Peter Norman Stuart Stephens (19 December 1927 – 27 August 2016) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

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 ...

. Stephens grew up in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, where he attended the Mundella Grammar School. He became a journalist at the end of

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, working successively at the ''

Newark Advertiser The ''Newark Advertiser'' is a British regional newspaper, owned by Iliffe Media, for the town of Newark-on-Trent and surrounding areas. History The Advertiser had its beginnings in 1847, when printer William Tomlinson of Stodman Street is ...

'', the ''

Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its th ...

'', the ''

Daily Dispatch The ''Daily Dispatch'' is a South African newspaper published in East London in the province of Eastern Cape. The weekend edition is titled ''Saturday Dispatch''. Founded in 1872 as the ''East London Dispatch'', the ''Daily Dispatch'' is the Eas ...

'' and the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, 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 (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'', then in 1957 becoming assistant editor of the '' Newcastle Journal''. In 1962, he moved to become assistant editor of the ''

Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'', being made editor in 1962, then editor of the ''Newcastle Journal'' in 1966. In 1970, he moved to London to become assistant editor of '' The Sun'', briefly serving as deputy editor before moving to the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one ...

'' in 1973, where he was associate editor for a year, then editor from 1974 to 1975. He then finished his career as associate editor of ''The Sun'' until 1981.STEPHENS, Peter Norman Stuart
, ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of not ...

'' In retirement, Stephens wrote several books on the history of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''P. S. on a life in newspapers''.

References

1927 births 2016 deaths British male journalists British newspaper editors News of the World people Writers from Nottingham {{editor-stub