12 Facts About Martin Bright

Martin Derek Bright was born on 5 June 1966 and is a British journalist.

Martin Bright worked for the BBC World Service and The Guardian before becoming The Observer's education correspondent and then home affairs editor.

Martin Bright had a blog for The Spectator, and was The Jewish Chronicle's political editor from September 2009 to March 2013.

In 2009 Bright founded New Deal of the Mind, a charitable company to promote employment in creative fields and working with organisations, government and all political parties.

In 2001, Martin Bright wrote "The Great Koran Con Trick", an article in the New Statesman about the work of the Orientationalist scholars John Wansbrough, Michael Cook, Patricia Crone, Andrew Rippin and Gerald Hawting, associated in the 1970s with the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

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Martin Bright reported the work of the scholars as "revisionist history" of Islam.

Martin Bright's arguments were ridiculed and debunked by the very scholars—including his own former SOAS tutor, Professor Gerald Hawting—whose work he drew upon to support his cover story.

Martin Bright left the New Statesman in January 2009, and began writing a blog, "The Martin Bright Stuff – Dispatches from Enemy Territory, " for The Spectator.

In January 2009, Martin Bright formed New Deal of the Mind, a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs, academics and opinion formers working to boost employment in Britain's creative sector during the recession.

Martin Bright left the publication in March 2013, but returned as a columnist, remaining until January, 2014.

Martin Bright resigned after five months, feeling Blair did not give him the autonomy he needed.

Martin Bright is married to Vanessa Thorpe, the arts correspondent of The Observer; the couple have two children.