26 JUNE 1964, Page 13

The Press

The Daily Sketch and Mrs. Fry

By RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL

-rim Daily Sketch is a well-edited and attrac- t tive newspaper.' Lord Rothermere advertises in the Financial Times that he will tell this to the fifty-ninth Annual General Meeting of Asso- ciated Newspapers on July 14 (Bastille Day) in the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street.

Really, Lord Rothermere? I suppose you ought to know, as you are spending £40,000 to £50,000 a year of your shareholders' and the taxpayers' money on keeping this horrid little rag alive. But let us be fair and see what this 'well-edited and attractive' newspaper has been up to recently.

On Wednesday, June 10, and the following day, the Daily Sketch had two of the vilest and most intrusive stories about Mrs. Jeremy Fry. They were not only repellent but they were in almost every detail fabricated. The story kicked off with a photograph of Mrs. Fry on the front page. The Picture was in fact three years old and was taken at the Bath Festival. It was stated to have been taken at a recent ball. She is shown dancing with a friend whom this 'well-edited and attractive' newspaper does not trouble to identify.* Then there were the fabricated stories. Let us take them point by point: Wednesday, June 10: 1. Under the headings 'My Marriage: by Mrs. Jeremy Fry' and 'Why We've Parted: by Mrs. Jeremy Fry' appeared these words: 'Mrs. Camilla PrY talked to me last night about her husband Jeremy.

Mrs. Fry did not talk to anyone on the Daily Sketch about her husband Jeremy or her marriage, though they tried to bully her into doing so.

She did reply to one question to contradict the reporter's assertion that her child was 'desperately ill.' The reporters told her that they had been searching all the hospitals in London to find the child. With what object? To interview the child? The child is eighteen months old.

2. 'Man-about-town Jeremy Fry... .' Mr. Fry is a serious and successful engineer.

3. 'Last night thirty-three-year-old Mrs. Fry explained why "things have not been right for us for some time. Then my husband started seeing a lot of Mrs. Chadwick. . . ."' Same as No. 1. Mrs. Fry is thirty-one. Mr. Fry is forty, not thirty-nine, as had been stated.

4. 'We have tried to keep this from the child- ren but I suppose that they are about to find out sooner or later,' said Mrs. Fry at her home in South-West London.

Mrs. Fry did not say this; in fact her children had been informed sometime before.

5. 'Mrs. Anne Chadwick ... is the second wife of modern sculptor Lynn Chadwick.'

Her name, if it is of interest, is Frances—not Anne—as correctly stated in the Sketch's story next day. Anne Was Mr. Chadwick's first wife.

Thursday, June 11: 6. 'Camilla and Jeremy Fry lived in Widcombe Manor, a palace home near Bath.' • If this is a palace, what are we to call Lord Rothermere's sumptuous home at Daylesford, formerly the home of Warren Hastings, and which Lord Rothermere has honourably done up at a cost of at least £200,000? 1 do not know what Daylesford is, except a composite Chats- worth, Blenheim and the Vatican. Though 1 do not know the Frys, I know their house, as I nearly bought it; it has two very fine rooms one above the other. 1 did not buy it because (though 1 admired it) it was too small even for me.

7. `Mr. Fry . . . even built a permanent suite in Widcombe Manor for his visitors from Ken- sington Palace.'

Mr. and Mrs. Fry found, like myself, that the bedroom accommodation was not adequate; so they made use of a double bedroom and bath- room formerly otherwise employed; scores of their friends stayed there. This is as much a travesty of the facts as it is to call Widcombe a palace. • 8. .. although she refused to talk of Princess Margaret's attempts to save her marriage, I can reveal the Princess often 'phoned their home to discuss the situation.'

In fact, Princess Margaret has not spoken to either Mr. or Mrs. Fry about the ►natter. More- over, Princess Margaret did not know anything about the divorce until it was virtually all settled. Further, neither of the two reporters mentioned Princess Margaret's name during their abortive grilling operations.

9. `Mr. Chadwick said . . . "My wife Fraftes left me over two month's ago. . . ."' This is the same lady who is called Anne the day before in this 'well-edited and attractive' newspaper.

10.,'Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon have spent several weekends at Lypiatt with the Chad- wicks.'

Far from spending several weekends at Lypiatt, Princess Margaret has never stayed there, and Lord Snowdon has spent only one night there.

I was disgusted when I read these stories and ashamed to be connected with an industry which still behaves so vilely. I do not know Mrs. Fry and, even if I did, would not have intruded on her at such a painful moment, particularly when she is just being bullied by Lord Rothermere's minions who work for this 'well-edited and attractive' newspaper. However, a few days ago the full facts came into my possession; that is why I have been able to expose the nature of the ten excerpts I have cited.

'These inaccuracies and lies reveal one thing; but more horrifying is the fact that the Daily Sketch is prepared to print its inventions in the form of an interview or confession. Mrs. Fry said nothing about her marriage. The Daily Sketch headline printed : 'My Marriage: by Mrs. Jeremy Fry.'

All these facts were laid before Lord Rother- mere in writing. Up to the present, however (noon Wednesday), he has not replied to the letter he. received. It will be interesting to see whether he amends the report which he has already circulated to his shareholders when he addresses them on July 14 (Bastille Day). If he does not, I trust that some of the shareholders will ask him why he considers 'the Daily Sketch 'well-edited,' why he finds it an 'attractive' newspaper, and whether he does not think that the sooner it is closed down the better for all concerned—par- ticularly in view of the fact that the paper has been incurring a loss for so many years.

Lord Rothermere has led a sheltered life. As he • Mrs. Fry's partner was Mr. Ian McCallum who is the Curator of the American Museum in Bath. is a newspaper proprietor (his father gave him the Sunday Dispatch on his twenty-first birthday) naturally his divorces are never mentioned in the press. He was born with a diamond-studded platinum spoon in his mouth. Three trust funds which his father, the first Viscount, established for him are certainly worth £15,000,000 or £2d,000,000. Why doesn't he knock the Daily, Sketch on the head and sell all the rest of his papers to Lord Thomson or some other pro- fessional newspaper man? He doesn't really like owning papers and he is ill suited to their con- duct.

It is hard to believe he has .written his own speech for his shareholders to be delivered on July 14 (Bastille Day). For a man who has the taste to do up Daylesford at enormous cost and in brilliant style it seems to be inconceivable that he could regard the Daily Sketch as either 'well- edited' or 'attractive.' Some people refer to him as `poor Esmond.' I always say: 'you mean rich Esmond.' I suppose they mean poor in spirit. Here is a great opportunity on July 14 (Bastille Day) to amend his speech and announce the immediate demise of his 'attractive' newspaper.

Among the bullying tactics employed by Lord Rothermere's news hounds was that of giving Mrs. Fry the impression that they had obtained a sneak photograph but that they would like to come in and photograph her and that their editor had said it would be in her own best interests. The three-year-old photograph shows that they were either inexpert in the use of miniature cameras or were telling a straight lie.

It would be laborious to recount all the details of the barbarous ill-usage to which Mrs. Fry was subjected. They have all been reported to Lord Rothermere. I learn die it is probable that the matter will be brought to the attention of 'Lord Devlin and the Press Council when the full story will be revealed.