1st Edition

Lords of Fleet Street The Harmsworth Dynasty

By Richard Bourne Copyright 1990
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    Originally published in 1990. The Harmsworth family, starting with Lord Northcliffe (1865-1922) is the greatest and most influential press dynasty Britain has known. The dynasty has had by far the greatest impact on the shape of the press today of all the great press families. The Harmsworths were big, bold characters, enormously rich and with a gift for flamboyant use of their wealth. Much more important though is the way they used their influence on public opinion to steer the country’s political and social life. ‘Public opinion’ was a force that the Harmsworths harnessed before anyone else, and they quickly understood how to use it as a political tool. This book is constructed as four biographies which together make up the central story of the popular press in Britain. Their story continues to have relevance.

    The Harmsworth Family Tree. Part 1: Alfred Northcliffe: The Founder 1. Origins and Answers 2. From Magazines to The Times 3. From 1914 to 1922 4. Family, Personality, Impact Part 2: Harold Rothermere: The Brother 5. The Founder of the Sunday Pictorial 6. From 1922 to 1929 7. From 1929 to 1940 8. Dynasty and Impact Part 3: Esmond Rothermere: The Son 9. From 1898 to 1937 10. From 1937 to the 1950s 11. From Coronation Year to 1978 12. Family, Impact, Personality Part 4: Vere Rothermere: The Grandson 13. From Birth to 1971 14. From 1971 to 1981 15. Towards the 1990s 16. Epilogue

    Biography

    Bourne, Richard