALIST

  • 1948 — 67 Christopher Long was born in England and educated in the UK:
    1. Laverock School, Limpsfield, Surrey (1953-56)
    2. The Hill School, Westerham, Kent (1956-62)
    3. St Edmund's School, Canterbury, Kent (1962-67)
    Captained St Edmund's cross country team, completed the Advanced Certificate in the Officers' Training Corps (CCF) and qualified as a British Red Cross instructor.
  • 1966 Helped Sir Winston Churchill's secretary to sort and list his personal possessions, papers and books following his death and prior to the establishment of a museum at Chartwell, Westerham, Kent. Took part in a student visit to Leningrad and Moscow.
  • 1967 Entered The Hon. Society of The Inner Temple, London, to read tort, crime, contract and land law.
  • 1968 A marketing consultant for: Coates Bros. (printing inks).
  • 1969 Collaborated on Disease & History (Hart Davis, 1971) while training in marketing with the Granite & Quartzite Centre in London, Cape Town, the Kalahari Desert and Durban.
  • 1970 Joined Lever Brothers in South Africa as a Brand Manager, over-seeing five leading detergent brands; later seconded to advertising agencies Lintas and JWT, working on the imminent launch of television in South Africa.
  • 1971 Re-entered The Hon. Society of The Inner Temple, London, to read tort, crime, contract and land law.
  • 1974 — 76 Temporary clerical assistant with Godstone Rural District Council (Oxted, Surrey). A founding director of the audio-visual production company Access Media. Developed, with Redland Tiles (Westerham, Kent), two of his own patented inventions to production (tile clips for straight and broken bond roof tiles).
  • 1976 — 77 Edited Change Into Uniform (Terence Dalton, 1978) an autobiography by Helen Long. Held temporary posts at advertising agencies Astral and S&J (Kensington, London) and, as a marketing consultant, at Lamson Paragon (Canning Town, London).
  • 1978 — 81 After beginning a career in journalism in 1978: Helped in the reception of 347 Vietnamese Boat People refugees in London. Took an increasing but temporary role in helping to manage Slaley Hall, Northumberland, a large mixed agricultural estate of 3,500 acres (growing sheep, fattening steers/heifers, forestry, etc).

SKILLS

  • Twenty-five years experience as: a reporter (home, investigative, foreign, war, etc), leader writer, feature writer, columnist and diarist, sub-editor and commissioning editor; also a book researcher, contributor and editor.
  • Expertise in: all aspects of print and web publishing
  • Expert knowledge of: both Macintosh & PC computers and most related languages and software: e.g. HTML, DHTML & XHTML for Web design,as well as all major sound and image manipulation software.
  • Competent in: radio production, presentation and news desk procedures.
  • Good understanding of: the fundamental principles of English law.
  • Languages: native: English. fluent: French.

FACILITIES

  • Resident in Normandy, France.
  • Clean French driving licence
  • No visa restrictions
  • No known health problems
  • Red Cross First Aid Certificate
  • Former member of The Chartered Institute of Journalists
  • Recognised as an official independent French/English translator and interpreter.

PRESS ACCREDITATION

  • UK & International, HMG/Metropolitan Police.

See Career Résumé

See Main Index

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