Obituary: Felix Dennis, publisher

Felix Dennis: Maverick magazine publisher who amassed a fortune after standing trial for conspiracy. Picture: Getty

Felix Dennis began his career in magazines selling the underground hippy publication Oz on the streets in the 1960s. He went on to become its co-editor, was convicted and ultimately acquitted on obscenity charges, and he subsequently made millions with specialist magazines on everything from personal computers to kung-fu.

Oz, with its left-wing politics and frank approach to sex and drugs, was a landmark in British cultural history. The trial of The Oz Three, turned into the longest conspiracy trial in English judicial history and a highly charged and colourful battle for the freedom of the press.

Dennis had Rumpole of the Bailey author John Mortimer as counsel and at one point the defendants turned up dressed as schoolgirls. The judge gave Dennis a more lenient sentence than his co-accused because he was clearly “very much less intelligent” than the others and therefore could hardly be held fully responsible.

Intelligent or not, Dennis had a knack of spotting the commercial potential in cultural and consumer developments. And he was never content just to leave it to newsagents to sell his wares, attempting to maximise postal subscriptions and pioneering new digital editions.

In the 1970s he founded Dennis Publishing, which had enormous success with a string of new publications, including Kung-Fu Monthly, Computer Shopper and in later years Auto Express and Maxim, which became the world’s best-selling men’s lifestyle magazine. One of his big successes was The Week, brief highlights of news stories and articles from other publications over the last seven days – its “digest” approach has essentially been copied by many websites. His company also acquired various other magazines, including Viz and Bizarre.

Dennis also spent lavishly on the pursuit of pleasure. He had houses in London, Warwickshire, New York and Connecticut and bought David Bowie’s old villa Mandalay on the little Caribbean island of Mustique.

He did not own a yacht or jet; he merely rented them in line with his philosophy – “if it flies, floats or fornicates always rent it”.

He claimed to have gone through $100 million on women – with 14 “mistresses” on the payroll – and on crack cocaine and fine French wine.

He even gave away expensive wine to complete strangers in exchange for their attendance at his poetry readings. He did a national tour, which he entitled Did I Mention the Free Wine? His poetry was underpinned by a dark sense of humour; Stephen Fry and Paul McCartney were fans.

A distinctive character, who retained the look of a hippy into his sixties, with his long hair and beard, Dennis brought out several volumes of poetry in later life, but he had an even bigger seller with the book called How To Get Rich.

The son of a tobacconist, he was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey in 1947. When he was three his father went off to Australia and Dennis grew up with his mother, brother and grandparents. He enrolled in art school, but dropped out to pursue a music career in London, where he played in several pop bands, while also arranging window displays in department stores.

Meanwhile, Oz was first published in 1963 in Australia, and there was controversy from the outset. The founder Richard Neville relocated to England and launched an English version of the magazine in 1967. Dennis met Neville and sold the magazine in King’s Road – direct marketing at its most basic.

As well as being highly controversial because of its approach to politics and social issues, Oz was also noted for its psychedelic art and Dennis began a collection of artworks that would later be worth a small fortune in itself.

In 1970, while Neville was on holiday, Dennis and Jim Anderson edited the magazine, and essentially turned it over to some school pupils to produce. The very title “schoolkids issue” and contents that included a sexualised version of Rupert the Bear brought the authorities to their door and led to the famous trial.

There were demonstrations. John Peel spoke eloquently about sexual freedom among young people and comedian Marty Feldman was perhaps lucky to escape incarceration when he took the stand and called the judge a “boring old fart”.

To raise money for the defence David Hockney produced engravings of the defendants in the nude and John Lennon recorded a single with Dennis and others.

The trial boosted the profile and circulation of Oz, though the convictions were overturned on appeal, circulation fell away and the magazine closed in 1973.

But the following year Dennis had worldwide success and laid the foundation of his own publishing empire when he tapped into the success of the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon, co-wrote a biography of Lee and brought out the first issue of Kung-Fu Monthly.

In 1976 he launched Which Bike?, for motorcycle enthusiasts, and it provided the template for a number of other specialist consumer publications, including various computer and car magazines.

In the 1970s he also brought out several Star Wars publications and they were followed with other film tie-in books and magazines.

His was an undoubtedly a colourful life and Dennis recounted tales from it with great relish, though the listener could not always be sure that the details were totally accurate.

He claimed to be the first person to use the C-word on British television, while in the audience on David Frost’s show, back in 1970.

On another occasion, in 2008, he said in a newspaper interview that he had a confrontation with a man, who he knew was abusive to his partner. According to Dennis he met the man and then pushed him off a cliff to his death.

Asked if other people knew about this, Dennis said they did not and they would never find out, which seemed a little naïve, given that he was talking to a journalist who was intending to write an article on him. It was not the normal stuff of celebrity anecdotes. But the story did not seem to connect to any known death and Dennis admitted he had been drunk and just made it up.

Dennis remained the sole owner of Dennis Publishing, which has a turnover of around £80 million a year. However, much of his wealth came from MircoWarehouse, a computer company he co-founded in 1987. It is now part of Dixons. The BBC apparently wanted him to oversee The Apprentice, but it is thought he was not keen on firing people, and the job went to Alan Sugar.

He was diagnosed with throat cancer and had surgery to remove a tumour in 2012. He is survived by his long-term partner, Marie-France Demolis. He did not have any children.