Mark Ellen

Who is Mark Ellen?

Mark Ellen is an award-winning magazine editor, journalist and broadcaster who lives in West London.

Whilst at Oxford University in the 1970s, he briefly played bass alongside Tony Blair in Ugly Rumours, a band that according to Ellen existed primarily to meet "exciting girls in floral print dresses".

After graduating, he wrote for Record Mirror, NME and Time Out before signing up as Features Editor of Smash Hits in 1981, where he became the editor in 1983. He was the launch editor of Q, the re-launch editor of Select, and the launch managing editor of Mojo. He later became the editor-in-chief of EMAP Metro overseeing 14 consumer magazines but he left Emap after 16 years to join the independent publishing company Development Hell in 2002.

He also has a long broadcasting career which includes contributions to BBC Radio 1 as stand-ins for David "Kid" Jensen and John Peel. He presented the BBC's Whistle Test from 1982 to 1987. He also co-presented the Live Aid TV broadcast in 1985.

Ellen was the editor of The Word, a UK music magazine which he started with long-time colleague, business partner and Whistle Test co-presenter David Hepworth.