English press: then & now

Which was the first means of mass communication? What about the birth and development of the English periodical press?
And nowadays which are the most important newspapers and magazines?
 

TIMELINE

 
 
  • 1702 - March 11 : Daily Courant founded, first daily paper. Ceased publication in 1735.
  • 1704 : Weekly Review founded by Daniel Defoe.
  • 1706 : Evening Post, first evening newspaper, founded.
  • 1709 : Tatler founded by Steele and Addison.
  • 1710 : Examiner founded, with Swift briefly as editor.
  • 1711 : Spectator founded by Steele and Addison.
  • 1770. Lady's Magazine founded
  • 1785 - Jan 1 : Daily Universal Register founded by John Walter I.
    Became the Times on 1 January 1788. Britain's oldest surviving newspaper with continuous daily publication.
  • 1791 - Dec 1 : Observer founded: oldest surviving Sunday newspaper.
  • 1817 - Jan 25 : Scotsman launched.
  • 1821 - Feb 18 : New Observer launched. Became the Sunday Times on 20 October 1822.
  • 1841 - July 17 : Punch founded. Ceased publication in 1992; re-launched in 1996.
  • 1846 - Jan 21 : Daily News launched, edited by Charles Dickens.
  • 1865 - Feb 7 : Pall Mall Gazette launched. Merged with Evening Standard in 1923
  • 1888 - Jan 9 : London Financial Guide launched. Became Financial Times on 13 February.
  • 1893 - Jan 2 : Financial Times first appears on pink paper.
  • 1896 - May 4 : Daily Mail launched by Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe).
  • 1897 - June 23 : Largest news illustration ever printed by any daily paper in this country, of the Diamond Jubilee procession,
    published in Daily Mail.
  • 1902 - Jan 17 : Times Literary Supplement launched.
  • 1903 - Nov 2 : Daily Mirror launched by Harmsworth. First daily illustrated exclusively with photographs.
  • 1924 - Nov 2 : First crossword in a British newspaper, in the Sunday Express.
  • 1964 - Sept 15 : Daily Herald becomes the Sun.
  • 1969 - Nov 17 : Sun re-launched as a tabloid by Rupert Murdoch.
  • 1981 : Rupert Murdoch buys the Times and Sunday Times.
  • 1986 - March 4 : Today launched by Eddy Shah, first national colour newspaper.
  • 1987 : Today bought by Rupert Murdoch.
  • 1987 : First women editors of national newspapers in modern times: Wendy Henry (News of the World) and Eve Pollard (Sunday Mirror).
  • 1991 - Oct 7 : Sport becomes daily.
  • 1995 - Nov 17 : Today ceases publication: first national to close since the Daily Sketch.
  • 1999 - March 16 : Metro launched: a daily newspaper distributed free to travellers on the London Underground.
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