Alisdair Macdonald
Illustration — Alisdair Macdonald at the Daily Mirror offices, 1962 Alisdair Macdonald (1940–2007) was a British press photographer who worked for 26 years with the Daily Mirror. He took a seven-year break to help launch the first full-colour national newspaper Today. In 1963 Macdonald travelled with the Beatles to Paris to document their shows at the Olympia.
Alisdair Macdonald
Lightw8ter52 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- Alisdair Macdonald was born in 1940.
- Died
- Alisdair Macdonald died in 2007.
- Occupation
- photographer
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Alisdair Macdonald at the Daily Mirror offices, 1962 Alisdair Macdonald (1940–2007) was a British press photographer who worked for 26 years with the Daily Mirror. He took a seven-year break to help launch the first full-colour national newspaper Today. In 1963 Macdonald travelled with the Beatles to Paris to document their shows at the Olympia.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Alisdair Macdonald. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q42887154 · wikipedia · Alisdair Macdonald
In this article
Legacy
He would regularly photograph the band, up to and beyond their break up in 1970. In 1989 he won first place in the Humour category of the World Press Photo contest for his photograph of a workman leaving the scene of a burst water main.
After his death, his child Helen Macdonald adopted a goshawk to help cope with their grief and subsequently wrote H is for Hawk about their experiences. He was portrayed by Brendan Gleeson in the 2025 film H Is for Hawk.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Alisdair Macdonald”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q42887154: Alisdair Macdonald
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Alisdair Macdonald: 1940–2007.
- 2.Obituaries Alisdair Macdonald.
- 3.Obituaries – Alisdair Macdonald. Press Gazette. 31 March 2007.
- 4.Davis, Andy. Beatles files. CLB International. 1998. 1-85833-857-3.
- 5.1989 Alisdair MacDonald HM1 | World Press Photo.
- 6.Stephen Moss, Helen Macdonald: a bird’s eye view of love and loss, The Guardian, 5 November 2014.
- 7.Macdonald, Helen. H is for Hawk. Jonathan Cape. 2014. 978-0224097000.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Aline Meyer LiebmanPhotographer
- Alinka EcheverríaPhotographer
- Alioune BâPhotographer
- Alisa WellsPhotographer
- Alison FrantzPhotographer
- Alison JacksonPhotographer
- Alison LapperPhotographer
- Alison RossiterPhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Alisdair Macdonald?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.