A regular at the OB New York Dinner, Alexander has fond memories of the bike sheds at Brighton College, though for entirely different reasons than one might think.
1. When you were at Brighton College, what did you want to be when you 'grew-up'?
I always wanted to work in America for a newspaper. My family had lived in New York for many years before I was born. I grew up hearing so many amazing stories about the city that I set my heart on living there from a very early age.
2. What are you now you've grown up?
Managing Editor (Pictures) at the New York Daily News.
3. What is your best memory of school?
There are too many to narrow it down to just one. I am to this day a full-on history nerd and I have the College to thank for that, especially Martin Jones. As part of my modern history A-level, we were allowed to write an essay on practically anything and I chose "A Historiography of The Cold War", comparing the work of three types of historian - revisionist, post-revisionist and modernist - in their analysis of the Cold War. I loved how the same event could be perceived in so many different ways.
Mr. Jones feared I might have bitten off more than I could chew but despite this gave me his full support.
This is not going to sound like a big deal now but trying to do this in 1989/90 was tricky without the internet having so much online. I remember spending every Wednesday evening taking my bike from a shed in Chichester, taking the train to Falmer, and spending a few hours at Sussex University to pore over a load of specialist history books.
The College then paid for the postal fees so I could send out a load of letters to historians, most of whom were in America, and get their views on each other's conclusions.
One of my happiest memories was getting the letters back from some of the world's greatest historians and I still have them. Pride of place goes to a letter I received after I had completed the essay from Wendy Williams, widow of "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy" historian William Appleman Williams. She explained how her husband had been in the final bout of cancer when he wrote to me and that they had wished me the best of luck.
My time with the College's Combined Cadet Force holds very happy memories for me. The CCF taught me so much: marksmanship from Sgt. Major Chris O'Connell; fieldcraft and thunder flashes; the accuracy of an Enfield rifle; Gurkhas teaching me how to throw a grenade and how to anticipate the firing arc of Heckler & Koch submachine guns.
But the greatest thing it taught me was a firm respect for our allied military forces and that we must never forget the sacrifices they have made.
4. What was the best piece of advice you were given?
That there is nothing greater than persistence, that you make your own luck, and that keeping silent is the best way to have a reluctant interviewee tell you something.
5. What did you/do you do as a career?
I'm Managing Editor (Pictures) of the New York Daily News. After Brighton College, I was given a scholarship to the Westminster Press Journalism College and then started as a cub reporter at the Chatham News in Kent. I moved to London to work at several newspapers, including The Evening Standard, The People, The Sunday Express and The News of the World before becoming Press Secretary to Mohamed Al Fayed, then-Chairman of Harrods. At the end of 2004 I moved to New York to work at The National Enquirer. In 2010, I received two Pulitzer Prize team nominations for Investigative Reporting and National News Reporting for work uncovering how US Presidential nominee John Edwards tried to cover-up having a mistress and daughter with her. I have been with the New York Daily News since 2012.
6. What does your job involve?
The role of the Managing Editor (Pictures) means that I am responsible for every photograph that appears in the New York Daily News. It is a huge honour.
7. What are the most challenging parts of your job?
The Daily News is New York. If something happens in the world's greatest city then photos from the event need to be in the world's greatest newspaper. It is a massive responsibility only made easier by being lucky enough to having a team of world-class photographers and picture editors working with me.
8. What have you done that you are most proud of?
Being part of the newspaper in the weeks after Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York on 29 October, 2012, made me immensely proud. My colleagues and I were trapped that night in our Lower Manhattan office as the water submerged our lobby and our printing presses suffered terribly in New Jersey. Many of my picture staff had it worst, with several losing their homes to flooding and fire.
While many editors would have thrown in the towel the next day, Editor-In-Chief Colin Myler refused to let the Daily News go unpublished and we worked in a small office overlooking Time Square while photographers and reporters put everything on the line to get award-winning work. Watching my team's dedication was extremely humbling.
At the National Enquirer, getting the 2010 Pulitzer Prize nominations, the highest award in journalism, was a great moment. US Presidential nominee John Edwards tried all he could to keep the affair with a political staffer, and the subsequent birth of their daughter, a secret. Once ignored for their reporting by others in the media, I can tell you that the team on The National Enquirer who helped me when I confronted Edwards after over a year's research, are some of the best in the business.
In England, the proudest parts of my career came from helping to free people from prison, including one man who had endured a 26-year sentence for a murder it was proven he did not commit.
9. What is the single thing that would most improve the quality of your life?
It has already happened. Sabina Ptacin, the co-founder of TinShingle.com and I were married on September 14 this year in Chicago. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I think those who have met her at OBA events in New York would happily-agree.
10. What are the three objects you would take with you to a desert island?
1) Sabina Hitchen. She is the object of my affections.
2) A water filter. Never underestimate one of these. Ray Mears showed you can make everything else if you have the time and the know-how.
3) An internet radio. I'm not sure if it was a way to deal with homesickness when I left school but when I started work I began listening to BBC's "The Archers", something that was especially popular in my home. I think I'm the only person who has listened to the "everyday story of country folk" in 34 states across the United States. My other addiction is "The Bugle", a hilarious podcast from John Oliver in New York and Andy Zaltzman in London which gives a far-more intelligent look at world events than many other pundits claim to provide.
11. How would you like to be remembered?
A pretty good guy.