An almost-complete overview of the
History of British Newspapers
1700 - 1750
- 1701 - Sept 6 : Estimated first issue of the Norwich Post: probably
the first provincial newspaper.
- 1702 - March 11 : Daily Courant founded, first daily paper. Ceased
publication in 1735.
- 1704 : Weekly Review founded by Daniel Defoe.
- 1704 - Aug 12 : Earliest surviving copy of a provincial newspaper:
William Bonny's Bristol Post-Boy (No. 91).
- 1705 : Edinburgh Courant founded.
- 1706 : Evening Post, first evening newspaper, founded.
- 1709 : First Copyright Act.
- 1709 : Tatler founded by Steele and Addison.
- 1709 : Worcester Post-Man founded. Became Berrow's Worcester Journal
in 1753. Britain's oldest surviving non-official newspaper.
- 1710 : Examiner founded, with Swift briefly as editor.
- 1711 : Spectator founded by Steele and Addison.
- 1712 - Aug : Stamp duty imposed on newspapers and advertisements.
- 1713 : Stamford Mercury founded, second oldest surviving provincial
newspaper.
- 1719 : Daily Post founded, with Defoe as contributor.
- 1727 : London Evening Post founded. Ceased publication in 1797.
- 1730 - Feb 3 : Daily Advertiser founded. Ceased publication in
1798.
- 1731 : Gentleman's Magazine founded by Edward Cave. Ceased publication
in 1914.
- 1734 : Lloyd's List founded.
- 1737 : Belfast Newsletter, the world's oldest surviving general
daily newspaper, founded.
- 1738 : All parliamentary reporting suppressed.
- 1747 - Dec 29 : Aberdeen Journal founded, later Press and Journal,
the oldest surviving Scottish newspaper.
1751-1800
1801 - 1850
- 1801 - Sept 27 : Weekly Dispatch launched. Became Sunday Dispatch
in 1928. Ceased publication in 1961.
- 1802 - Jan 1 : Cobbett's Annual Register founded, later Cobbett's
Weekly Political Register. Ceased publication in 1836.
- 1803 : Globe launched. Merged with Pall Mall Gazette in 1921.
- 1804 : Cambrian launched in Swansea. First newspaper published
in Wales.
- 1806 - Jan 10 : First use of illustration in the Times: Nelson's
funeral.
- 1808 - Jan 3 : Examiner launched. Editor Leigh Hunt imprisoned
in 1813 for publishing criticism of the Prince Regent. Ceased publication
in 1881.
- 1808 : North Wales Gazette launched in Bangor. First newspaper
published in North Wales.
- 1810 : Carmarthen Journal launched.
- 1814 - Jan 1 : Baptist Minister, Joseph Harrris launches Seren Gomer
('Star of Gomer') in Swansea. First Welsh-language newspaper.
- 1814 - Nov 24 : First issue of a newspaper - the Times - printed
on a (Koenig) power press.
- 1815 : Stamp Duty increased to 4d per sheet.
- 1817 - Jan 25 : Scotsman launched.
- 1821 - Feb 18 : New Observer launched. Became the Sunday Times
on 20 October 1822.
- 1821 - May 5 : Manchester Guardian founded by John Edward Taylor.
- 1822 : Stamp Office agrees to pass copies of all newspapers to British
Museum.
- 1822 : Cardiff Weekly Reporter launched.
- 1822 - March 3 : Bell's Life in London adds and Sporting Chronicle
to its title. First newspaper to include sport as a major component. Merged
with Sporting Life in 1886.
- 1827 - May 21 : Standard launched, later Evening Standard.
- 1828 - July 5 : Spectator founded.
- 1832 : First recorded British newspaper cartoon, published in
Bell's New Weekly Messenger.
- 1837 : Northern Star, major Chartist newspaper, founded in Leeds
by Feargus O'Connor.
- 1841 - July 17 : Punch founded. Ceased publication in 1992; re-launched
in 1996.
- 1841 - Nov 12 : Jewish Chronicle founded. Oldest Jewish newspaper
in the world.
- 1842 - May 14 : Illustrated London News launched: first fully illustrated
weekly.
- 1842 - Nov 27 : Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper launched,
later Lloyd's Weekly News. Became Sunday News in 1923; incorporated with
Sunday Graphic in 1931.
- 1843 : Yr Amserau ('The Times') founded in Liverpool by John Jones
and edited by William Rees. Published in the Isle of Man between July
and September 1848. Merged with Baner Cymru ('Banner of Wales') in 1859
under Thomas Gee to become Baner ac Amserau Cymru.
- 1843 - Sept 2 : Economist founded, to campaign for free trade.
- 1843 - Oct 1 : News of the World founded by John Browne Bell at
3d. Newsagents at first refused to handle it at such a low price.
- 1844 - Aug 6 : First story based on telegraphed news printed in the
Times: birth of Queen's son at Windsor.
- 1846 : Mitchell's Newspaper Press Directory founded, later Benn's
Media Directory.
- 1846 - Jan 21 : Daily News launched, edited by Charles Dickens.
- 1848 : William Howard Russell joins staff of the Times. Shortly
to become first professional war correspondent.
- 1848 : First W.H. Smith station bookstall opened, at Euston.
- 1850 - May 5 : Reynold's Weekly Newspaper launched. Became Sunday
Citizen in 1962; ceased publication in 1967.
1851-1900
- 1851 : Reuters News Agency opens in London.
- 1853 - Aug : Abolition of advertisement tax.
- 1855 : Yr Herald Cymraeg launched in Caernarfon.
- 1855 - June 29 : Daily Telegraph launched.
- 1855 - July 1 : Repeal of the Stamp Act opens the way for cheap,
mass-circulation newspapers and modern newspaper design in terms of spacing
and headlines.
- 1855 - Aug 4 : Colored News, first coloured newspaper, launched.
Discontinued 29 September.
- 1855 : Clerkenwell News launched; became Daily Chronicle in 1872.
- 1855 - Sept 20 : Daily Telegraph becomes the first 1d London morning
newspaper.
- 1857 : Daily Telegraph invents box number system for classified
advertisements.
- 1859 - March 24 : Penny Bell's Life & Sporting News launched.
Became Sporting Life on 30 April.
- 1859 - March 29 : Irish Times launched.
- 1861 : Paper duty abolished.
- 1861 - May 20 : First daily newspaper published in Wales: Cambrian
Daily Leader is launched in Swansea.
- 1865 - Feb 7 : Pall Mall Gazette launched. Merged with Evening
Standard in 1923.
- 1868 : Press Association formed.
- 1868 - Dec 8 : Echo launched, first ½d daily. Ceased publication
in 1905.
- 1869 - May 1 : Western Mail launched.
- 1869 : Newspapers deposited directly with British Museum by publishers.
- 1869 - Dec 4 : Graphic launched. Ceased publication in 1932.
- 1871 : Central News founded to rival Press Association.
- 1872 : C.P. Scott becomes editor of Manchester Guardian (until
1929).
- 1872 - Feb 7 : South Wales Daily News launched in Cardiff.
- 1880 : W.T. Stead succeeds John Morley on Pall Mall Gazette and
introduces 'new journalism', including the interview and gossip column,
into Britain.
- 1880 - May 31 : St James Gazette launched. Merged with Evening Standard
in 1905.
- 1881 - July 26 : Evening News launched. Merged with Evening Standard
in 1980.
- 1881 - Oct 16 : People launched.
- 1881 - Oct 22 : Tit-Bits launched by George Newnes.
- 1888 - Jan 9 : London Financial Guide launched. Became Financial
Times on 13 February.
- 1888 - Jan 17 : Star launched. Merged with Evening News in 1960.
- 1888 : David Lloyd George forms a company to produce the Welsh
weekly, Udgorn Rhyddid ('Trumpet of Freedom').
- 1889 - March 30 : Early use of photographs: Cambridge and Oxford
boat crews, in Illustrated London News.
- 1890 - Jan 4 : Daily Graphic launched, first daily illustrated
paper. Merged with Daily Sketch in 1926.
- 1891 - Nov 4 : First half-tone newspaper picture published in Daily
Graphic: that of George Lambert, Liberal parliamentary candidate.
- 1892 - May 21 : Morning founded; became London Morning in 1898,
then Morning Herald; purchased by C. Arthur Pearson; in September 1900 merged
with Daily Express.
- 1892 - May 23 : Morning Leader founded: later amalgamated with
Daily News.
- 1893 - Jan 2 : Financial Times first appears on pink paper.
- 1893 - Jan 31 : Westminster Gazette launched. Merged with Daily
News in 1928.
- 1893 - Feb 13 : South Wales Daily Post launched in Swansea.
- 1896 - May 4 : Daily Mail launched by Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe).
- 1897 - June 23 : Largest news illustration ever printed by any daily
paper in the UK, of the Diamond Jubilee procession, published in Daily
Mail.
- 1899 : Llais Llafur launched by Ebeneser Rees. Ceased publication
in 1915.
- 1900 - April 24 : Daily Express launched by Pearson. First national
daily to put news on the front page.
1901 - 1950
1951-2000
- 1953 : General Council of the Press formed.
- 1954 - Oct 3 : The Manchester Sunday paper, Emire News, sets up
its first Cardiff edition as 'Wales's Own Sunday Paper: Printed in Wales
for Wales'.
- 1959 - Aug 24 : Manchester Guardian changes title to the Guardian,
based in London.
- 1961 : Second Royal Commission on the Press.
- 1961 - Feb 5 : Sunday Telegraph launched.
- 1962 - Feb 4 : Launch of Sunday Times magazine as Sunday Times
Colour Section.
- 1964 : Press Council replaces General Council of the Press.
- 1964 - June 9 : Death of Lord Beaverbrook.
- 1964 - Sept 6 : Observer colour supplement launched.
- 1964 - Sept 15 : Daily Herald becomes the Sun.
- 1964 - Sept 25 : Daily Telegraph magazine launched.
- 1966 : Times bought by Roy Thomson, owner of the Sunday Times.
- 1966 - May 3 : Times begins printing news on the front page.
- 1969 : News of the World bought by Rupert Murdoch.
- 1969 - Nov 17 : Sun re-launched as a tabloid by Rupert Murdoch.
- 1973 : Y Dinesydd launched in Cardiff: the first of the Welsh-language
community papers ('papurau bro') established in Wales.
- 1974 : Third Royal Commission on the Press.
- 1976 : Evening Post (Nottingham) becomes the first British newspaper
to introduce direct input by journalists.
- 1978 - Nov 2 : Daily Star launched.
- 1978 - Dec 1 : Publication of the Times and Sunday Times suspended
for eleven months.
- 1979 : Financial Times launches international edition in Frankfurt
am Main, Germany.
- 1980 : Daily Star printed simultaneously by facsimile in London
and Manchester.
- 1980 - Oct 31 : Closure of Evening News leaves London with just
one evening newspaper.
- 1981 : Rupert Murdoch buys the Times and Sunday Times.
- 1981 - May 3 : Sunday Express magazine launched.
- 1981 - Sept 6 : News of the World magazine, Sunday, launched.
- 1982 - May 2 : Mail on Sunday launched: the first photocomposed
national newspaper in Britain.
- 1982 - Oct 17 : Sulyn launched: first Welsh-language Sunday newspaper.
Ceased publication in January 1983.
- 1984 : Robert Maxwell buys the Mirror Group.
- 1985 : Daily Telegraph bought by Conrad Black.
- 1986 : News International moves all national titles to its new
plant at Wapping.
- 1986 - March 4 : Today launched by Eddy Shah, first national
colour newspaper.
- 1986 - Sept 14 : Sunday Sport launched.
- 1986 - Oct 7 : Independent launched.
- 1987 : Today bought by Rupert Murdoch.
- 1987 : First women editors of national newspapers in modern times:
Wendy Henry (News of the World) and Eve Pollard (Sunday Mirror).
- 1987 - Feb 24 : London Daily News launched by Robert Maxwell:
the first attempt at a 24-hour newspaper in Britain. Ceased publication on
23 July.
- 1987 - April 26 : News on Sunday launched. Ceased publication in
November.
- 1988 - Aug 17 : Sport launched, initially appearing every Wednesday.
- 1989 - March 5 : Wales on Sunday launched in Cardiff.
- 1989 - Sept 17 : Sunday Correspondent launched. Ceased publication
25 November 1990.
- 1990 - Jan 28 : Independent on Sunday launched.
- 1990 - May 11 : European launched by Robert Maxwell. Ceased publication
on 14 December 1998.
- 1991 : Press Complaints Commission (PCC) replaces the Press
Council.
- 1991 - Oct 7 : Sport becomes daily.
- 1991 - Nov 5 : Death of Robert Maxwell.
- 1992 : Dundee Courier becomes the last daily in Britain to put
news not advertisements on its front page.
- 1993 : Observer bought by Guardian Media Group.
- 1994 - Nov : Electronic Telegraph launched: first British national
on the Internet.
- 1995 - Nov 17 : Today ceases publication: first national to close
since the Daily Sketch.
- 1997 - Nov 11 : Shetland Times versus Shetland News: Scotland's
test case on Internet links, settled out of court, permits the News, under
certain conditions, to link to stories on the Times's website.
- 1998 - March 15 : Sport First launched: Britain's first national
Sunday newspaper dedicated to sport.
- 1998 - May 17 : Death of Hugh, Lord Cudlipp of Aldingbourne, who
first joined the Daily Mirror in 1935.
- 1998 - Sept 1 : Death of Vere Harmsworth, Third Viscount Rothermere.
- 1999 - March 16 : Metro launched: a daily newspaper distributed
free to travellers on the London Underground (the Tube).
- 2000 - Sept 20 : Business a.m. launched: the first new, daily newspaper
in Scotland for 100 years.
Ingredients: Lecture notes, handouts, the Internet, The British Library
Board, and lots, lots, lots of time