Felix Dennis RIP

[slowmotion]

I was an avid reader of Oz magazine in my teens. I think it was billed as "fun,travel and adventure". It was hopelessly exotic to a young naïf, and very seductive. Felix Dennis was one of the editors. Without it, I wouldn't have travelled overland and back to Nepal aged eighteen, on a reckless budget, £120. I raise my glass to him.

Here's an obit.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10919584/Felix-Dennis-obituary.html

 

[Cycleops]

RIP. Evocative of an era sadly passed. Psychedelia, sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.

 

[CopperBrompton]

He hired a 20-year-old guy as editor of one of his home computer magazines back in the 80s. The magazine was aimed at a mix of geeks and gamers, but with the emphasis much more on the geeks.

Six months later, Felix announced via my MD that gaming was the future and that both my magazine and a sister publication needed to shift direction. I wasn't happy about this and asked my MD if I could talk it through with Felix.

He called me from NY, and spent about an hour on the phone - this head of a highly successful publishing company and this 20yo punk journalist - discussing the future of the home computer industry. He got his way, of course, and I left to go freelance (writing for his magazines, among others), but I always remember his willingness to discuss and debate despite his enviable track-record in making the right decisions.

He was, of course, absolutely right - gamers, not geeks writing their own code, were the future. A true enthusiast for the tech industry, and a gentleman.

 

[slowmotion]

Given his obvious ability in business, Dennis seemed an almost invisible figure. Branson has traded off his "alternative" youth for decades but came along quite a lot later and never quite had the true credentials of a rebel alhough it has been his public USP for decades. Neville, Dennis and Anderson went to jail very briefly for taking a stand. For those who don't know about it, the OZ Schoolkid's Issue obscenity trial is well worth researching. A while ago,I read a rare interview in which Dennis was asked what his business success was due to. His reply...."because I don't give a fark"