British Forces in the Middle East, 1945-1947 E31102

The ''Sunday Dispatch'' was a prominent British newspaper, published between 27 September 1801 and 18 June 1961. It was ultimately discontinued due to its merger with the ''Sunday Express''.

History

The newspaper was first published as the ''Weekly Dispatch'' in 1801. The name was changed to the ''Sunday Dispatch'' in 1928. In 1903, the Newnes family sold the paper to Alfred Harmsworth and

Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...

. The new owners then turned it around from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and into the biggest selling Sunday newspaper in Britain at the time. Due to editor

Charles Eade Charles Eade (10 June 1903 – 27 August 1964) was a British newspaper editor. Born in Leytonstone, Eade became a subeditor on the ''Daily Chronicle'' at the age of fourteen, then worked on ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'' and the '' Daily Herald''. ...

's role as Press Liaison officer for

Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

during World War II, distribution of the ''Dispatch'' was up from 800,000 to over 2 million copies per edition in 1947. In 1959, Eade and the editor of the ''Daily Sketch'' were fired due to a comment from Randolph Churchill that Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere was "pornographer royal" for his ownership of both 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 ...

'' and ''Sunday Dispatch''. Under its last editor, Walter Hayes, the ''Dispatch'' still maintained pre-printed posters with the headline "CHURCHILL IS DEAD", in preparation of the death of Randolph Churchill's father

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. In December 1960, the paper had a respectable circulation of 1,500,000 copies. Despite this, the ''Sunday Dispatch'' was merged with the ''Sunday Express'' in 1961. The ''Dispatch'' is prominently featured in Philip Norman's 1996 novel ''Everyone's Gone to the Moon''. The novel is centered around the reporting of the

British pop invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

of America in the 1960s.

Famous stories and headlines

*September 1927 – In light of the trial verdict of the murder of PC Gutteridge of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, the headline read "Hanged by a microscope". An early case of

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

science, it reflected the fact that microscopic examination of the Smith & Wesson gun cartridge cases had provided the crucial evidence to convict car thieves Frederick Browne and Pat Kennedy of the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

. *1933 – published Harry Price's book ''Leaves From a Psychist's Case-Book'' in a series of 10 articles *1945 – the first

Miss Great Britain Miss Great Britain is Britain's longest running beauty contest held annually in Britain since 1945. Owner and CEO John Singh made history crowning his first winner and to this date only the first black Miss Great Britain 1996. Singer and dancer A ...

contest was held by Morecambe and Heysham Council in association with the ''Dispatch'', which as a preliminary to the personal appearance heats at

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

, photographic heats held in the newspaper attracted contestant from all over the country. The first prize was 7 guineas and a basket of fruit. *2 December 1945 – broke news that British spy John Amery was dying of Tuberculosis. A post mortem revealed after his conviction and execution for high treason that he had not been suffering from the disease. *13 February 1949 – in light of the importation of American "dark humour" comics, the headline read: "Horror has crept into the British nursery. Morals of little girls in plaits and boys with marbles bulging in their pockets are being corrupted by a torrent of indecent coloured magazines that are flooding bookstalls and newsagents." The counter article was co-written by the Reverend

Marcus Morris Marcus Thomas Morris Sr. (born September 2, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The forward played college basketball at Kansas before being drafted 14th ...

, later founder of '' The Eagle''

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

''The Eagle'' comic
/ref> *1950 – in late summer, the ''Dispatch'' was partly responsible for launching the Flying Saucer debate in the UK, when in a circulation battle with the ''

Sunday 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 ...

''. Both papers competed to serialise the seminal books by Major Donald Keyhoe ''Flying Saucers are Real,''

Frank Scully Francis Joseph Xavier Scully; (April 28 1892 – June 23 1964) was an American journalist, author, humorist, and a regular columnist for the entertainment trade magazine '' Variety''. Career Scully studied journalism at Columbia Universit ...

’s ''Behind the Flying Saucers'' and Gerald Heard's ''Riddle of the Flying Saucers.'' Eade had been encouraged to promote "flying saucer" stories by his friend

whom he had served as Press officer during the Second World War. The ''Dispatch'' later reported on the 1951 Mount Kilimanjaro incident and the West Freugh Incident in April 1957 *June 1953 – serialisation of ''"

The Rommel papers ''The Rommel Papers'' is the collected writings by the German World War II field marshal Erwin Rommel published in 1953. Background and publication The book included Rommel's writings of the war, edited by the British journalist and historian ...

"'' edited by military historian

Basil Liddell Hart Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 – 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histo ...

. *25 April 1954 – the headline read "Doctor's Journal Launches a Startling Campaign – Smoking sensation – MP Urges Ban On Manufacture Of Cigarettes As Move Against Cancer Peril" on the risks of

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

and lung cancer. The article was later cited in 2000 by Gallaher Tobacco to the UK Parliamentary Health

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

showing that such risks had been known for some while *1954 – broke the story that racing driver Mike Hawthorn was not called up for National Service because he cited that he was not in the country, while actually he was *1959 – exposed a story about Scientology founder

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...

, where he sold shares at $65 each in a company that didn't exist. Hubbard apologised, and returned all monies, allegedly commenting: "It's lucky the police did not become involved, otherwise something most unpleasant might have happened."

Former journalists and editors

Gordon Beckles Gordon Dudley Beckles Willson (9 April 1902, Paddington, London – 4 August 1954, London) was a British journalist who wrote under the name Gordon Beckles. Family background Gordon Dudley Beckles Willson was the eldest son of Henry Beckles Wi ...

- became assistant editor at age 25 in 1927, journalist, editor and author * Ursula Bloom – reporter. Later a novelist who wrote under numerous pseudonyms, she published over 500 books in her lifetime, an achievement that won her recognition in the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. *William Brittain – editor from 1931 to 1934. He then bought the short lived '' London Daily Recorder'' * Collin Brooks – editor, 1930s. * Randolph Churchill – political columnist. Resigned in 1936 following paper's refusal to publish one of his articles. *

Dorothy Crisp Dorothy Crisp (1906–1987) was a right-wing English political figure, writer and publisher. Biography Dorothy Crisp was born in Leeds, England on 17 May 1906. She was the only daughter of Albert Edward Crisp, an examiner, and Annie Beckwith ...

– a regular contributor of provocative articles. One edition in 1943 was banned in Ireland because it contained her criticisms of the de Valera's government. *

– editor, Press Liaison officer for

during the Second World War *Alastair Forbes – wrote weekly column called "Behind the World Political Scene" from 1945, but he was fired in 1956. * Charles Graves, the journalist brother of

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

* Walter Hayes – editor, 1957–1961. Later Ford PR Vice President. *Gerald McKnight – editor. Later founder of News Shopper *Reverend

– first feature he ever wrote. Later founder of '' The Eagle''

* Max Miller – the comedian wrote a weekly column. *

Bill Tidy William Edward "Bill" Tidy, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 9 October 1933), is a British cartoonist, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strips. Tidy was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the Brit ...

–

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

*Margaret Williams – reporter. Went to Berlin in 1946 with the first batch of British Army wives to rejoin their husbands serving in Germany. *

Ian Wooldridge Ian Edmund Wooldridge, Order of the British Empire, OBE (14 January 1932 – 4 March 2007) was a British sports journalism, sports journalist. He was with the ''Daily Mail'' for nearly 50 years. Biography Born in New Milton, Hampshire, Wooldridg ...

– journalist

Editors

:1801: Robert Bell :1815: George Kent :1816: Robert Bell :1818: Williams :1838: Joseph Wrightson :1856: Sydney French :1862: Thomas James Serle :1875:

Ashton Wentworth Dilke Ashton Wentworth Dilke (11 August 1850 – 12 March 1883) was an editor, British traveller and radical Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1883. Life Dilke was the younger son of Sir Charles Dilke, 1st Baronet, and w ...

:1876:

Henry Fox Bourne Henry Richard Fox Bourne (24 December 1837 – 2 February 1909) was a British social reformer and writer. Early life Henry Fox Bourne was born at Grecian Regale, Blue Mountains, Jamaica, on 24 December 1837, one of eight children of Stephen Bou ...

:1883:

W. A. Hunter William Alexander Hunter (8 May 184421 July 1898) was a Scottish jurist and Liberal politician. Hunter was born in Aberdeen, the son of James Hunter, a granite merchant, of Aberdeen. He was educated at Aberdeen grammar school and university. H ...

:1892: Frank Smith :1895: Charles John Tibbits :1903:

Evelyn Wrench Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench (29 October 1882 – 11 November 1966) was a British author and journalist who was editor of ''The Spectator''. He was the founder of the Royal Over-Seas League and the English-Speaking Union, both to foster intern ...

:1904: :1911: Montagu Cotton :1915:

Hannen Swaffer Frederick Charles Hannen Swaffer (1 November 1879 – 16 January 1962) was an English journalist and drama critic. Although his views were left-wing, he worked mostly for right-wing publications, many of them owned by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Visco ...

:1919: Bernard Falk :1933: Harry Lane :1934: William Brittain :1936: Collin Brooks :1938:

:1959: Bert Gunn Source:

References

Bibliography

*N.J.Crowson - ''Fleet Street, Press Barons and Politics'' Cambridge University Press/Royal Historical Society. {{Defunct UK newspapers Publications established in 1801 Publications disestablished in 1961 Defunct weekly newspapers 1801 establishments in the United Kingdom 1961 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom