Word: oldham
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When Gilbert John Brown left Oldham General Hospital early one evening last week, he had no idea it was to be a special night. He and his wife Lesley, due to give birth in about nine days to the world's first baby conceived outside the human body, had spent a-quiet day together reading the papers and watching television. But shortly thereafter, rumors began to circulate that the baby would arrive soon. Reporters and photographers thronged the entrance to the maternity unit. At 10:45 p.m., John Brown was summoned back to the hospital. Soon after midnight, the announcement...
BORN. To Lesley Brown, 31, and Gilbert John Brown, 38, a truck driver; the world's first baby conceived outside the human body; their first child, a girl; in Oldham, England. Name: Louise (see MEDICINE...
...great press circus was on. The Oldham News was out with a major story the next day; London's Daily Mail is said to have offered $190 to an Oldham reporter for the parents' names, and journalists began pouring into town from around the world. At least one posed as a friend of a patient to gain admittance to the hospital. Three Japanese photographers began shooting pictures of every pregnant woman in sight. Said a hospital spokesman: "It seems if you move anything, there is a reporter behind...
...tried next day to regain the initiative by printing the first "exclusive" photo of Lesley Brown-but the Sun and the Express both pictured her that day as well. To protect its fast depreciating investment, the Mail quickly stationed a guard outside Lesley Brown's room and persuaded Oldham Hospital officials to refer all inquiries about the birth to the Mail. When a TIME correspondent called the paper to confirm Lesley's age, a spokesman obliged but added: "That's free. The next one will cost...
...EXCLUSIVE followed EXCLUSIVE, Britain's more serious dailies were beginning to find the affair distasteful. The Times fretted that if the orgy of publicity continued, it might be traumatic for the child. The Guardian denounced "chequebook journalism" and thrashed Oldham health officials for allowing the Mail to control news from the hospital. Embarrassed, regional health authorities ordered that any bulletins be given to all comers. Sniffed Guardian Editor Peter Preston: "The research, the doctors, the hospital-all were funded by the taxpayer. It's as if the Prime Minister said, 'For 350 quid I'll give...