Word: christiansens
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Died. Arthur Christiansen, 59, longtime (1933-57) editor of the London Daily Express (circ. 4,300,000), largest Beaverbrook daily, who took command at 29, echoed the Beaver's neo-Victorian politics ("His the policy, mine the paper"), doubled circulation with splashy makeup and exhortations to "Keep the COMMON TOUCH"; of a heart attack; in Norwich, England...
...Holy Smoke." Born in Wallasey, a grimy industrial city near Liverpool, Arthur Christiansen got to Fleet Street at 20 as London editor of the Liverpool Evening Express, a brash young man whose hair broke over a "rather high brow in embarrassing, almost girlish waves." At 29, he became editor of the Daily Express, second-largest daily in the Western world (after the London Daily Herald). In jig time, Christiansen had the Express in front, although it was later overtaken by the London Daily Mirror. Before a heart attack forced him into retirement, Express circulation doubled...
...editor, Christiansen never bothered to question the Beaver's truculent jingoism-up the British Empire, down the League of Nations, the United Nations and most things American-that set Express policy: "I was a journalist, not a political animal," he says by way of explanation. "My approach to newspapers," Christiansen told a British television audience last year, "was based on the idea that when you looked at the front page you said: 'Good Heavens,' when you looked at the middle page you said: 'Holy Smoke,' and by the time you got to the back page...
...News, News, News." As edited by Christiansen, the news was not only exciting, it was sometimes unreal. When an Express reporter described a condemned murderer as "a dreamer with the eyes of a poet," Christiansen sent another man out to collect a verse from the killer. The paper soon had its poem. "There was no explanation as to how it had fallen into our hands," said Christiansen in his book. "Nor did I dare inquire." Nor was he surprised to learn later that the poem had been ghosted by a Fleet Street colleague. Throughout the war, the Express maintained...
After his fashion, Christiansen was also a conscientious newsman. During his years at the top, the Express bulletin board was splattered with exhortations to the staff to keep the COMMON TOUCH. Samples...