Small World

[Mechanic]

The Leamington Spa Courier, in England celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2003. This of course is not that significantly old for newspapers in Great Britain. What is significant, as far as I am concerned, is that one of the founders of the newspaper was later to become the owner of the Sydney Herald, which became The Sydney Morning Herald, where I spent the last years of my working life.

To quote the Spa Courier

Printer John Fairfax and James Sharp Senior, a former editor of the Warwick Advertiser, joined forces in 1828 to publish Leamington's first ever newspaper.
But after just 18 weeks, the political differences of the liberal Fairfax and conservative Sharp proved too much and Fairfax left to set up his own title.
The Leamington Chronicle was launched but failed after two libel actions crippled the business despite the fact that Fairfax won both, and Fairfax fled to Australia where he eventually took over the Sydney Morning Herald.


You can find the Spa Courier's story at

www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/CustomPages/CustomPage.aspx?pageid=41412

The Fairfax family lost control and all involvement in the Sydney Morning Herald, when young Warwick Fairfax made a disastrous bid to take over the company in 1988-89. This ended the worlds longest dynasty for newspaper ownership.