Barry Askew
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Barry Askew (13 December 1936 – 17 April 2012) was a British journalist, editor of several provincial papers, including the ''
Lancashire Evening Post The ''Lancashire Evening Post'' is a daily newspaper based in Fulwood, a suburb of the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. According to the British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of th ...
'' and briefly of the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
''. Askew grew up in
Bakewell, Derbyshire Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known also for its local Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, about 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Sheffield. In the 2011 census, t ...
.Richard Hall, "Queen trumps Fleet St joker", ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 13 December 1981
He became editor of the ''Matlock Meteor'' at the age of 21. Whilst working for the ''Lancashire Evening Post'', he won the IPC National Press Awards Campaigning Journalist award in 1972, having become
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
of the paper in 1969. At the Evening Post, Askew orchestrated investigations which uncovered abuses at
Whittingham Hospital Whittingham Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Whittingham, near Preston, Lancashire, England. The hospital opened in 1873 as the Fourth Lancashire County Asylum and grew to be the largest mental hospital in Britain, and pionee ...
which started the ball rolling which ultimately led to the end of institutional care for people with mental illness. He went on to serve on the Davies Committee, set up in the wake of the Whittingham affair to reform hospital complaints procedures. He also led investigations into police corruption which culminated in the sacking of Chief Constable, Stanley Parr. During this period, Askew also fronted successful TV programmes for BBC North including ''Ask Askew'' and ''Wait Awhile.'' In 1979, a phone call intended for Askew and recorded by a receptionist at the paper's Fishergate headquarters created national headlines. Purporting to be the
Yorkshire Ripper Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
, a man with a
Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunder ...
accent referred to the unsolved murder of Joan Harrison, murdered in a derelict Preston garage in 1975. Seriously wrong-footing the police hunt, the phone call was later found to be a hoax. In 2006, a 49-year-old unemployed man, John Humble, was convicted of perverting the course of justice. Askew was appointed as editor of the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'',Philip Jordan, "News of the World replaces editor", ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 30 December 1981
partly on the recommendation of
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, editor of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. Arriving in Fleet Street in April 1981, he was by then the archetypal hard-drinking, hard-living hack, soon to be lampooned by
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
as "The Beast of
Bouverie Street Bouverie Street is a street in the City of London, off Fleet Street, which once was the home of some of Britain's most widely circulated newspapers as well as the Whitefriars Priory. The offices of the ''News Chronicle'',''Liberal Democrat News' ...
". With circulation of the News of the World in free-fall, his bold launch of a colour magazine quickly reversed the decline. However, behind the scenes he was enduring an increasingly fractious relationship with the paper's owner
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
. Matters soon came to a dramatic head over
Sonia Sutcliffe Sonia Szurma-Woodward (née Oksana Szurma; born 10 August 1950), known as Sonia Sutcliffe, is the former wife of the British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe. Marriage to Sutcliffe Sonia married Peter William Sutcliffe on 10 August 1974, her 24th bi ...
, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper. Askew thought he had successfully negotiated a successful deal for her story, but suddenly the Murdoch coffers clanged firmly shut. The final straw came when in early December, he came into conflict with
the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...
after claiming that if
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
felt harassed by press photographers she should send a servant out to shop for her. At the end of the month, he left the newspaper, and spent the rest of his career in various short-term provincial posts.Regrets? I’ve had a few
, ''British Journalism Review'', Vol 17, No 3 (2006)
Askew also had a successful radio and television career, regularly presenting
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
's ''
What the Papers Say ''What The Papers Say'' is a British radio and television series. It consists of quotations from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers, read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a scri ...
''. Not much is known of his private life, however, a secret relationship with a young Sheffield nurse did result in the birth of their son David in October 1965.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Askew, Barry 1936 births 2012 deaths British newspaper editors Writers from Preston, Lancashire News of the World people British male journalists 20th-century British journalists 21st-century British journalists