David Southwell

David Southwell (1971—) is the author of a number of best-selling books on conspiracy theories and organized crime. He has also written scripts for Independent British comic books.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Previously Southwell spent worked as a journalist and as Director of Communications for the British Retail Consortium - before turning to full-time writing.^{[citation needed]}

In his role at the BRC, he regularly clashed with the British government's media relations department, and pressure groups, and played a part in forcing Stephen Byers to scrap the Rip-Off Britain campaign.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, in a front page story in The Sunday Times Southwell, then a spokesman for the BRC, mentioned that MI5 was co-ordinating with the business community with regard to potential terrorism.^[1] Many people^[who?] in the conspiracy community believed that this was confirmation that he was allied with Secret Intelligence Service agents and may have been publishing disinformation on behalf of the British security services in his conspiracy books.^{[citation needed]} Southwell later reported in his own books that he had liaised with MI5 on anti-terrorism issues and with the UK Government's emergency planning Cabinet Committee COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A).^{[citation needed]}

He has acknowledged a specialist knowledge and ongoing interest in the Angry Brigade and conspiracies surrounding the events that inspired VALIS.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 he was thanked as an inspiration by Gary Russell in his Doctor Who novel Spiral Scratch.

A regular broadcaster in the UK and North America on the subjects of conspiracies and counter-culture, he jokingly claims on the back of his books that if he 'dies a mysterious death it will be because he knows too much and has upset some very powerful people.'^{[citation needed]}

Southwell lives on a narrowboat on the Regent's Canal in London and married in 2010.^[2]

Major Non-Fiction works

• Conspiracy Theories (with Sean Twist) - 1999
• Dirty Cash - 2002
• Conspiracy Files (with Sean Twist) - 2004
• Secrets and Lies - 2005
• Global Gangland The History of Organized Crime - 2006
• 1001 Ridiculous Ways to Die (with Matt Adams) - 2008

References

1. ^ Leppard, David; Rufford, Nicholas (2003-11-30). "MI5 fears Christmas bombings". Times Online (London: The Times). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1030206.ece. Retrieved 2009-06-26. 
2. ^ David's blog

External links

• ENGLISH DREAMING, ENGLISH RAIN David's blog
• David's tweets

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Name	Southwell, David
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Date of birth	1971
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