David English (journalist)

Sir David English (26 May 1931 – 10 June 1998) was a British journalist and newspaper editor, best known for his two-decade editorship of the ''Daily Mail''.

Biography

English was born in Oxford, and educated at Bournemouth School. His father having died in 1930, young David developed a close relationship with his grandfather, Alf, who instilled in him a love of newspapers. David's mother, Kitty, was Assistant to the Post Master General in Bournemouth who was keen to see her son attend university, and upon learning that he would rather work in journalism, emphasised the negative aspects of that profession, in an attempt to dissuade him. However, aged 16 and encouraged by Alf, he joined the local ''Christchurch Times'' and then had a brief period with the ''News'' in Portsmouth, moving to London before he was 20.

English began his national newspaper career at the ''Daily Mirror'' in 1951. He made little impact there, and left in 1953 due to his poor relationship with news editor Ken Hord. At one point he worked at the left-wing '' Reynold's News and Sunday Citizen'' and, out of a burning desire to generate a front-page headline, garnered significant attention for attempted mail theft. He married Irene Mainwood in 1954, with whom he had two daughters and a son - Nikki, Amanda and Neil. He moved to the ''Daily Sketch'' in 1956, firstly as features editor and then editor, before moving to New York and the ''Sunday Dispatch'', a sister paper to the ''Sketch'', in 1959. He worked there briefly before finding a job at the ''Daily Express''.

English took up the editorship of the ''Daily Mail'' in 1971, and was widely credited for turning the paper around following its decades-long stagnation. 1982 saw him help revive the ''Mail on Sunday'' following a rough launch. He continued as editor of the ''Mail'' until 1992, being followed by former ''Evening Standard'' editor Paul Dacre. This was to prevent Dacre from joining ''The Times'' following an offer from Rupert Murdoch. English became chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, parent company of both the ''Mail'' and the ''Standard''. At the end of his career, he worked for the Press Complaints Commission, the Commonwealth Press Union and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He also took up chairmanships of Teletext UK, Channel One TV and ITN. After the death of Princess Diana he had the English press agree to a new code of practice on privacy.

Death

He suffered a severe stroke and was sent to St Thomas's Hospital, London on 9 June 1998, dying there the following day. He was due to be appointed a life peer.

References

Notes

* English, Sir David, (26 May 1931–10 June 1998), Editor in Chief, since 1989, and Chairman, since 1992, Associated Newspapers (Joint Deputy Chairman, 1989–92; Vice-Chairman, Associated Newspapers Group, 1986–88); Chairman, ITN, since 1997. ''Who's Who'' (published online, 1 December 2007)

{{DEFAULTSORT:English (journalist), David
1931 births
1998 deaths
People educated at Bournemouth School
British male journalists
British newspaper editors
Daily Mail and General Trust people
Daily Mail journalists
Knights Bachelor
20th-century British journalists