Silvester Bolam (23 October 1905 – 27 April 1953) 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, ...

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 ...

. Born in

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...

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, Bolam studied at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

's Armstrong College before joining the '' Newcastle Journal''. He then moved to work for the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

'', and in 1936 became a sub-editor on 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 ...

''. Although he left in 1938 to rejoin the ''News Chronicle'', he returned ten months later, and in 1948 became the newspaper's editor.Bolam, Silvester
, ''

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'' As editor, Bolam focused on a strategy of

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotion ...

, and was able to make the ''Mirror'' Britain's best-selling daily newspaper. In March 1949, after publishing material which might have prejudiced the trial of

John George Haigh John George Haigh (; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his ...

(later convicted of murder), he was jailed for three months for contempt of court.''

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'', 26 March 1949, p.3 By 1953, he had fallen out with the paper's editorial director and resigned. He died a few months later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolam, Silvester 1905 births 1953 deaths British newspaper editors People from Tynemouth Daily Mirror people Alumni of Armstrong College, Durham