An Unlikely Hero : A Newspaper Reborn Book

The inside story of how the third Lord Rothermere saved a great newspaper dynasty: how he reversed the failing fortunes of the 100-year-old business founded by his great-uncle Lord Northcliffe, rescued the Daily Mail and brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. With unprecedented access to the company?s journalists, executives, Harmsworth family members and archives, Sally Taylor charts the meteoric rise of the Daily Mail & General Trust, the holding company for Associated and Northcliffe Newspapers, the only remaining British press empire still run by the family that founded it. She tells of the "Night of the Long White Envelopes" when 277 of the nation?s top journalists were ruthlessly sacked, the largest merger in Canadian history in which the DMGT played a major role, the biggest newspaper war of the 20th century and the unprecedented decision of the firm "to take over itself." This, against a background of dynastic escapades and family tragedies . . . It is a story of backroom power-mongering and internal strife that eventually resulted in one of the great business success stories of our time . . . Cutting through the press mythology, this gripping narrative reveals the truth behind the rise of the legendary Fleet Street editor David English and his enigmatic and highly controversial proprietor, Vere Rothermere. It is a penetrating portrait of greed, profit and the British newspaper business.Read More