And more things
From Jodi Cudlipp
Sir: Poor old Saint Paul Johnson — he’s such a coward. He never attacked Hugh Cudlipp during Hugh’s lifetime: he wouldn’t have dared. But he forgets that I’m still alive and this is his second Spectator attack since my husband’s death (And another thing, 13 August). In his article, Johnson wrote about ‘Old Hugh... ’ Hold on, he was still in his fifties at the time in question. Old Paul should watch it: born in 1928, he’s no chicken. Then he writes: ‘Among other idiocies, he sold the Sun to Murdoch.’ Yes, he did, but what could anyone else have done with the old Daily Herald? Hugh couldn’t close down the paper that had once been the TUC-backed Daily Herald or the unions then might well have retaliated against the Mirror and its huge stable of other publications. When Cecil King bought Odhams Press he signed a pledge that (a) the Herald’s future would be fought for and (b) it would never be amalgamated with the Mirror. Hugh fought for its future by re-naming it the Sun and making it more modern. But the broadsheet size could not be changed because of Odhams’s presses, and in any case it would have been mad to try to rival the Mirror within its own group. New talent could not be acquired because nobody could be fired. The pledge to run the Herald/Sun was to last nine years. After that, financial and possible huge staff losses on closure had to be considered.
Jodi Cudlipp
Chichester, West Sussex
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