Sir William Neil Connor (26 April 1909 – 6 April 1967) was an English newspaper journalist for the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' who wrote under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of " Cassandra".

Biography

William Connor wrote a regular column for over 30 years between 1935Dennis Griiffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1492–1992'', London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 199 and 1 February 1967 with a short intermission for the

Second World War 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 ...

, his column restarting after the war with the words "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, it is a powerful hard thing to please all of the people all of the time." He took his pen-name from Cassandra in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, a tragic character who is given the gift of prophecy by

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

but is then cursed so that no one will ever believe her. The very popular column helped the ''Mirror''s readership to grow to the highest in its history during the 1950s. His columns were simply written, in keeping with his working class readership, and comprised slices of human life, including famous people, events and later a personal diary of his everyday life and thoughts – though at times he could be controversial. He worked alongside cartoonist Philip Zec at the ''Daily Mirror'' and the pair courted controversy in 1942 with an illustration, captioned by Connor, which

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 ...

and others perceived as an attack on government.''Cassandra: Reflections in a Mirror'' by Robert Connor, Cassell (1969) Churchill complained to Cecil King, then a director of the company, of a writer (Connor) being "dominated by malevolence". Connor forgave Churchill though, and later wrote a moving obituary of the wartime Prime Minister ("Sword in the Scabbard", 25 January 1965) and attended his funeral service at

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gr ...

. In his best known columns, Connor said the author P. G. Wodehouse was a Nazi collaborator, a charge from which

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

defended Wodehouse, and in 1956 he strongly suggested that the entertainer

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

was a homosexual. The suggestion was true, but Liberace sued for libel and won in 1959. During the case both Connor and Liberace lied under oath.Roy Greenslad
''Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda''
London: Macmillan (Pan), 2004, pp. 89–90, 89 According to Roy Greenslade, Connor was "an odd mix of liberal and reactionary", citing for the former his column attacking the enactment of the death sentence delivered to

Ruth Ellis Ruth Ellis ( née Neilson; 9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was a British nightclub hostess and convicted murderer who became the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom following the fatal shooting of her lover, David Blakely. In her t ...

due on the day of its publication. He wrote: "The one thing that brings stature and dignity to mankind and raises us above the beasts will have been denied her – pity and the hope of ultimate redemption." In the years leading up to his death, Connor wrote more humorous columns and was regarded with affection by ''Mirror'' readers. Subjects ranged from the times he received wrong number calls intended for a nearby railway goods station, to the mysterious person who sent him a fresh goose egg once a year. Connor was knighted in 1966. His final column ended with the words "Normal service in this column is temporarily interrupted while I learn to do what any babe can do with ease and what comes naturally to most men of good conscience – to sleep easily o' nights." He died aged 57 in hospital, a month after fracturing his skull in a fall. Since his death, the column Cassandra in the ''Daily Mirror'' has continued to be sporadically published. A new columnist, Keith Waterhouse, took over Connor's place in the newspaper, but not his byline.

References

External links

"The Press: Cassandra of the Mirror"
''Time'', 11 October 1954
Cassandra, includes Connor's ''Cassandra's Cats'' book and various photos.

''Crying All The Way To The Bank'' at Amazon.co.uk

''Cassandra At His Finest And Funniest'' at Amazon.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, William 1909 births 1967 deaths British male journalists 20th-century pseudonymous writers