MORNING STAR RISES
Communist newspaper the Daily Worker was changing its name to the Morning Star. Press Gazetteremarked that the title’s new masthead was reminiscent of London evening newspaper The Star, which had folded.
NO MORE WATCH THIS SPACE
In Rhodesia, white spaces in newspapers, often used by independent publications to show what had been censored by the Government, had been banned.
MIRROR’S FIRST IN PRINTING
The Daily Mirror had become the first British newspaper to compose a complete edition in one city (Manchester) and print a regional edition 175 miles away in Belfast using facsimile transmission. The Mirror had invested £1m in a web-offset plant in Belfast. Edward Pickering, then editorial director of the Daily Mirror, said he was very pleased with the results. Also on the front page was a story about John Leese, then editor designate of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, who was about to embark on a 10-week study of newspaper techniques in the US and Europe before taking up his new post. Leese went on to edit The Mail on Sunday’s You
magazine and became editor of the Evening Standard. While editor of the Standard, he saw off the challenge of Robert Maxwell’s London Daily News. Press Gazette also reported on the front page that the BBC had been banned from Rhodesia, as it is now from Zimbabwe.
ALL THE FUN OF THE ROYALS
A colour magazine that promised to be “a regular monthly cavalcade of royalty in our time” was scheduled for a September launch. Majesty was to be published by City Magazines, part of the News of the World organisation, and edited by Alfred Brockman, City Magazines’ managing editor, who already had responsibility for Men Only, Angling, Motor Cyclist Illustrated, Parade and Small Trader. A dummy copy of Majesty said it appealed to “the most marked of all British characteristics – loyalty to the Crown.”
IMAGE OF ARMAGEDDON?
This picture of a 190ft crane lying in a deserted Fleet Street was likened by Press Gazette to the film The Day the Earth Caught Fire, which featured national newspapers as the world facedextinction. The crane was being used to lift two five-ton boilers onto the roof of The Daily Telegraph.
PRESS COUNCIL BACKS KEELER
Christine Keeler, the call girl at the centre of the Profumo scandal, complained to the Press Council that her new name and address had been published after her marriage. The Press Council ruled: “It was inevitable Miss Keeler’s marriage should be reported as a matter of public interest, but her request that her new name and address should not be published was a reasonable one. The Press Council regrets that this was either overlooked or disregarded by a number of editors.”
QUIET REVOLUTION AT THE TIMES
The Times modestly carried a major development in its history as a four-line nib paragraph at the bottom of a news page. It read: “The work of redesigning The Times has now been completed. Beginning with the issue of May 3, news will be placed on the front page.” Press Gazette said The Times’ revolution had been given the “small earthquake in Peru” treatment by its understated announcement.
HEYHOE IS A HIT
A youthful Rachael Heyhoe appeared in Press Gazette after she was made captain of the English women’s cricket team. Heyhoe was on the reporting staff of the WolverhamptonChronicle and her aim was to be a
sports journalist.
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