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''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's
quality press There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has ...
market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of
News UK News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...
(formerly News International), which is owned by
News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...
. Times Newspapers also publishes ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
''. The two papers, founded separately and independently, have been under the same ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981. In March 2020, ''The Sunday Times'' had a circulation of 647,622, exceeding that of its main rivals, ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'' and ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', combined. While some other national newspapers moved to a
tabloid format A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to describe compres ...
in the early 2000s, ''The Sunday Times'' retained the larger
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...
format and has said that it intends to continue to do so. As of December 2019, it sold 75% more copies than its sister paper, ''The Times'', which is published from Monday to Saturday. The paper publishes ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List and ''The Sunday Times'' Fast Track 100.


History


Founding and early history (1821–1915)

The paper began publication on 18 February 1821 as ''The New Observer'', but from 21 April its title was changed to the ''Independent Observer''. Its founder, Henry White, chose the name apparently in an attempt to take advantage of the success of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', which had been founded in 1791, although there was no connection between the two papers. On 20 October 1822 it was reborn as ''The Sunday Times'', although it had no relationship with ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
''. In January 1823, White sold the paper to
Daniel Whittle Harvey Daniel Whittle Harvey (10 January 1786 – 24 February 1863) was a Radical Party (UK), Radical English politician who founded ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper and was the first Commissioner of the City of London Police. Biography Harvey trained ...
, a radical politician. Under its new owner, ''The Sunday Times'' notched up several firsts. A wood engraving it published of the coronation of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
in 1838 was the largest illustration to have appeared in a British newspaper. In 1841, it became one of the first papers to serialise a novel:
William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
's '' Old St Paul's''. The paper was bought in 1887 by
Alice Anne Cornwell Alice Ann Cornwell (1 January 1852 – 7 January 1932) was a British goldmining industrialist and newspaper proprietor. She made her fortune from gold and floated her company on the London Stock Exchange. She was a confident business person inves ...
, who had made a fortune in mining in Australia and by floating the Midas Mine Company on the London Stock Exchange. She bought the paper to promote her new company, The British and Australasian Mining Investment Company, and as a gift to her lover Phil Robinson. Robinson was installed as editor and the two were later married in 1894. In 1893 Cornwell sold the paper to Frederick Beer, who already owned ''The Observer''. Beer appointed his wife,
Rachel Sassoon Beer Rachel Beer (''née'' Sassoon; 7 April 1858 – 29 April 1927) was an Indian-born British newspaper editor. She was editor-in-chief of ''The Observer'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Rachel Sassoon was born in Bombay, India, to Sassoon Da ...
, as editor. She was already editor of ''The Observer'' – the first woman to run a national newspaper – and continued to edit both titles until 1901.


The Kemsley years (1915–1959)

There was a further change of ownership in 1903, and then in 1915 the paper was bought by William Berry and his brother, Gomer Berry, later ennobled as Lord Camrose and
Viscount Kemsley Viscount Kemsley, of Dropmore in Buckingham county, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1945 for the press lord Gomer Berry, 1st Baron Kemsley. He had already been created a Baronet, of Dropmore in the County of ...
respectively. Under their ownership, ''The Sunday Times'' continued its reputation for innovation: on 23 November 1930, it became the first Sunday newspaper to publish a 40-page issue and on 21 January 1940, news replaced advertising on the front page. In 1943, the Kemsley Newspapers Group was established, with ''The Sunday Times'' becoming its flagship paper. At this time, Kemsley was the largest newspaper group in Britain. On 12 November 1945,
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
, who later created
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
, joined the paper as foreign manager (foreign editor) and special writer. The following month, circulation reached 500,000. On 28 September 1958, the paper launched a separate Review section, becoming the first newspaper to publish two sections regularly.


The Thomson years (1959–1981)

The Kemsley group was bought in 1959 by Lord Thomson, and in October 1960 circulation reached one million for the first time. In another first, on 4 February 1962 the editor,
Denis Hamilton Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Denis Hamilton, DSO, TD (6 December 1918 – 7 April 1988) was an English newspaper editor. He was born in South Shields, County Durham, England, the son of an engineer from the Acklam iron and steel work ...
, launched ''
The Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...
''. (At the insistence of newsagents, worried at the impact on sales of standalone magazines, it was initially called the "colour section" and did not take the name ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' until 9 August 1964.) The cover picture of the first issue was of
Jean Shrimpton Jean Rosemary Shrimpton (born 7 November 1942) is an English model and actress. She was an icon of Swinging London and is considered to be one of the world's first supermodels. She appeared on numerous magazine covers including '' Vogue,'' ''H ...
wearing a
Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant (11 February 1930 – 13 April 2023) was a British fashion designer and icon. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements, and played a prominent role in London's Swingi ...
outfit and was taken by
David Bailey David Royston Bailey (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer and director, most widely known for his fashion photography and portraiture, and role in shaping the image of the Swinging Sixties. Bailey has also directed several televisio ...
. The magazine got off to a slow start, but the advertising soon began to pick up, and, over time, other newspapers launched magazines of their own. In 1963, the
Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...
investigative team was established under Clive Irving. The "Business" section was launched on 27 September 1964, making ''The Sunday Times'' Britain's first regular three-section newspaper. In September 1966, Thomson bought ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', to form
Times Newspapers Ltd News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...
(TNL). It was the first time ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Times'' had been brought under the same ownership.
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, editor from 1967 until 1981, established ''The Sunday Times'' as a leading campaigning and investigative newspaper. On 19 May 1968, the paper published its first major campaigning report on the drug
thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is an oral administered medication used to treat a number of cancers (e.g., multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and many skin disorders (e.g., complication ...
, which had been reported by the Australian doctor William McBride in ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...
'' in 1961 as being associated with birth defects, and been quickly withdrawn. The newspaper published a four-page
Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...
investigation, titled "The Thalidomide File", in the "Weekly Review" section. On November 17, 1972, the Queen's Bench Divisional Court issued an injunction to prevent ''The Sunday Times'' from publishing further articles, as it was feared that the paper's campaign might affect ongoing lawsuits over the ensuing scandal. The newspaper appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the injunction violated the publisher's right to
freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...
, noting that the articles were moderate and balanced and thus unlikely to disrupt proceedings. A compensation settlement for the UK victims was eventually reached with
Distillers Company The Distillers Company plc was a leading Scotch whisky company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over in 1986 by Guinness & Co. and is now part of Diageo. History The Distillers Company origins lie in a trade ...
(now part of
Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...
), which had distributed the drug in the UK. TNL was plagued by a series of industrial disputes at its plant at Gray's Inn Road in London, with the print unions resisting attempts to replace the old-fashioned hot-metal and labour-intensive Linotype method with technology that would allow the papers to be composed digitally. Thomson offered to invest millions of pounds to buy out obstructive practices and overmanning, but the unions rejected every proposal. As a result, publication of ''The Sunday Times'' and other titles in the group was suspended in November 1978. It did not resume until November 1979. Although journalists at ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' had been on full pay during the suspension, they went on strike demanding more money after production was resumed.
Kenneth Thomson Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet (September 1, 1923 – June 12, 2006), known in Canada as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian/British businessman and art collector. At the time of his death, he was listed by ''Forbes'' as the richest pe ...
, the head of the company, felt betrayed and decided to sell. Evans tried to organise a management buyout of ''The Sunday Times'', but Thomson decided instead to sell to
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 ...
, who he thought had a better chance of dealing with the trade unions.


The Murdoch years (1981–present)

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 ...
's
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
acquired the group in February 1981. Murdoch, an Australian who in 1985 became a
naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
American citizen, already owned ''
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 ''
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 ...
'', but the Conservative government decided not to refer the deal to the
Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...
, citing a clause in the Fair Trading Act that exempted uneconomic businesses from referral.
The Thomson Corporation Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organization and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form Thomson Reute ...
had threatened to close the papers down if they were not taken over by someone else within an allotted time, and it was feared that any legal delay to Murdoch's takeover might lead to the two titles' demise. In return, Murdoch provided legally binding guarantees to preserve the titles' editorial independence. Evans was appointed editor of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in February 1981 and was replaced at ''The Sunday Times'' by Frank Giles. In 1983, the newspaper bought the serialisation rights to publish the faked ''
Hitler Diaries The Hitler Diaries () were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks (£2.3 million ...
'', thinking them to be genuine after they were authenticated by the own newspaper's own independent director,
Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Rope ...
, the historian and author of ''The Last Days of Hitler''. Under
Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire ...
, editor from 1983 until 1994, ''The Sunday Times'' took a strongly
Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character a ...
slant that contrasted with the traditional paternalistic conservatism expounded by
Peregrine Worsthorne Sir Peregrine Gerard Worsthorne (22 December 1923 – 4 October 2020) was a British journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He spent the largest part of his career at the ''Telegraph'' newspaper titles, eventually becoming editor of ''The Sunday ...
at the rival ''
Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...
''. It also built on its reputation for investigations. Its scoops included the revelation in 1986 that Israel had manufactured more than 100
nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...
warheads and the publication in 1992 of extracts from Andrew Morton's book, ''Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words''. In the early 1990s, the paper courted controversy with a series of articles in which it rejected the role of HIV in causing AIDS. In January 1986, after the announcement of a
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...
by print workers, production of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in the group, was shifted to a new plant in Wapping, and the strikers were dismissed. The plant, which allowed journalists to input copy directly, was activated with the help of the
Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, known as the EETPU, was a British trade union formed in 1968 as a union for electricians and plumbers, which went through three mergers from 1992 to now be part of Unite the Un ...
(EETPU). The print unions posted pickets and organised demonstrations outside the new plant to try to dissuade journalists and others from working there, in what became known as the Wapping dispute. The demonstrations sometimes turned violent. The protest ended in failure in February 1987. During Neil's editorship, a number of new sections were added: the annual " ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List" and the "Funday Times", in 1989 (the latter stopped appearing in print and was relaunched as a standalone website in March 2006, but was later closed); "Style & Travel", "News Review" and "Arts" in 1990; and "Culture" in 1992. In September 1994, "Style" and "Travel" became two separate sections. During Neil's time as editor, ''The Sunday Times'' backed a campaign to prove that HIV was not a cause of AIDS. In 1990, ''The Sunday Times'' serialized a book by an American conservative who rejected the scientific consensus on the causes of AIDS and argued that AIDS could not spread to heterosexuals. Articles and editorials in ''The Sunday Times'' cast doubt on the scientific consensus, described HIV as a "politically correct virus" about which there was a "conspiracy of silence", disputed that AIDS was spreading in Africa, claimed that tests for HIV were invalid, described the HIV/AIDS treatment drug AZT as harmful, and characterized the WHO as an "Empire-building AIDS [organisation]". The pseudoscientific coverage of HIV/AIDS in ''The Sunday Times'' led the scientific journal ''Nature'' to monitor the newspaper's coverage and to publish letters rebutting ''Sunday Times'' articles which ''The Sunday Times'' refused to publish. In response to this, ''The Sunday Times'' published an article headlined "AIDS – why we won't be silenced", which claimed that ''Nature'' engaged in censorship and "sinister intent". In his 1996 book, ''Full Disclosure'', Neil wrote that the HIV/AIDS denialism "deserved publication to encourage debate". That same year, he wrote that ''The Sunday Times'' had been vindicated in its coverage, "The Sunday Times was one of a handful of newspapers, perhaps the most prominent, which argued that heterosexual Aids was a myth. The figures are now in and this newspaper stands totally vindicated ... The history of Aids is one of the great scandals of our time. I do not blame doctors and the Aids lobby for warning that everybody might be at risk in the early days, when ignorance was rife and reliable evidence scant." He criticized the "AIDS establishment" and said "Aids had become an industry, a job-creation scheme for the caring classes." John Witherow, who became editor at the end of 1994 (after several months as acting editor), continued the newspaper's expansion. A website was launched in 1996 and new print sections added: "Home" in 2001, and "Driving" in 2002, which in 2006 was renamed "InGear". (It reverted to the name "Driving" from 7 October 2012, to coincide with the launch of a new standalone website, ''Sunday Times Driving''.) Technology coverage was expanded in 2000 with the weekly colour magazine "Doors", and in 2003 "The Month", an editorial section presented as an interactive CD-ROM. Magazine partworks were regular additions, among them "1000 Makers of Music", published over six weeks in 1997. John Witherow oversaw a rise in circulation to 1.3 million and reconfirmed ''The Sunday Times'' reputation for publishing hard-hitting news stories – such as the cash for questions scandal in 1994 and the cash for honours scandal in 2006, and revelations of 2015 FIFA corruption case, corruption at FIFA in 2010. The newspaper's foreign coverage has been especially strong, and its reporters, Marie Colvin, Jon Swain, Hala Jaber, Mark Franchetti and Christina Lamb have dominated the Foreign Reporter of the Year category at the British Press Awards since 2000. Colvin, who worked for the paper from 1985, was killed in February 2012 by Syrian forces while covering the siege of Homs during that country's civil war. In common with other newspapers, ''The Sunday Times'' has been hit by a fall in circulation, which has declined from a peak of 1.3 million to just over 710,000. It has a number of digital-only subscribers, which numbered 99,017 by January 2019. During January 2013, Martin Ivens became 'acting' editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in succession to John Witherow, who became the 'acting' editor of ''The Times'' at the same time. The independent directors rejected a permanent position for Ivens as editor to avoid any possible merger of ''The Sunday Times'' and daily ''Times'' titles.


Election endorsements

The paper endorsed the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 UK general election, the 2010 United Kingdom general election, 2010 UK general election, the 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015 UK general election, the 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 UK general election, and the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 UK general election, before endorsing the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 UK general election.


Online presence

''The Sunday Times'' has its own website. It previously shared an online presence with ''The Times'', but in May 2010 they both launched their own sites to reflect their distinct brand identities. Since July 2010, the sites are charging for access. An iPad edition was launched in December 2010, and an Android version in August 2011. Since July 2012, the digital version of the paper has been available on Apple's Newsstand platform, allowing automated downloading of the news section. With over 500 MB of content every week, it is the biggest newspaper app in the world. ''The Sunday Times'' iPad app was named newspaper app of the year at the 2011 Newspaper Awards and has twice been ranked best newspaper or magazine app in the world by iMonitor. Various subscription packages exist, giving access to both the print and digital versions of the paper. On 2 October 2012, ''The Sunday Times'' launched Sunday Times Driving, a separate classified advertising site for premium vehicles that also includes editorial content from the newspaper as well as specially commissioned articles. It can be accessed without cost.


Related publications


''The Sunday Times Travel Magazine''

This 164-page monthly magazine was sold separately from the newspaper and was Britain's best-selling travel magazine. The first issue of ''The Sunday Times Travel Magazine'' was in 2003, and it included news, features and insider guides.


Notable stories

Some of the more notable or controversial stories published in ''The Sunday Times'' include: * Thalidomide, a drug prescribed to pregnant women to treat morning sickness, was withdrawn in 1961 following reports that it was linked to a number of birth defects. ''The Sunday Times'' spent many years campaigning for compensation for the victims, providing case studies and evidence of the side-effects. In 1968, the Distillers Company agreed to a multimillion-pound compensation scheme for the victims. * The paper sponsored Francis Chichester's single-handed circumnavigation of the world under sail in 1966–67, and the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, ''Sunday Times'' Golden Globe Race in 1968–69. * The Insight team ran an investigation into Kim Philby, the Soviet double agent, that ran on 1 October 1967 under the headline "Philby: I spied for Russia from 1933". * Insight carried out a major investigation in 1972 into Bloody Sunday (1972), Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland. * The newspaper published the faked ''
Hitler Diaries The Hitler Diaries () were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks (£2.3 million ...
'' (1983), believing them to be genuine after they were authenticated by historian
Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Rope ...
. * Israeli nuclear weapons: using information from Mordechai Vanunu, ''The Sunday Times'' in 1986 revealed that Israel had manufactured more than 100 nuclear warheads. * On 12 July 1987 ''The Sunday Times'' began serialisation of the book ''Spycatcher'', the memoirs of an MI5 agent, which had been banned in Britain. The paper successfully challenged subsequent legal action by the British government, winning its case at the European Court of Human Rights in 1991. * The paper ran a story claiming Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II, who generally maintains a strictly impartial role politically, was upset with the style of Margaret Thatcher's leadership. * In 1990, in what became known as the Arms-to-Iraq affair, the paper revealed how Matrix Churchill and other British firms were supplying arms to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. * In 1992, the paper published extracts from Andrew Morton's book ''Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words'', which revealed for the first time the disastrous state of her marriage to Prince Charles. * In its "Cash-for-questions affair#Riddick and Treddinick, cash for questions" investigation in 1994, Graham Riddick, MP for Colne Valley and David Tredinnick (politician), David Tredinnick, MP for Bosworth, accepted cheques for £1,000 each from an Insight journalist posing as a businessman in return for tabling a parliamentary question. The investigation followed information that some MPs were taking one-off payments to table questions. * Under the headline, "KGB: Michael Foot was our agent", ''The Sunday Times'' ran an article on 19 February 1995 that claimed the Soviet intelligence services regarded Foot, a former leader of the Labour Party, as an "agent of influence", codenamed "Agent Boot", and that he had been in the pay of the KGB for many years. The article was based on the serialisation of the memoirs of Oleg Gordievsky, a former high-ranking KGB officer who defected from the Soviet Union to Britain in 1985. Crucially, the newspaper used material from the original manuscript of the book which had not been included in the published version. Foot successfully sued for libel, winning "substantial" damages. * In 1997–98, the paper ran a series of exclusive stories based on revelations from Richard Tomlinson, a former MI6 spy, about life inside MI6 and secret MI6 operations around the world. * During the siege of the United Nations compound in East Timor in 1999, the paper's foreign reporter, Marie Colvin, was one of only three journalists (all women) who remained to the end with the 1,500 people trapped there. She reported their plight both in ''The Sunday Times'' and in interviews on radio and television and was widely credited with saving their lives. * In 2003, ''The Sunday Times'' published confidential Whitehall documents revealing the names of more than 300 people who had declined New Year's Honours, New Year's, Birthday Honours, Queen's Birthday and Dissolution honours (i.e. knighthoods, OBEs, etc.) * In 2006, in an investigation that became known as "cash for honours", ''The Sunday Times'' revealed how several prominent figures nominated for life peerages by the then prime minister, Tony Blair, had loaned large amounts of money to the Labour Party at the suggestion of Michael Levy, Baron Levy, Lord Levy, a Labour Party fundraiser. * In mid-2009, the newspaper ran a series of articles revealing how politicians were abusing the expenses system. * Between 2004 and 2010, the newspaper ran an award-winning investigation by Brian Deer which revealed that research by Andrew Wakefield into the MMR vaccine was fraudulent. The investigation led to Wakefield being banned from medicine, and the retraction of his research from ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...
''. * In March 2010, undercover reporters from ''The Sunday Times'' Insight team filmed 2010 cash for influence scandal, members of parliament agreeing to work for a fictitious lobbying firm for fees of £3,000–£5,000 a day. One of those implicated, Stephen Byers, described himself as "sort of like a cab for hire". * In October 2010, an investigation by the newspaper exposed 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids#Controversy, corruption within FIFA after a member of the association's committee which grants the World Cup guaranteed his vote to an undercover reporter after requesting £500,000 for a "personal project". * In 2011, the paper broke what became known as the 2011 cash for influence scandal, cash for influence scandal: it revealed that Adrian Severin, Ernst Strasser, Pablo Zalba Bidegain and Zoran Thaler tried to influence EU legislation in exchange for promised money. Both Strasser and Thaler resigned in March 2011. * In March 2012, the paper filmed Peter Cruddas, the co-treasurer of the Conservative Party, offering access to David Cameron, the prime minister, in return for donations of £250,000. Cruddas resigned several hours later. Cameron said: "What happened was completely unacceptable. This is not the way we raise money in the Conservative Party." * In January 2013, the seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong confessed to having used performance-enhancing drugs during each of his Tour victories. The confession ended years of denials about allegations of cheating during most of the cyclist's professional career. ''The Sunday Times'' chief sports writer David Walsh (journalist), David Walsh had spent over a decade investigating Armstrong, his team and the systematic doping in sport, doping rife in the sport. The newspaper was forced to pay Armstrong £300,000 in damages in 2006 after he sued it for libel. Following Armstrong's lifelong ban (and subsequent televised confession) ''The Sunday Times'' said it would sue him to recover the damages, plus interest and costs, for the original proceedings which it called "baseless and fraudulent". *In June 2014, the Insight team at ''The Sunday Times'' published a front-page story "Plot to buy the World Cup" that detailed how Qatar used secret slush funds to make dozens of payments totalling more than $US5 million to senior officials at FIFA to ensure the country won enough votes to secure hosting rights to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The revelation prompted calls for Qatar to be stripped of hosting the World Cup. The reporting by Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake won numerous awards, including the Paul Foot Award. It also formed the basis for the book by Calvert and Blake, published by Simon & Schuster, ''The Ugly Game''. * In June 2015, ''The Sunday Times'' ran a lead front article titled "British spies betrayed to Russians and Chinese". The article was controversial because it contained numerous unlikely and unsubstantiated claims. Shortly after publication parts of the online version of the article were changed quietly by the newspaper. The article appeared to be an attempt to smear the American whistleblower Edward Snowden, thus fuelling further doubt as to its independent editorship. * A 2016 ''Sunday Times'' investigation into the unsolved Whiston, Merseyside, Whiston murders of John Greenwood and Gary Miller in 1980 led to the unearthing of new evidence, which led Merseyside Police to re-open the 40-year-old case. Subsequently, in 2019 police attempted to re-try the original suspect acquitted in 1981 under double jeopardy legislation, but were not permitted to do so by the Director of Public Prosecutions, causing police to campaign for a change in the double jeopardy law. * In August 2019, ''The Sunday Times'' received the leaked Operation Yellowhammer file about preparations for a "no deal" Brexit. *In April 2020, an investigation by ''The Sunday Times'' ''Insight'' team revealed Prime Minister Boris Johnson had skipped five COBR meetings in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The investigation suggested that the British government underestimated the threat of the virus and failed to adequately prepare, and scrutinised Johnson's leadership during the crisis. It became the most read story in the history of ''The Times''. This, and subsequent investigations into the British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, government's pandemic response, formed the basis of the 2021 book ''Failures of State''.


Controversies


Phone hacking scandal

In July 2011, ''The Sunday Times'' was implicated in the wider News International phone hacking scandal, which primarily involved 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 ...
'', a Murdoch tabloid newspaper published in the UK from 1843 to 2011. Former British prime minister Gordon Brown accused ''The Sunday Times'' of employing "known criminals" to impersonate him and obtain his private financial records. Brown's bank reported that an investigator employed by ''The Sunday Times'' repeatedly impersonated Brown to gain access to his bank account records. ''The Sunday Times'' vigorously denied these accusations and said that the story was in the public interest and that it had followed the Press Complaints Commission code on using subterfuge.


Errors

Over two years in the early 1990s, ''The Sunday Times'' published a series of articles HIV/AIDS denialism, rejecting the role of HIV in causing AIDS, calling the HIV/AIDS in Africa, African AIDS epidemic a myth. In response, the scientific journal ''Nature (journal), Nature'' described the paper's coverage of HIV/AIDS as "seriously mistaken, and probably disastrous". ''Nature'' argued that the newspaper had "so consistently misrepresented the role of HIV in the causation of AIDS that ''Nature'' plans to monitor its future treatment of the issue." In January 2010, ''The Sunday Times'' published an article by Jonathan Leake, alleging that a figure in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report was based on an "unsubstantiated claim". The story attracted worldwide attention. However, a scientist quoted in the same article later stated that the newspaper story was wrong and that quotes of him had been used in a misleading way. Following an official complaint to the Press Complaints Commission, ''The Sunday Times'' retracted the story and apologised. In September 2012, Jonathan Leake published an article in ''The Sunday Times'' under the headline "Only 100 adult cod in North Sea". This figure was later shown by a BBC article to be wildly incorrect. The newspaper published a correction, apologising for an over simplification in the headline, which had referred to a fall in the number of fully mature cod over the age of 13, thereby indicating this is the breeding age of cod. In fact, as the newspaper subsequently pointed out, cod can start breeding between the ages of four and six, in which case there are many more mature cod in the North Sea.


Allegations of antisemitism

In 1992, the paper agreed to pay David Irving, an author widely criticised for Holocaust denial, the sum of £75,000 to authenticate the Goebbels Diaries, Goebbels diaries and edit them for serialisation. The deal was quickly cancelled after drawing strong international criticism. In January 2013, ''The Sunday Times'' published a Gerald Scarfe caricature depicting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cementing a wall with blood and Palestinians trapped between the bricks. The cartoon sparked an outcry, compounded by the fact that its publication coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League. After Rupert Murdoch tweeted that he considered it a "grotesque, offensive cartoon" and that Scarfe had "never reflected the opinions of ''The Sunday Times''" the newspaper issued an apology. Journalist Ian Burrell, writing in ''The Independent'', described the apology as an "indication of the power of the Israel lobby in challenging critical media coverage of its politicians" and one that questions Rupert Murdoch's assertion that he does not "interfere in the editorial content of his papers". In July 2017, Kevin Myers wrote a column in ''The Sunday Times saying'' "I note that two of the best-paid women presenters in the BBC – Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz, with whose, no doubt, sterling work I am tragically unacquainted – are Jewish. Good for them". He continued "Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lost-with-all-hands stupidity. I wonder, who are their agents? If they’re the same ones that negotiated the pay for the women on the lower scales, then maybe the latter have found their true value in the marketplace". After the column ''The Sunday Times'' fired Myers. The Campaign Against Antisemitism criticized ''The Sunday Times'' for allowing Myers to write the column despite his past comments about Jews.


Other editions


Irish edition

The Republic of Ireland edition of ''The Sunday Times'' was launched on a small scale in 1993 with just two staff: Alan Ruddock (journalist), Alan Ruddock and John Burns (journalist), John Burns (who started as financial correspondent for the newspaper and is at present acting associate editor). It used the slogan "The English just don't get it". It is now the third biggest-selling newspaper in Ireland measured in terms of full-price cover sales (Source: ABC January–June 2012). Circulation had grown steadily to over 127,000 in the two decades before 2012, but has declined since and currently stands at 60,352 (January to June 2018). The paper is heavily editionalised, with extensive Irish coverage of politics, general news, business, personal finance, sport, culture and lifestyle. The office employs 25 people. The paper also has a number of well-known freelance columnists including Brenda Power, Liam Fay, Matt Cooper (Irish journalist), Matt Cooper, Damien Kiberd, Jill Kerby and Stephen Price (journalist), Stephen Price. However, it ended collaboration with Kevin Myers after he had published a controversial column. The Irish edition has had four editors since it was set up: Alan Ruddock from 1993 until 1996, Rory Godson from 1996 until 2000, Fiona McHugh from 2000 to 2005, and from 2005 until 2020 Frank Fitzgibbon. John Burns has been acting editor of the Irish edition from 2020.


Scottish edition

For more than 20 years the paper has published a separate Scottish edition, which has been edited since January 2012 by Jason Allardyce. While most of the articles that run in the English edition appear in the Scottish edition, its staff also produces about a dozen Scottish news stories, including a front-page article, most weeks. The edition also contains a weekly "Scottish Focus" feature and Scottish commentary, and covers Scottish sport in addition to providing Scottish television schedules. The Scottish issue is the biggest-selling 'quality newspaper' in the market, outselling both ''Scotland on Sunday'' and the ''Sunday Herald''.


Editors


See also

* * * Mrs Mills Solves all Your Problems * British International Motor Show, ''The Sunday Times'' Motorshow Live


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Times, The 1821 establishments in the United Kingdom Conservative media in the United Kingdom National newspapers published in the United Kingdom News Corporation subsidiaries Newspapers established in 1821 Sunday newspapers published in the United Kingdom The Sunday Times (UK), * Ian Charleson Awards