Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Hugh O'Shaughnessy was an English journalist and writer.
Biography
O'Shaughnessy was born in Reading, Berkshire of Irish parents. His father, Charles, was a porter at the Home Office, and his mother, Mary, was an administrative assistant. He was educated at the Catholic St Benedict’s school in Ealing and Worcester College, Oxford where he received a BA in Modern Languages. For over 40 years he wrote for major newspapers including The Economist, The Observer, The Independent, The Irish Times, the Financial Times and most frequently The Guardian; and he made many reports for BBC News.O'Shaughnessy published a number of books and articles focusing on Latin American politics, making many trips to Central and South America to study social and political issues. He was a friend of Chilean president Salvador Allende. He was also the author of commentaries on the politics of Catholicism. He was founder of the Latin America Bureau.
O'Shaughnessy won several awards, including two British Press Awards, the 1986 Maria Moors Cabot prize for journalistic contributions to inter-American understanding and the Wilberforce Medallion from the city of Hull. He was recognised by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the United States.
He lived in London. He married Georgina Alliston in 1961, and they had four children: Frances, Thomas, Matthew and Luke. O'Shaughnessy died on 1 March 2022, at the age of 87.