FLEET STREET ROMANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19033, 10 June 1924, Page 6

FLEET STREET ROMANCE

THE BERRY BROTHERS. CONTROLLERS OF “HULTON’S.” Fleet Street, the home of adventure, has few more romantic chapters in its annals than the rise to fame and fortune of Sir William Berry and his brother, Mr Gomer Berry, who now assume control of the great Manchester newspaper firm of Hulton’s. I call it a romance (writes a friend of the brothers to the Daily Mail) because it is not so very many years since these two young men from South Wales came with provincial newspaper experience, but little influence, into the bigger sphere of London and proceeded to show their mettle in what is admitted to be a most difficult pursuit. There must be scores of people in Fleet Street who remember them when they were little more than boys, working hard day and night, in a small office off the Strand, conducting minor publications and filling them by means of energy and enterprise with success. They worked with their coats off, and every detail of production came within their own personal scope. In those days, William was the editorial genius and Gomer the man of affairs. They [were at the foot of the ladder, struggling dangerously, carried on by their own zest for newspaper work and their instinctive ability to conduct it well. Then, less than 10 years ago, they managed to acquire the Sunday Times, the first of their important enterprises. It was a paper with a good name and a long record behind it, but what it had been was nothing to what they made it. As usual, the editorial direction was taken by William Berry, and the business side by Gomer Berry. They worked 15 hours a day and longer on Saturdays, moulding it, improving it, and building up the organisation on which every newspaper depends. With the Sunday Times firmly rooted in the public estimation, the Berrys looked around for new worlds to conquer. But what was characteristic of them was they looked in the spirit of development not merely with proprietorial ambitions. Journalism and publishing fascinated them. The work entailed was the kind of work they enjoyed. It has, I should say, always been their chief pleasure to take new papers or periodicals in hand and lavish upon their welfare the experience they themselves had gained • at first hand.

Thus within a few years they assumed control of such various enterprises as the Graphic publications — the Graphic, Daily Graphic, and Bystander —the old-established publishing house of Cassell’s, Kelly’s Directories, and Weldon’s, the home of the fashion papers. They assimilated several important printing businesses, always with the object of co-ordinating their activities. In every case, the mark of the Berry efficiency became quickly visible.

And still, in spite of their sensational successes, they belong inherently to the fraternity of Fleet Street. If you met them, not knowing them, and asked them what they were, they would certainly reply that they were newspaper men. That is their chief pride. Almost any Saturday night you can still find Sir. William Berry at work in the Sunday Times Office, directing its policy, selecting its news, and even overhauling its proofs. It is this flair for journalism and this devotion to its exacting demands thaw have made them what they are. Both Sir William Berry and Mr Gomer Berry are still young men, physically endowed to cope with their growing responsibilities. That they will take an enormous pride in Hulton’s is not for a moment to be doubted. They have no political axes to grind. Their policy is a clear-cut patriotic one, but, first and foremost, their aim is to turn out first-class newspapers.

In private life the Berrys are charming, unassuming men, who think a good deal about the staffs within their organisation. Among other things, they have established the Berry United Sports Club, with its extensive playing fields and its many social amenities. It may be because healthy sport so much attracts them that they have found the nerve and spirit to accomplish so much in so short a time. Another secret of their progress is their wonderful collaboration. No one yet has ever succeeded in separating one Berry from the other. Their unanimity is a gift at which to marvel.