The Career Of Sir Harold Evans, Journalist, Publisher And Author

After earning renown as a groundbreaking investigative journalist and newspaper editor in Britain, Sir Harold Evans had a second career in America as a book editor, publisher and author.

Evans died in New York on Wednesday at the age of 92.

1928: Born June 28 in Newton Heath, Manchester, England. Takes his first job as a journalist at the age of 16, for a weekly paper in Ashton-under-Lyne.

1961: Named editor of regional daily The Northern Echo. The paper’s campaign on cervical cancer leads to a national UK program for detection of the disease.

1967: Named editor of The Sunday Times. His Insight Team of investigative journalists exposes the plight of British children who suffered birth defects from thalidomide, leading to compensation for the families and a landmark legal reform lowering barriers to reporting on lawsuits. Other scoops include the revelation that UK diplomat Kim Philby, a defector to Moscow, had been a Russian mole while serving as chief of anti-Soviet operations for British intelligence.

1972: Publishes “Editing and Design: A Five-Volume Manual of English, Typography and Layout” – one of his many books on the nuts and bolts of newspapering that become standards in Britain.

1981: Becomes editor of Sunday Times sister title The Times after a takeover by media baron Rupert Murdoch. Resigns a year later, citing differences with Murdoch over editorial independence. Later chronicles their clash in “Good Times, Bad Times.”

1982: Publishes “Pictures on a Page: Photo-journalism, Graphics and Picture Editing.”

1984: Moves to America, teaches at Duke University.

1990: Named president and publisher of Random House trade group. Over time, publishes books by authors including Henry Kissinger, Maya Angelou, Colin Powell. Later goes on to senior roles at US News and World Report, the New York Daily News, The Atlantic Monthly.

1993: Becomes a U.S. citizen.

1998: Publishes first of his two bestsellers on U.S. history, “The American Century.”

2002: A poll by Britain’s Press Gazette and the British Journalism Review names him the greatest newspaper editor of all time.

2004: Knighted for services to journalism.

2009: Publishes his memoir, “My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times.”

2011: Joins Reuters as editor-at-large. 

2018: Publishes “Do I Make Myself Clear?: Why Writing Well Matters.”

(Editing by Mike Williams)

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