Trivia

Editor of the satirical magazine "Private Eye", where he succeeded Richard Ingrams.

The only person to appear on every episode of Have I Got News for You (1990), once even doing so whilst suffering from appendicitis (something not revealed until some time later).

The only person to appear twice as a guest on Room 101 (1994).

Because of his diminutive stature and pugnacious journalistic style, he was once described by fellow journalist John Sweeney as "a garden gnome on acid".

On October 1, 2024, Hislop was a passenger in the back seat of a London taxi stalled in traffic near the "Private Eye" offices when it appeared that a gunman took a shot at the cab. No-one was hurt, fortunately. This created considerable news interest and shock, but, the following day, the police reported (after extensive forensic examination) that there was no evidence that a shot had been fired and suggested that some sort of mechanical fault had caused the window of the tax-cab to shatter.