David Astor: a king in the golden age of print

From 1948 to 1975, David Astor transformed Britain’s oldest paper into a vibrant, intelligent weekly renowned for its progressive campaigns and the quality of its writing. The author of a new biography recalls some of Astor’s achievements• Click here to read an extract on Astor’s lifelong interest in psychoanalysisDavid Astor was in his mid-30s and recently demobbed when, in 1945, he began to work full time on his family newspaper. Although he had long been the heir-apparent, his father, Waldorf Astor, felt that he needed more experience before becoming the editor of the Observer: he was made the foreign editor, while Ivor Brown, an old-fashioned man of letters, given to writing books about cricket and the theatre, held the fort as acting editor.Cyril Dunn, later to report for the paper from India and South Africa, joined the Observer in 1947 and quickly realised that “David Astor was in total control of what was going on and Ivor Brown was making no attempt to disguise his figurehead status” and that “what I witnessed were the birth pangs of an Observer sensationally different from anything in its own past and a paper unique and wonderful in western journalism as a whole”. Astor was singlemindedly converting a conservative, rather frowsty newspaper into a non-party paper of the centre-left, famed for the quality of its writers: it would combine support for the postwar welfare state with a belief in free enterprise and the mixed economy, anti-communism and Atlanticism... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Book Sales Fell 2.9% Last Week

Last week’s sales pattern looked a lot like the previous week: a modest sales decline compared to a year ago, with higher sales of adult fiction and young adult titles offset by lower adult nonfiction and juvenile sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin cuts off Meal Prep King cook after misogynistic rant

Cookbook fans ‘heartbroken’ after John Clark’s derogatory outburst on social mediaThe cookbook author known as the Meal Prep King will no longer be published by Penguin Random House after he posted a misogynistic video on social media.John Clark, whose book The Meal Prep King Plan was a Sunday... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 17:55:17 UTC ]
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Print Sales Dipped in Early August

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Sales Dipped Last Week

A double-digit sales increase in adult fiction sales and higher young adult sales were not enough to offset declines in adult nonfiction and the juvenile categories, leading to a 2.1% dip in print sales last week compared to the week ended August 7, 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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NPD Books on July’s US Print Market: 6 Percent Lower, Year to Date

In a 'steady' market, NPD sees print sales in the United States decline 1.6 million units in July, typically a month for some losses. The post NPD Books on July’s US Print Market: 6 Percent Lower, Year to Date appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-10 18:34:37 UTC ]
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Snowman author Raymond Briggs dies aged 88

Beloved creator of Fungus the Bogeyman and Father Christmas brought a distinctive strain of melancholy to the genre• The Snowman, the Bogeyman and Father Christmas: the world of Raymond Briggs – in pictures• Raymond Briggs obituary• Share your tributes and memories of Snowman author Raymond... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-08-10 07:20:39 UTC ]
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David McCullough, master chronicler of American history, dies at 89

The two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize was a master storyteller who brought to life the grand sweep of time and place. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-08 16:43:22 UTC ]
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Print Sales Fell Back Last Week

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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DOJ v PRH: Jonathan Karp and Stephen King Take the Stand

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen King set to testify for gov't in books merger trial

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[ ABC News | 2022-08-03 00:28:27 UTC ]
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Stephen King testified against publishing's biggest merger. What you need to know about the antitrust trial

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-02 22:41:59 UTC ]
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Stephen King testifies against $2B Penguin merger

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[ Crains New York | 2022-08-02 19:08:55 UTC ]
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David Lott Sees His Stories Published

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Sales Rose 4.4% in Mid-July

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Murdoch tiring of Trump? Mogul’s print titles dump the ex-president

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[ The Guardian | 2022-07-25 06:00:29 UTC ]
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10 Indispensable Black, Queer, and Feminist Coming-of-Age Stories

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Printing in Hong Kong and China 2022: All Our Coverage

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Book Sales Slipped 2.5% Last Week

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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