Gordon Newton
Sir Gordon Newton | |
---|---|
Born | Leslie Gordon Newton 16 September 1907 Muswell Hill, Middlesex, England |
Died | 31 August 1998 Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England | (aged 90)
Alma mater | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
Occupation | Editor |
Spouse |
Peggy Ellen Warren
(m. 1935; died 1995) |
Children | 1 |
Sir Leslie Gordon Newton (16 September 1907 – 31 August 1998) was an English journalist and editor of the Financial Times for 22 years, from 1950 until 1972. He is generally considered to be one of the most successful British newspaper editors of the post-Second World War era.[1]
Early years
Newton was the second son of John Newton, a glass merchant, and his wife Edith Sara, née Goode. He attended Blundell's School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he read economics. After graduating in 1929, he joined the family glass business, only to see it collapse the following year. At his father's suggestion, Newton then purchased a struggling mirror-making firm which he sold in 1933 for a profit, only to lose the money in a company that manufactured automobile parts when his business partner ran off with the firm's money.[2]
Journalism career
Desperately looking for work, in 1935 Newton received a position as a cuttings clerk with the
Editorship of the Financial Times
When the editor of the Financial Times,
Newton's decisions contributed to the success of the newspaper. Sales trebled during his years as editor, as Newton transformed the Financial Times from a trade publication into an internationally respected newspaper. In 1958, he hired Sheila Black, a former actor and FT’s first female journalist, who introduced the How to Spend It consumer goods feature in 1967, with whom he also had a long-running extramarital affair.[5] Newton received a knighthood in 1967, and served as a director of the paper between 1967 and 1972.
Later years
Newton voluntarily stepped down from his responsibilities with the Financial Times in 1972 after reaching the age of 65. He took up a chairmanship of a financial company that collapsed amidst the secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975, but subsequently served with greater success on other boards. He lived quietly in Henley-on-Thames, where he indulged his passion for fly fishing, until his death from cerebrovascular disease in 1998.
References
- ^ "David Astor". The Independent. London. 8 December 2001. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
- ^ Nigel Lawson, "Newton, Sir (Leslie) Gordon", in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 40, pgs. 701–702.
- ^ Obituary, Sir Gordon Newton, The Independent, 3 September 1998
- ^ Lawson, op cit, pgs. 702–703.
- ^ Beckett, Andy (19 July 2018). "How to Spend It: the shopping list for the 1%". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-670-81295-1.