Sixties City Index Page
Sixties City Newspapers and Magazines
Woman's Own January 28th 1967
   

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The first British newspaper, called the 'Weekly News', was published in London in 1622. In 1785 the 'Daily Universal Register' (renamed 'The Times' in 1788) began publication in London and in 1791 'The Observer', Britain's oldest national Sunday newspaper, started publication. The Times front page featured no headline news and carried lists of births, marriages and deaths until May 1966. Britain's oldest continuously published newspaper, 'The London Gazette', began life in 1665 as the 'Oxford Gazette' (renamed the 'London Gazette' in 1666) initially reporting on foreign events but later evolving as a means of communicating official government notices. Regional and local press publications started developing during the 1830s. During the 18th and 19th centuries the industry moved towards mass production following advances in paper manufacturing processes and printing machinery, and a significant growth in public literacy.

The Sixties saw major changes in the newspaper and magazine industry with the advent of colour supplements for papers and the first 'tabloids' appearing, while many of the older papers were either taken over or ceased publication. The Sunday Times was the first newspaper to include a colour supplement, soon followed by The Telegraph and The Observer. The first issue of The Observer magazine was published on 6th September 1964 containing photographs by John Hedgecoe and Loomis Dean, with a picture story on the London Stock Exchange provided by Gerry Cranham. Its front cover featured Hedgecoe's portrait of Lord Mountbatten, the first colour photograph published by The Observer.

Newspapers had previously been organs for conveying current events or editorial opinions. A new diversity of articles started appearing aimed at different groups of the population. One of the best-known and longest-lasting regular additions was initiated by the Daily Mail in 1968. Called 'Femail', it appeared for the first time on Tuesday October 29th and was edited by Shirley Conran, examining, discussing and enlarging on aspects of what they perceived to be the interests of their female readership.


Magazines, too, took on a whole new look to match the changing culture. Women's magazines like Nova were very much more visually inventive, as were
Vogue, edited in the Sixties by Diane Vreeland, and Queen, using photo-lithography to adapt type to fit around pictures. Queen carried articles about the latest jet-set upper class 'fashion icons' using photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Cartier Bresson and Norman Parkinson but also, importantly, dealt with social issues. It was the first magazine to do an in-depth feature on 'social' drug usage and also championed feminist issues. The Sixties saw a battle for supremacy in the field between Queen and an American 'import' called Harper's Bazaar. Queen held the high ground right up until the end of the Sixties, when its circulation started to founder and it was eventually taken over for nothing, the two publications merging to become Harper's and Queen.
A brand-new concept in literature hit the streets with the birth of 'underground' magazines like 'IT' (International Times), 'Yarrow Roots', 'Gandalf's Garden' , 'OZ' and Clive Goodwin's 'Black Dwarf', that catered to the anti-establishment, idealistic counter-culture of Sixties youth. Even the magazine 'Time Out' started as an 'underground' publication. Their pictures were anarchic in style, frequently being printed out of focus or super-imposed, and the type was laid unconventionally, sometimes appearing diagonally or even upside-down. The other great anti-establishment publication, the satirical magazine 'Private Eye', made its first appearance in 1961, featuring its first 'gag' picture cover in April 1962.

Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror

The Times and Sunday Times
Daily Sketch
News Chronicle
Sunday Citizen and Reynold's News
News of the World
2nd Nov 1903 - UK's oldest national tabloid.
Sunday Mirror 14th Mar 1915
(originally as The Sunday Pictorial)
1st Jan 1785. Broadsheet until 30th Oct 2004
Sunday Times 18th Feb 1821 (as 'The New Observer' then 'Independent Observer')
re-named 'Sunday Times' 20th Oct 1822
Founded in Manchester in 1909
Merged with Daily Graphic in 1946.
Merged with Daily Mail in 1971
Formed from merger of Daily News (1846)
and Daily Chronicle (1872) in 1876.
Merged with Daily Mail 17th Oct 1960
Reynold's Weekly Newspaper (1850)
Reynold's Illustrated News (1924)
Reynold's News (1936)
re-named 23rd Sep 1962. Closed 1967
1st Oct 1843.
A broadsheet until 13th May 1984.
Closed 7th July 2011

The Sun


The Daily Herald

The Guardian

London Evening Standard

Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph

The Observer
14th Sep 1964
Formed from old Daily Herald
25th Jan 1911
Ceased and re-named The Sun 14th Sep 1964
25th Aug 1959
Broadsheet until 10th Sep 2005
21st May 1827 as 'The Standard'
London Evening Standard since May 2009
29th Jun 1855. Also
Sunday Telegraph from 5th Feb 1961
4th Dec 1791
World's oldest Sunday newspaper

Financial Times


Daily Express Sunday Express

The Sporting Life

Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday

The People and Sunday People
The Evening News
13th Feb 1888
Merged with Financial News (1884) in 1945
24th Apr 1900
Sunday Express (1918)
30th April 1859
Merged with Racing Post in 1998
14th May 1896. A broadsheet until 1971.
Mail on Sunday (1982)
16th Oct 1881 as 'The People'
Re-named The Sunday People
26th Jul 1881
Merged with Evening Standard 31st Oct 1980



Newspaper and Magazine Publishing Timeline (read in conjunction with text articles and separate timelines that contain additional information)

Radio Times
Radio Times
2000th edition


The Sun
The Sun
First edition


International Times
International Times


Private Eye
Private Eye


The Observer
Observer
Colour Supplement


Nova
Nova magazine
First edition


OZ
OZ magazine
First edition
1960
Radio Times

Daily Sketch 7th May 1960

The Star is incorporated into The London Evening News
The Sunday Empire News is incorporated into The News Of The World
The Sunday Dispatch and Daily Herald print the first colour pictures (Princess Margaret's wedding)
TV Times switches printing to gravure at Sun Printers in Watford, Herts
The Audit Bureau of Circulations expands to cover magazines
Circulation of the Radio Times is 6,784,487
15th January The National Christian News starts
17th October The News Chronicle is incorporated into The Daily Mail
10th December The Sunday Graphic expires

1961
Private Eye

Roy Thomson

In 1961 there were 133 daily papers and 1310 weekly papers being produced in the U.K. and Eire
The Mirror group takes over Odhams Publishing
Denis Hamilton is appointed editor of the Sunday Times by new owner Roy Thomson
The Sunday Times circulation is about 1million copies; the Sunday Express 4.5million and the Sunday Telegraph approximately 700,000
Scenes for 'The Day The Earth Caught Fire' are shot in the art deco Express building in Fleet Street
The Sunday Dispatch is incorporated into The Sunday Express
5th February - the first issue of the Sunday Telegraph is published (price 4d)
Most national dailies increase their prices to 3d in March
25th October - Private Eye magazine is launched, designed by Willie Rushton. First editor is Christopher Booker. Backers include Peter Cook

1962
Farming Express

Sunday Times Magazine

Newspaper circulations: The People 5,543,535; News of the World, 6,644,501; Sunday Express, 4,398,093; Sunday Telegraph 682,693; Sunday Pictorial 5,242,000
The Bolton Evening News is the first UK paper to print colour advertising, produced by Martlet Press in London
Edward ('Pick') Pickering, the Daily Express editor, relaunched Farming Express as a colour magazine and was appointed managing director of publications
The Guardian's move to London results in increased sales to overtake the Times. Its advertising page rate was £800 compared with £1,500 for the Times
The biggest selling US paper was the Daily News in New York with a circulation of 1.9 million
The Observer sponsors an expedition to track down the Loch Ness Monster
The first issue of Gay News is published
Reynolds News becomes Sunday Citizen and Reynold's News
March - The number of newspapers in the UK and Eire is reported at 1,450 (10 fewer than 1961). The number of magazines is reported at 3,997 (up from 3,851 in 1961)
June - A miniature edition of The Radio Times was produced for the Royal doll's house, measuring 7.5cm x 6cm
4th February Mark Boxer of The Sunday Times produces the first colour supplement, the front page of which includes 11 pictures of Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey. The magazine was printed by Odhams' Sun Printers and inserted separately by newsagents. A colour page was priced at £2,700 compared with £1,800 for monotone
10th March The Radio Times publishes its 2000th issue - price 5d

1963
Observer magazine

Newnes, Fleetway (formerly Amalgamated Press) and Odhams Press merge as part of International Publishing Corporation (IPC)
The Observer starts issuing a colour supplement
The Daily Telegraph starts issuing a colour magazine with its Friday edition
The Sunday Pictorial is re-named the Sunday Mirror

1964
Daily Telegraph magazine

The Press Council replaces General Council of the Press
Daily Telegraph Magazine launched (Thursdays)
Roy Thomson is given a hereditary barony and becomes Lord Thomson of Fleet
9th June Lord Beaverbrook, the press baron of Express Newspapers dies aged 85
14th September The Daily Herald expires
14th September At 10pm presses start rolling at The Sun, the first new national daily for 34 years
15th September The Sun sells 3.5 million copies on its first day of sale

1965
Vogue

The first novel typeset by a computer, Margaret Drabble's 'The Millstone' is published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson
'King' and 'Penthouse' magazines are launched
Vogue starts its 'Men in Vogue' section
March - Nova magazine is launched by IPC - 'A new kind of magazine for the new kind of woman'
September - Lord Thompson launches 'the world's most modern newspaper', The Evening Post

1966
International Times

The Daily Worker becomes The Morning Star
The Times puts 'headline' news on its front page for the first time
The Bristol Evening Post changes its typesetting methods to a computer-controlled system
IT International Times magazine is first published
Haymarket, the British Institute of Management, the Financial Times and the Economist launch Management Today
15th August The New York Herald Tribune stops publication
30th September Lord Thompson (Sunday Times) buys The Times and changes its front page layout for the first time in 181 years to include news stories with pictures

1967
OZ

The Sunday Citizen and Reynolds News expires
New York Magazine ia launched in the USA
Rolling Stone magazine is first produced, in San Francisco
Oz 'underground' magazine is first published by Richard Neville
William Rees-Mogg becomes editor of The Times

1968
Sir Stanley Unwin


Type Face 1969
May Gandalf's Garden magazine is first published
May Black Dwarf newspaper first published
13th October British publisher Sir Stanley Unwin dies
1969

Mike Molloy launches the Daily Mirror colour supplement
Associated-Iliffe Press, George Newnes and Odhams Press merge to become IPC Magazines Ltd, as part of IPC Ltd, owner of the Daily Mirror, The People and The Sun newspapers
Circulation of The Radio Times is 3,883,815 - about half of what it was in 1960
1st January Rupert Murdoch wins the takeover battle with Robert Maxwell for The News of the World
10th January After 147 years, the last issue of the (US) Saturday Evening Post is published
21st July The biggest typefaces ever used announce that man is on the moon
15th October The print unions finally allow Rupert Murdoch's purchase of The Sun
15th November The Sunday People becomes a tabloid
17th November The Sun newspaper becomes a tabloid


Further information and copies of old newspapers and magazines may be found at Historic Newspapers and Tilleys Vintage Magazines



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