How’s your summer holiday going? Growing tired of your view of the M20 hard shoulder? Or perhaps you’re lying on your sun lounger relieved that your flight from Glasgow wasn’t cancelled but not entirely confident that the return flight won’t be?
Well... relax. Let me help take your mind off it, with a quick news quiz. How well do you know the history of Fleet Street?
Let’s find out:
- Who set up the first printing press in the UK and when?
- When was the first issue of what is now ‘The Times’ newspaper published and what was its original name?
- Who was Fleet Street’s first female editor, when was she appointed and what paper did she edit?
- Who was Fleet Street’s first female war correspondent, what war did she cover and who did she write for?
- Which newspaper carried the first print crossword puzzle and when?
- Which was the first UK news brand to launch a website and when?
- 2010 saw the launch of the first new national newspaper in 25 years – what was it?
- What was the first national news brand to go digital-only and when did it do it?
- 2020 saw a record number of female editors in Fleet Street – who were they?
All the answers can be found below and also on the Newsworks website, where they have created an interesting new page: Timeline: A short history of news brands
Enjoy the rest of your break.
(Answers: 1: William Caxton, 1476; 2: 1785, Daily Universal Register; 3: Rachel Beer, 1891, The Observer; 4: Lady Sarah Wilson, Second Boer War, Daily Mail; 5: Sunday Express, 1924; 6: The Telegraph, 1994; 7: i; 8: The Independent, 2016; 9: Victoria Newton (The Sun), Emma Tucker (The Sunday Times), Alison Phillips (The Mirror) and Katharine Viner (The Guardian).)
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
