Gompertz was previously director of Tate Media, and appeared in a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 called Double Art History. 2 Gompertz has written extensively for The Guardian and The Times newspapers. He is the author of What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in the Blink of an Eye 3
He is the son of Dr Hugh Gompertz OBE, and is a second cousin to Simon Gompertz, the personal finance correspondent to BBC News. 4 He was born in Kent, and attended Bedford School. He did not take any A-levels.
Gompertz married Kate Anderson in 1993 and they have three sons (born 1995, 1997 and 2002) and one daughter (born 1999).