Named Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (allegedly named after Piers Courage, a brewery heir and motor-racing driver), Morgan was born in Newick, East Sussex, U.K., on March 30, 1965. After studying journalism at Harlow College, Piers launched his career working in the U.K. newspaper/print media industry with jobs at Lloyds of London and the South London Press.
He landed his big break when The Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie hired him to run "Bizarre," the show-biz column; and by 1994 Rupert Murdoch named him the official editor of famed Brit tabloid newspaper News of the World, a position he left about a year later amidst controversy over his cavalier attitude toward the privacy of celebrities and, specifically, photos he snapped of Catherine Victoria Lockwood (former wife of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer) leaving a detox clinic. However, he landed the editor position at another tabloid (the Daily Mirror), a career that lasted from 1995 to 2004 and included many controversies and criticisms against him, most particularly the case starting in 2000 involving a breach of the financial journalism code of conduct after his alleged purchase of 20,000 pounds of shares in the computer company Viglen.
Morgan was able to hang onto his job, but ended up getting fired in May 2004 for a completely unrelated matter: publishing fake photos of British military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners. A year later, he gained ownership of media trade publication Press Gazette, which was sold to a trade buyer at the end of 2006. Two years after he was fired from his editorial position at the Daily Mirror, Morgan launched First News, a national newspaper for kids aged nine to twelve.
In more recent years, Morgan’s career has branched into various roles on television as a host, judge, presenter, and proprietor. In addition to his judging duties on Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, Morgan has been involved with the shows The Importance of Being Famous, Morgan & Platell (a current affairs interview show on Channel 4 with Amanda Platell), You’re Fired, and The Gong Show.
Morgan is currently judging the second season of America’s Got Talent on NBC, alongside judges David Hasselhoff and Sharon Osbourne (who’s replacing last year’s Brandy), as well as host Jerry Springer, taking over from the recovering Regis Philbin. He’s known for being a little like Simon Cowell (who works with other judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul) on American Idol with his brutal honesty and ruthlessness in judging contestants.
Morgan has also gained public recognition for his ongoing controversies with British broadcaster and writer Jeremy Clarkson as well as Ian Hislop from British satirical magazine Private Eye and satirical current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You. As if there wasn’t enough going on with him, Morgan has also written and published eight books throughout his career, starting with 1991’s Secret Lives, and ending most recently with Don’t You Know Who I Am? in 2007.
YUDDY
