Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born in New York on 19 June 1964. The eldest of four children, Boris is the son of the environmentalist and former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson, and painter Charlotte Fawcett.
On his father's side, Boris is the great-grandson of Ali Kemal Bey, a liberal Turkish journalist and poet, who was briefly interior minister in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. His maternal grandfather was Sir James Fawcett, a prominent British barrister and president of the European Commission of Human Rights.
Boris was educated at the European School in Brussels, Ashdown House in East Sussex, Eton College and finally Oxford University, where he read Classics.
He started a career in journalism at The Times and continued to The Daily Telegraph where he worked from 1987 to 1999. Boris was then made editor of The Spectator and in 2001 became one of the country's most high profile MPs when he was elected MP for Henley.
In 2005 Boris stood down from his role at The Spectator, having been appointed shadow minister for higher education by Conservative leader David Cameron.
In September 2007, Boris was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Mayor of London election. He defeated Labour’s incumbent Ken Livingstone and was elected Mayor on 2 May 2008.
Visit Wikipedia for a more in-depth Boris biography, or see our related links for information on Boris' official blog, Twitter, BorisWatch, press articles and more.
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