Felix Dennis: maverick and multimillionaire publisher, poet and tree planter. Seen here on BBC Breakfast last year
After a “long and painful” battle with cancer, the anti-establishment figure turned unconventional pillar of the business community died peacefully at his home. He was 67.
A statement released by his office said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Felix Dennis passed away yesterday surrounded by his loved ones. After a long and painful battle with cancer, Felix died peacefully at his home in Dorsington, Warwickshire.
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“Felix was a publishing legend, famed for his maverick and entrepreneurial style and, more lately, a successful and much-loved poet. He will be greatly missed.”
Dennis himself often said he didn’t expect to reach 70. And it would be hard for any who followed the life of the publishing hellraiser to disagree.
Took up crack cocaine at 50
The man who grew up in poverty in south-west London led an extraordinary yet contradictory life. On the one hand, he amassed a £500m fortune and was listed in the Sunday Times as one of the richest men in Britain.
On the other, he was a self-confessed crack-cocaine addict who barely slept for five years and lovingly polished his 20 crack pipes after washing them in the dishwasher.
He started smoking the drug when he hit 50, a time when most people are eyeing up retirement and thinking about how much money they have in their pension pots. He said of his decision to start smoking the drug: “Well, I’d done everything else.”
Recalling how he blew a fortune on drugs, fine wine and wild women, he said: “I literally pissed it away. Do you know how much hard work that is? It’s really bloody difficult.
“From the minute you get up you have to waste money. It takes super-human stamina. It takes total bloody dedication.”
From poor beginnings to magazine magnate
Dennis was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, on May 27 1947. He grew up poor and for a while lived with his grandparents in a house with “no electricity, no indoor lavatory or bathroom… no electric light, but gas and candles”. His father left for Australia when Dennis was just three.
Despite passing his 11-plus, Dennis, who was bright but easily distracted, left school at 15 and eventually ended up at art college.
He found his legendary magazine empire, Dennis Publishing, in the 1970s. His love of martial-arts star Bruce Lee led to the launch of Kung Fu Monthly. The fledgling title received an astonishing boost after Lee’s sudden death in 1973. Circulation shot up, it ran for nine years and was printed in 11 countries.
By early 1974 his company was making £5,000 a day and Dennis had £60,000 in the bank. He fell into the niche market for personal computer users and bought Personal Computer Weekly.
Dennis broke into the US market when he launched Computer Shopper, more popular for its adverts for hardware and software than the articles themselves.
In 1982 he sold his stable of IT magazines for “a shedload of money” and was a multimillionaire by 35.
Oz magazine obscenity trial
It was an astonishing turnaround for the radical hippy who became a counter-cultural icon as one of the three defendants in the notorious Oz magazine obscenity trial in 1970.
Alongside the publication’s editors, Richard Neville and Jim Anderson, Dennis was charged with “conspiracy to corrupt public morals” following the magazine’s publication of the Schoolkids issue. It featured, among other things, a sexually explicit Rupert the Bear cartoon. The edition had been edited by fifth- and sixth-form school kids.
The trio were convicted at the Old Bailey in what became the longest conspiracy trial in English legal history. Dennis was given a more lenient sentence than his co-defenders because, in the opinion of the judge, he was “much less intelligent” and therefore less culpable.
Dennis recalled his mother coming to visit him in Wandsworth prison, saying she looked around declared: “So, it’s come to this?”
The two hadn’t really spoken for three years after gained brief notoriety for becoming the first person to say the c-word on live television. He uttered it off-camera on the David Frost programme during an anarchic invasion by hippies.
Despite his stint in prison, Dennis’ time on Oz, a publication which featured contributions from the likes of Germaine Greer, made an indelible mark and instilled a passion for the world of publishing.
Maxim, world’s biggest lifestyle mag
In 1995, while still in the grip of his crack-cocaine addiction, he launched Maxim. The title – said to have begun life on the back of a beer mat – became the world’s biggest selling lifestyle magazine and a global brand.
A year later he acquired a majority stake in The Week, which became the group’s flagship brand. He bought Loaded founder James Brown’s publishing company in 2003, and acquired Viz, Fortean Times and Bizarre. In 2007 he sold his US magazine business to Alpha Media Group for a reported $250m.
Until his death Dennis Publishing still owned 50 print and digital magazines including Auto Express, CarBuyer and PC Pro.
He once said: “I built a Nasdaq company turning over $2.5m while on crack cocaine.”
Asked how he did it, he replied: “Easy, I never slept for five years. You can get a lot done if you don’t have to waste time f***ing sleeping.”
Growing old disgracefully
Even in his 60s Dennis, who never married or had children, showed little sign of being tamed.
In an interview with The Times, he claimed to have killed a man but he refused to identify him.
He told journalist Ginny Dougary: “I killed him. That’s all you need to know.” He later insisted the murder story had been a “load of old hogwash” and blamed it on the vast amount of wine consumed over the five-hour interview.
His diagnosis with throat cancer left him bruised but friends say he remained bullish.
Dennis’ only nod to growing old gracefully was embracing his love of poetry and nature. He wrote seven books of verse and launched a project called the Heart of England Forest, which bought 2,000 acres of land and planted more than a million broadleaf trees.
Speaking after his diagnosis, Dennis said: “I’ve lived an unbelievable life, even if I did do my best to kill myself in order to live it. That I survived at all is a miracle.” His survival was the publishing world’s gain.