David English

Sir David English (26 May 1931 – 10 June 1998) was a British journalist and newspaper editor, best known for his two-decade editorship of the Daily Mail.

Biography English was born in Oxford, and educated at Bournemouth School.

English began his national newspaper career at the Daily Mirror in 1951. He made little impact there, and left in 1953 due to his poor relationship with news editor Ken Hord. At one point he worked at the left-wing Reynold's News and Sunday Citizen and, out of a burning desire to generate a front-page headline, garnered significant attention for attempted mail theft. He married Irene Mainwood in 1954, with whom he had two daughters and a son - Nikki, Amanda and Neil. He moved to the Daily Sketch in 1956, firstly as features editor and then editor, before moving to New York and the Sunday Dispatch, a sister paper to the Sketch, in 1959. He worked there briefly before finding a job at the Daily Express.

English took up the editorship of the Daily Mail in 1971, and was widely credited for turning the paper around following its decades-long stagnation. He continued as editor of the Mail until 1992, being followed by former Evening Standard editor Paul Dacre. This was to prevent Dacre from joining The Times following an offer from Rupert Murdoch. English became chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, parent company of both the Mail and the Standard. He also took up chairmanships of Teletext UK, Channel One TV and ITN.

Death He suffered a severe stroke and was sent to St Thomas's Hospital, London on 9 June 1998, dying there the following day. He was due to be appointed a life peer, which instead became a Ghost Honour.