The Historic Newspapers website [visit
link ] tells us about the
'Sun':
"A Brief History of The
Sun
The Sun is part of News Group
Newspapers, which is a subsidiary of News International. This company is owned
by the News Corporation Group, headed by world media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. The
newspaper is printed from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format and as of
December 2008, it has an average daily circulation of 2,899,310 copies. The Sun
sells more copies than any other daily newspaper in the United Kingdom and at
its peak in the mid-1990s, the Sun regularly sold over 4,000,000 copies a day.
The paper has a record of supporting the governing party in the UK, although
traditionally it is generally considered to have a centre-right political
allegiance. The Sun supported the centre-left Labour Party during Tony Blair’s
last three General Election wins.
The Daily Herald
Years
The forerunner of the Sun newspaper
was the Daily Herald, launched on 25th January 1911. The Daily Herald was
initially an independent left wing paper, printed periodically during strike
periods to offer its unconditional support to the strikers. It was published
daily between January and April in 1911 and then from 15th April 1912 until
1914. The newspaper was printed weekly for the next five years before resuming
daily production from 1919.
The Daily Herald became the
official newspaper of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in 1922 and thus supported
the Labour Party. In 1930, the TUC sold fifty-one percent of the Daily Herald to
Odhams Press, publisher of The People. The Daily Herald subsequently became the
first UK paper to sell over two million copies daily, making it the biggest
selling newspaper in the world at that time.
Odhams was acquired by Daily Mirror
Newspapers Ltd in 1961 and formed the International Publishing Corporation (IPC)
on 31st December 1962. This became the world’s largest publishing enterprise.
The TUC sold their remaining forty-nine percent shareholding in 1964, allowing
IPC to re-launch the Daily Herald as ‘The Sun‘.
The Emergence of The
Sun
The first edition of the Sun was
printed on 15th September 1964. This was the first time that a new daily paper
had been published in the UK for thirty four years. The newspaper was printed in
broadsheet format, emerging during the rapidly changing world of the 1960s. Thus
the front page announced:
“The Sun is politically free. It
will not automatically support or censure any party or any Government. It is an
independent paper designed to serve and inform all those whose lives are
changing, improving, expanding in these hurrying years.”
On 15th November 1969, the
newspaper was acquired by Rupert Murdoch, following an unsuccessful bid by
Robert Maxwell. Two days after purchasing the paper, Murdoch re-launched the Sun
in tabloid format. He also installed the Sun as the sister paper to the News of
the World, which was printed on Sundays. The two newspapers have maintained this
link to the present day and they are both still owned by the News Corporation
Group under Rupert Murdoch. The first glamour model appeared on page three on
17th November 1970.
In 1978, the Sun switched
allegiance to the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher. This was a
sensational move for the newspaper given its old background as the Daily Herald.
It continued to support the Conservative Party under John Major and on the day
of the General Election (9th April 1992) the front page of the Sun featured the
headline: “If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please
turn out the lights”. The Sun’s campaign is widely credited with helping John
Major to win the election and thus on 11th April 1992, the newspaper ran with
the headline: “It’s the Sun wot won it”. The Sun changed allegiance to Tony
Blair on 18th March 1997 and has supported Labour at the last three General
Elections.
The Sun newspaper moved to full
colour production for the first time on 28th January 2008 with the opening of
three new printing plants.
The Sun
Supplements
There are several regular
supplements that currently accompany the Sun. The main addition to the paper is
“TV biz“, which provides the latest television news, gossip and pictures from
Monday to Saturday. “Super Goals” is also included in the Monday edition of the
newspaper during the football season and the “Sun Motors” pull-out is
distributed with the paper on Fridays.
The Saturday edition of the Sun
includes two sports supplements: “Super Goals” is featured from August to May
and summarises the upcoming football matches for the weekend, “Favourite”
contains information on horse racing. There is also a Saturday magazine called
“TV Mag” which provides all of the listings and reviews on television
programmes. To mark special occasions, the Sun often provides commemorative
supplements."