David Sullivan (born 1 February 1949), in Cardiff, Wales,^[1] is a British pornography entrepreneur and newspaper proprietor. He graduated in Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London. Since 1986 he has been the owner of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport. In 2004, Sullivan was named by The Sunday Times as Britain's 68th richest man, with assets valued at over £500 million.^[2]

[edit] Career

Sullivan began his career at Gerald Ronson's petrol stations which paid him £30 a week. He entered the porn market at 21 by producing porn pictures weekly and selling sheets of photos by mail order, earning him £700 to £800 a week.^[2]

[edit] Pornography

By the mid-1970s Sullivan was in control of half of the adult magazine market.^[2] In the late 1970s he produced several low-budget British sex movies including Come Play with Me (1977) (directed by Harrison Marks), The Playbirds (1978), Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979) and Queen of the Blues (1979), all starring his then-girlfriend Mary Millington. After Millington's suicide in August 1979 he continued with Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions (1980) and Emmanuelle in Soho (1981).

[edit] Other interests

[edit] Horse racing

More recently Sullivan has invested heavily in racehorses. His horse David Junior, named after his son, participates in many Group 1 races around the world and is trained by Irish trainer Brian Meehan; David Junior is now a top Sire in Japan. Sullivan also has a horse in training, named after another one of his sons, which featured in the 2007 flat racing season.

[edit] Birmingham City F.C.

In 1993, Sullivan bought into Birmingham City F.C. with David Gold and Ralph Gold.^[3] However, in 2007 Sullivan expressed his desire to sell his share in the club. Sullivan stated he had three reasons for why he wanted to leave. "One, the geographical distance. I've said for years the journey to Birmingham is killing me. Two, I think deep down the public have had enough of us. They think we should have mortgaged our houses to buy more players to compete with Chelsea and Arsenal. The honeymoon is long over and we're at the divorce stage now, unfortunately. And I also feel we've had no support from Birmingham council."^[4]

In April 2008, Sullivan and Birmingham City F.C. managing director Karren Brady were released on bail after being arrested by City of London Police and questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting in connection with an ongoing investigation of alleged corruption in English football.^[5] In August 2009 it was confirmed that no action would be taken.^[6]

Sullivan attributed major blame for Birmingham's 2008 relegation from the Premier League to previous manager Steve Bruce's player signings, and suggested he wanted to sell his stake in the club following the behaviour of sections of the crowd at the last game of the 2007–08 season.^[7]

[edit] Personal life

Sullivan lives in Birch Hall, near Chipping Ongar, Essex. It was built by Ashby and Horner to Sullivan's design in 1992 and set in 12 acres of land, at a cost of £7.5m for the land and building.^[8] His partner is Emma Benton-Hughes, sister of Jonny Trunk, who met Sullivan while she was working as a model for his pornographic magazines under her previously married name of Eve Vorley. The couple have two children, David and Jack.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Sources

• Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema 2007 (third edition) (Reynolds & Hearn books)
• Simon Sheridan Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington 1999 (FAB Press, Guildford)
• Mark Killick The Sultan of Sleaze 1994 (Penguin UK)

[edit] External links

• Photo of Sullivan