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Up with the news – for 310 years

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Freelance journalist Simon Harvey looks at the life and times of the world’s oldest newspaper


Amid national mob riots and disturbances over the lack of wheat to make bread, the good people of Worcester welcomed the new 19th century by opening one of the country’s first city shopping centres.

The new Market Hall on the High Street was designed to “bring together under one roof the various commodities that are now dispersed for sale in different parts of the city.”

Two hundred years later, amid national protests and disturbances over a shortage of petrol to drive cars, the good people of Worcester redeveloped that same High Street arcade to meet the needs of the 21st century.

We know these things because Worcester is the home of the world’s oldest continually published newspaper. Established in 1690, the Berrow’s Worcester Journal has appeared each week ever since the foundation of a free press was laid just over 300 years ago.

It has appeared with unfailing regularity for more than 270 years although it was published irregularly from 1690 until 1709, the period following the deposing of James II which saw the beginning of a free press in Britain.

The Journal’s history mirrors Britain’s history and the majority of world and national events have been covered by the paper. The early years gave predominance to national and international news – Worcester people wanted news of the world outside the city, of war, politics and Parliament. The paper cost 2d at first but in 1712, with the introduction of the stamp duty on newspapers, the size of the paper was increased to five pages, a half-sheet being added, printed in pica, a slightly smaller type than in the other four pages, and the price went up to 2 1/2d.

There are no existing copies of the first news-sheet, and the history of the paper does not become clear until 1709 when Stephen Bryan became the first proprietor, printer and editor.

He was described by one of his successors as “a modest, quiet fellow, honest, outspoken and plain of speech and yet carrying an unconscious assumption of knowledge in his manner.”

The paper was sold over a wide area in the Midlands from Gloucester and Tewkesbury to Bridgnorth, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Warwick.

Bryan also sold patent medicines, a side line associated with many of the early provincial newspaper editors. His goods included an elixir for the dropsy, powder for gout, Hypo drops, Royal Chemical wash ball and Dr Egton’s Balsamick.

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