DOWN FLEET STREET
IN THE DAYS when Fleet Street was the newspaper centre of the world, the ‘Daily Sketch’ took its place as a tabloid, centre-right newspaper, started in Manchester before moving to London. Published for 62 years, among its many early scoops were action pictures of the RMS Titanic sinking in 1912 and the first photos of the 1914 British naval victory in the vital Battle of the Falklands. A young yours truly spent time at the Sketch, sparking this brief and fond look back.
The first tabloid format newspaper in Britain was the ‘Daily Graphic’, entertaining readers from 1890. Eventually, it became part of the Sketch, leading to the latter’s owners proclaiming that they were the pioneers of the reduced-size tabloid layout. Stretching a point, yes, but that’s what newspapers do.
The Sketch was launched by Sir Edward Hulton in 1909. Sir Edward’s father had founded the ’Sporting Chronicle’ and ’Sunday Chronicle’ in the late nineteenth-century, so he was no stranger to the world of newsprint.
His illegitimate son, also Edward, became a magazine publisher, notably of the acclaimed ‘Picture Post’. In the 1960s, his grandson Sir Jocelyn Stevens was appointed managing director of the ‘Daily Express’ and ‘Evening Standard’. Fleet Street, it seemed, was one big family.
REVERED EDITOR
Raconteur and revered journalist Jimmy Heddle, a jovial but shrewd Scotsman, was the first editor at the Sketch. He moved on to be general manager of Sir Edward’s entire publishing business, freeing up the boss to spend more time with his string of expensive race horses and to chase his ex-actress wife through her many suspected love affairs.
In 1909, Heddle set the tone. His paper cultivated a strong news ethic, provided by a team of experienced reporters. Its opinion columns catered for the middle and lower middle classes in society, women in particular. Positioning was right of centre, yet there was no aversion to berating the establishment.
The ‘Daily Telegraph’ had introduced affordable news in Fleet Street, followed by the cut-price ‘Daily Mail’, but more serious competition for the Sketch was embodied in the ‘Daily Mirror’.
Early editions of the Mirror were dominated by royal court and social news – and it floundered. Quickly, there was a new editorial team and a relaunch, dragging it down market. By the time the Sketch was hatched, the Mirror was relying more on stunts and competitions than hard news, but, significantly, could claim daily sales of half a million.
Battles for the same prospective readers were fronted by the news, features and commentary of the Sketch, opposed by gimmicks and other lightweight attractions from the Mirror. The Sketch sold over 1.3 million copies at its peak, but its big-spending rival was way ahead in the circulation stakes from day one.
OWNERSHIP
Starting in 1920, the Sketch underwent a series of ownership changes. Ironically, the first shift was to Mirror Newspapers, but by 1925 it had been offloaded to the Berry family, then absorbed into Allied Newspapers. It was merged with, and renamed, the Daily Graphic in 1946, becoming more pictorial and populist. In 1952 Associated Newspapers, owners of the broadsheet Mail, took over, with the Daily Sketch name and logo reappearing on the masthead.
The well-respected newspaper had its moments. It whipped up a moral panic over the 1960 TV documentary ‘Living for Kicks’, a portrait of teenage life, which it harangued, leading to a protracted war of words with the pro-teens Mirror. It spearheaded the 1965 press campaign against the intended screening of the BBC nuclear conflict film ‘The War Game’, causing it to be withdrawn and kept on the shelf for 20 years.
You would not have described the easy to read Sketch as a political paper. However, it was vehemently against the fascist ‘black shirts’, resulting in an attempted reprisal fire bombing of its print works. Post-war, the paper was just as opposed to communism and had scant respect for Labour governments.
Condemnation of what it considered to be the excesses of trades unions contributed to worsening industrial relations and spiralling production costs.
The Mirror forged ahead. Simplistic ’Sun’ and others were grabbing market share. Financially choked, the Sketch spluttered nobly in their wake. Simply, it was not given the resources to compete. Owners Associated Newspapers decided that the best way forward would be to concentrate on the Mail, switching it to tabloid format under Sketch editor David English (knighted by Prime Minister Thatcher).
The Daily Sketch ceased publication in May 1971. Somewhat typically, the last copies were held up by an industrial dispute over manning of the printing presses. More than 800 people were made redundant. It was a time of unrelenting upheaval in newspapers – and only the strongest would survive. Fleet Street didn't do so.
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