Bernard Shrimsley
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Bernard Shrimsley (13 January 1931 – 9 June 2016) was a British journalist and
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
editor.


Early life and career

The son of John, a tailor’s pattern cutter, and his wife Alice, a homemaker, Shrimsley (previously Shremski) was born in London to a Jewish family who had migrated to the UK. Educated at Kilburn Grammar School, along with his brother, Anthony, Shrimsley was evacuated to Northampton from London during the war, but had to go the police for a release as their guardians mistreated them. After leaving school, he became a messenger at the Press Association in London. After a year, he was taken on as a trainee at the ''Southport Guardian'' in 1948 where he remained, apart from his National Service in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
, until 1953. After spells at the Manchester offices of both the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' and the ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'', plus a brief period in the ''Daily Mirror''s London headquarters, Shrimsley was appointed as the editor of the ''
Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Reach plc, Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, wi ...
'' in 1968. Appointed as deputy editor of ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' newspaper in 1969 shortly before its relaunch as a tabloid, Shrimsley was recommended to new owner
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
by Larry Lamb, his immediate superior. The circulation of the paper doubled to 1.6 million in the first year. Shrimsley served in the same role until 1972. He became editor of ''The Sun'' that year. At ''The Sun'' he once asked for the photograph of a
Page 3 Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature in Novembe ...
model to be altered: "Nipples too fantastic; make nipples less fantastic". Years later in an interview, he said they "looked like a couple of plastic coat pegs". Remaining in that post until 1975, he took over the equivalent job at ''The Sun''s Sunday sister title, the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
''. During his time as editor of the ''News of the World'', which was then still a broadsheet, its circulation declined by a million. Murdoch was urged by Shrimsley to re-launch the paper as a tabloid, a change which was not taken up by Murdoch at the time. Shrimsley ceased to be editor of the ''News of the World'' "by mutual agreement", according to an announcement from News Group Newspapers, in late April 1980. Bernard's younger brother, Anthony (1934–1984), was political editor of three national newspapers (the ''
Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...
'', ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' and the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'') and editor of Sir James Goldsmith's short-lived news magazine '' Now!''.


Later life and career

Shrimsley was taken on by Associated Newspapers in 1980 to launch '' The Mail on Sunday'', but Lord Rothermere, the chairman of Associated, did not discuss the appointment with David English, the editor of sister title, the ''Daily Mail'', who made Shrimsley's job difficult. English refused permission for any ''Mail'' writer to work for the new stablemate. Following the launch in May 1982, ''The Mail on Sunday''s initially projected circulation of 1.25 million, was not reached after ten issues, and Shrimsley was replaced. English succeeded him in July. His former Murdoch colleague, (now Sir) Larry Lamb, was now editor of the ''Daily Express''. He choose Shrimsley as the title's assistant editor, a post he held between 1983–86. After Lamb left the ''Express'', Shrimsley served as the associate editor during 1986–96. He advised Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party during the 1997 general election, and wrote editorials for the ''
Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...
'' from 1999 until 2002. He continued to write articles for the publication subsequently. Meanwhile, he had become the chair of the Press Council and served on the D-notice committee advising the media on stories concerning national security. Shrimsley wrote three novels after his retirement: ''The Candidates'', ''Lion Rampant'' and ''The Silly Season'' (2003). ''The Silly Season'', wrote Roy Greenslade in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', is a "fine piece of satire" about tabloid journalism which contains "considerable wit and verve". It contains "a thinly veiled portrait" of former ''Sun'' editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, combined with elements of the "self-publicising egoism" of Piers Morgan, then editor of the ''
Mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...
''. Shrimsley married Norma Porter in 1952 (died 2009); their daughter Amanda was a feature writer for the ''News of the World''. He died on 9 June 2016, aged 85.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shrimsley, Bernard 1931 births 2016 deaths British male journalists British newspaper editors News of the World people People educated at Kilburn Grammar School The Sun (United Kingdom) editors 20th-century British journalists