John Rutherford Gordon (8 December 1890 – 9 December 1974) was a Scottish

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 ...

and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

. Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Gordon began work on the '' Dundee Advertiser'' in 1904. He was rapidly promoted, and by the end of the decade was overseeing the

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

and Dundee editions of the ''

People's Journal ''People's Journal'' is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published by the ''Philippine Journalists Incorporated''. Augusto "Gus" Villanueva,(with interviews to key persons).'' Retrieved June 9, 2018. its former editor-in-chief, and ...

''. In 1911, he moved to the London office of the ''Dundee Advertiser'', then the London office of the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served with the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

.Gordon, John Rutherford
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' At the end of the war, Gordon took work with the ''

Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *''ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *'' JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...

'', then in 1922 he moved to become Chief Sub-editor of 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 ...

''. Editor

Beverley Baxter Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter, FRSL (8 January 189126 April 1964) was a journalist and politician. Born in Toronto, Canada, he worked in the United Kingdom for the '' Daily Express'' and as a theatre critic for the London ''Evening Standard'' and ...

promised to increase his wages, but forgot, and Gordon resigned. However, owner

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

was keen to retain Gordon, and appointed him editor of 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 ...

'' in 1928. Between 1928 and 1952, Gordon raised circulation of the ''Sunday Express'' from 450,000 to 3.2 million. In 1930, he commissioned R. H. Naylor to write a

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

for the birth of

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

. This proved popular, and Gordon retained it as a regular feature – the first regular newspaper horoscope. In 1952, Gordon was made editor-in-chief of the paper, and all real editorial power was removed from him. He instead focussed on writing a

newspaper column A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication, where a writer expresses their own opinion in few columns allotted to them by the newspaper organisation. Columns are written by columnists. What different ...

covering

current events News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

. In one column in 1953 he criticised

Sir John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

, who had been fined £10 by magistrates for importuning, and saw the incident as an example of "moral rot" and suggested such "social lepers" should be completely ignored.Obituary: Sir John Gielgud, OM
telegraph.co.uk, 23 May 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, John 1890 births 1974 deaths King's Royal Rifle Corps soldiers People from Dundee Scottish columnists Scottish newspaper editors Journalists from Dundee People educated at Morgan Academy