‘The Times’ editor dies

Press, 1 November 1985, Page 18

‘The Times’ editor dies

NZPA-Reuter London Charles Douglas-Home, editor of “The Times” newspaper, has died of cancer, aged 48, a hospital spokesman said. l)fr Douglas-Home, nephew of a former Prime Minister, Sir Alec DouglasHome, had edited the newspaper since 1982, presiding over a rise in circulation from under 300,000 to almost 500,000. He continued to edit “The Times” during a long illness, directing morning news conferences from a “squawk box” by his hospital bed until 10 days before he died. “We always used to say that he was okay from the neck up,” said the deputy editor, Colin Webb. “He was the most positive man with a serious illness that I have ever known.” Mr Douglas-Home was appointed editor in March, 1982, by the Australian publisher, Rupert Murdoch, who had bought the newspaper a year earlier.

Although “The Times” continued to support CentreRight policies, he dismissed suggestions by his predecessor, Harold Evans, that it became subservient to the Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, under Mr Murdoch’s proprietorship. “We never hesitate to publish news that might be

damaging to the Government,” he said.

Mr Douglas-Home began his career in journalism as a reporter with the “Daily Express” in Glasgow, moving to “The Times” as its defence correspondent in 1965.

He covered the Six-Day War in the Middle East in 1967 and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia a year later.

After reporting the precise location of Soviet tanks there, he was arrested, held in jail for 18 hours and then deported from Czechoslovakia. He held the posts of features editor, home editor, and foreign editor before becoming deputy editor in 1982. “The Times” celebrated its 200th anniversary this year with Mr DouglasHome at the helm. He is survived by his wife, Jessica Gwynne, the painter and stage set designer, whom he married in 1966, and two sons.