Colin Valdar (18 December 1918 – 11 January 1996) was a British

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

. Valdar studied at

Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (also known as Haberdashers', Habs, or Habs Boys), until September 2021 known as Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, is a public school for pupils age 4 to 18 in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. The school is a me ...

, then in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. He worked as a freelance journalist from 1935 to 39, then served with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1942, he became features editor with the '' Sunday Pictorial'', soon moving to become assistant editor. In 1946, he moved to the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', again as features editor, and in 1951, they too promoted Valdar to assistant editor. In 1953, Valdar returned to the ''Sunday Pictorial'' as editor, serving until 1959. For last two years of his tenure, he was also a director of the publishing company.''The International Who's Who'' (1961), pp. 991–992 He was able to raise circulation to five million copies per issue.David North,
A bow tie and an open door
", ''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500, before becoming online-only in 2013. Publis ...

'', 25 November 2005 In 1959, Valdar became editor of the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

'', serving three years in the post. He was also appointed to the council of the

Commonwealth Press Union The Commonwealth Press Union (CPU), formerly the Empire Press Union, was an association composed of 750 members in 49 countries, including newspaper groups (with several hundred newspapers), individual newspapers, and news agencies throughout the Co ...

. In 1964, he briefly served on the board of ''Liberal News'', the official

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

newspaper but, the following year, he worked with his wife Jill and brother Stewart to set up a weekly journal for the newspaper industry, which soon became the ''

''. Valdar took the title of publisher, but remained strongly involved with supervising the content. The family retired in 1983.Roy Greenslade,
UK Press Gazette: 1965-2006
, ''

Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

'', 27 November 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdar, Colin 1918 births 1996 deaths English newspaper editors English male journalists People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School Royal Engineers soldiers