The character arc of Johann Hari
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 21 January 1979 in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and a Swiss father, and brought to London as an infant. Between then and now sit a father who drove buses and a mother who nursed and later worked in shelters for survivors of domestic violence, physical abuse in childhood by an adult he has not named, an independent school and then a state sixth form, a double first at Cambridge in 2001, two columns a week on a national newspaper, Young Journalist of the Year at twenty four, a resignation in 2011 after admitting plagiarism and fabrication, and four books since. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Johann Hari?
He lost the whole career at thirty two. Then he started again.
He was born in Glasgow and brought to London as an infant. His father drove buses. His mother was a nurse who later worked in shelters for survivors of domestic violence, which tells you something about the house he grew up in. He has said that he was physically abused in childhood by an adult he has not named, while his father was away and his mother was ill.
He went to an independent school affiliated with Harrow and then to a state sixth form in Finchley, and graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 2001 with a double first in social and political sciences. He joined the New Statesman straight out of university, worked there from 2001 to 2003, then wrote two columns a week for The Independent. He won Young Journalist of the Year at the 2003 press awards. He had a book out at twenty three and a play performed in Edinburgh. By 2009 a national newspaper named him one of the most influential commentators in the country. He was thirty.
In June 2011 it emerged that he had plagiarised material published in other interviews and writings by his own interview subjects. He initially denied wrongdoing, saying the unattributed quotes were for clarification. He later said his behaviour was completely wrong. He was also found to have fabricated elements of his work and to have used a false identity to make malicious edits to the Wikipedia pages of journalists who had criticised him. He resigned. A prize he had won in 2008 was examined by its council. He was thirty two, and the career was over.
What he did next is the reason he is on this page. He came back as a book writer, and each book took years. A book on the global prohibition of drugs came out in January 2015; because of what had happened, he put the audio of some of his interviews online, and a writer still criticised instances of inaccurate transcription. A book in 2018 argued that depression and related conditions are not solely caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Books on attention and on anti-obesity medication followed.
The books have reached very large numbers of people who were not reading him in 2011, and the reviews still mention what happened, which is the permanent cost. Both halves are on this line, because that is what the line is for.
The moments
Johann Hari's timeline.
The 1980s
A bus driver and a nurse
Everyday. A bus driver, a nurse, and a house in London.
Hurt as a child
Setback, and it changed everything. He has said it plainly, and named nobody.
The 1990s
Cambridge
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A double first at Cambridge, out of a state sixth form.
The 2000s
The New Statesman
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A national magazine at twenty two, and then two columns a week.
A book and a play
Milestone. A published book and a staged play, at twenty three.
Young Journalist of the Year
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty four years old, and the best young journalist in the country.
Named among the influential
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Thirty years old, and on the lists.
The 2010s
The plagiarism emerges
Setback, and it changed everything. He denied it first, and then said plainly that it had been completely wrong.
The Wikipedia edits
Setback, and it changed everything. He had been editing his critics' pages under a false name.
He resigns
Setback, and it changed everything. Thirty two years old, and the whole career gone in three months.
Leave it, or write again
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: write books anyway, taken, or do something else. Four books have followed, and the reviews still mention 2011.
A book on the drug war
Milestone, and it changed everything. Four years later, a book, with the interview tapes published alongside it.
Lost Connections
Milestone, and it changed everything. A book about depression that reached people who had never read a column of his.
The 2020s
Attention, and then medicine
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two more books, on two more subjects nobody else was covering that way.
The books keep coming and so do the reviews that mention 2011, which is the shape of the rest of it. What this line records is the thing that is hardest to do and easiest to sneer at: a public failure that was his own fault, admitted, and then twelve years of work that he could only do by starting at the bottom again.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His ended a career at thirty two and started a different one from nothing. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Johann Hari: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Johann Hari's character arc?
What happened to Johann Hari in 2011?
What books has Johann Hari written?
What is Johann Hari's Lost Connections about?
What did Johann Hari do before the scandal?
Was Johann Hari's childhood difficult?
Where does this timeline of Johann Hari's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Johann Hari, English Wikipedia biography.
- His own statements of 2011, including that his behaviour was completely wrong, as that biography quotes them.
- Press Gazette Awards records for 2003, and publishing records for his four books.
- His political positions are deliberately left off this page, as is the detail of individual disputed passages.