The
Standard was founded in 1827. It was a competitor to The
Times in the 1880s under the editorship of William Mudford
it began to lose readers at the turn of the century. The Standard
and its sister paper, The Evening Standard, were purchased
by Cyril Arthur Pearson in 1904. Pearson
changed it from a Conservative to
a Liberal newspaper but this failed to
improve sales and in 1910 it was sold to Davison Dalziel. Five years
later, Dalziel sold the Evening Standard to Edward
Hulton.
Looking to expand his newspaper empire, the owner of the Daily
Express, Lord Beaverbrook,
purchased a controlling interest in the Evening Standard in
1926 and became sole owner of it in 1933. Although an influential
newspaper, Beaverbook was unable to make the Evening Standard
into a financial success.
(1)
Lord Beaverbrook first approached
David Low to work for the Evening
Standard in 1926. Although Beaverbrook offered to double his
salary he refused. In 1929 Beaverbrook tried again to capture Britain's
leading cartoonist.
He
fixed me with a steady calculating eye and I put on my best Simple
Simon look. The proposition was that I should leave The Star and
draw cartoons for the Evening Standard at double my salary,
whatever it was. Flabbergasted, I made refusing noises. "What
do you want?" he asked. He was persistent. To close the subject
I said I wished to take the advice of my friends H. G. Wells and Arnold
Bennett.
Negotiations ended when I called on Lord Beaverbrook one morning at
noon, finding him sitting up in bed, a plaintive figure like Camille,
reading the Bible. He had promised me four half-pages a week, but
I wanted precise guarantees about presentation. "Dammit, Low,"
said Beaverbrook. "Do you want to edit the paper, too."
The Evening Standard advertised my coming lavishly. No one
took seriously the announcements that I was to express independent
views. that was a novel idea, except for an occasional series of signed
articles by some big name. Free and regular expression by the staff
cartoonist was unheard of and incredible.
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
