Chichester on the cheap

THE PRESS

RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL

Apart from Sir Francis Chichester, who de- serves credit for the superbly audacious enter- prise which culminated in triumph in Plymouth on Sunday evening? Most of the £30,000 capital cost of Gipsy Moth IV came from Lord Dul- verton, a member of the Wills tobacco family, who is a distant relation of Chichester. Other sponsors included the brewers, Whitbreads, who put up £3,000, and the International Wool Secretariat (£5,000). And various supplies were given or loaned by different firms who wished to advertise their products. The Marconi Com- pany lent the radio telephone apparatus which afforded Chichester his brilliant communication system.

The financial part played by the press was both more modest and more complicated: it has been the subject of ill-informed con- troversy. The original credit goes to Mr J. R. L. Anderson, who, with the Guardian, pioneered the radio link which Chichester used in 1960 when he won the single-handed race across the Atlantic. Without this radio link there would have been no newspaper coverage of the story and the circumnavigation might never have been attempted. In view of the enormous sums which have been poured out by the BBC and Iry and by various newspapers in a fight for exclusive photographs, it is right to emphasise the com- paratively modest sums which have accrued to Chichester from newspaper sources. For the outward journey the Sunday Times and the Guardian paid Chichester £3,500 (£2,000 and £1,500 respectively) for the exclusive use of his radio dispatches. Both the Sunday Times and the Guardian had an option of £3,500 for the return journey; but the Guardian dropped out and was replaced as junior partner by The Times.

Of the arrangements for the return journey, Anderson wrote in the Guardian of 27 Ala: Both newspapers had options on coverage for the second half of the voyage, but fresh con- tracts had to be negotiated. When that time came the Guardian was in the throes of an economic crisis. We hoped to be able to con- tinue reporting the voyage, but in the event se did not feel justified in putting up the amount that Sir Francis required for his reports. There- was no question of letting him down—other newspapers were eager to bid for him. There were higher bids than ours.'

With a certain resigned self-satisfaction. Anderson quoted Peter Dickinson writing in Punch a month before: 'The Guardian has been behaving with considerable dignity throughout the whole affair, considering that they pioneered the sponsorship of this kind , of achievement. Surely no one can think the worse of a good and honest paper because it happens to have been beaten by a bigger cheque book.'

The Daily Mail the same day said: 'The Guardian dropped out and The Times mosed in. The Sunday Times renewed its agreement on wider terms, and this time the total figure was £5,000-i8,000.'

This is grossly misleading. All the Guardurn had to do was to take up their option at £1,500. It is comical for them to say that at that time they were 'in the throes of an eco- nomic crisis.' That was the very time that they

were seeking with the help of the Morris/ Berry Welsh consortium to throw a spanner

into the Thomson/Astor deal and with the Guardian to buy control of The Times them- selves.

Whatever else this episode may illustrate, it proves the unfitness of the Guardian to absorb The Times and the presumption of Mr Morris

and Mr Anthony Berry in rushing off and crying foul against Thomson to the Monopolies Commission. A paper which could not put up £1,500 to get Chichester's marvellously newsworthy reports from Sydney round the Horn and back to Plymouth could hardly be deemed a proper instrument of salvation of The Times.

Chichester's contract for the return voyage called for two articles a week : one for the

Sunday paper and one for the daily. Thus, The Times were able to print eighteen pieces on Chichester. This works out at £83 an article. It would have been much better if, instead of having ideas above their station, the Guardian bad taken up their modest Chichester option. All this talk of bigger cheque books is farcical. Any half-prosperous newspaper could have found £1,500 out of the petty cash. After all, it is only a few weeks since bandits took £47,000, intended for the wages, from the petty cash at Printing House Square.

This, of course, does not take care of the costs of communications. These, however, were not as heavy as might have been supposed. The radio and telex charges for the round trip cost the Sundary Times just over £1,000. The Times, which had only to pay the return jour- ney, had a bill of about £500. All in, therefore, the articles were astonishingly cheap. They were certainly not Svotlana prices.

Sir Francis is not an avaricious man and has been scrupulous in keeping his side of the bargain. Both The Times and the Sunday Times feel that, although the enterprise of other news- papers robbed them of the exclusivity they had sought, the story turned out far better than they had expected and they have had ex- tremely good value for money. They will, I understand, be offering Chichester a bonus.

Inside the Sunday Times and Times offices the credit for a most efficient newspaper operation must be principally shared by Mr Dennis Hamilton and Mr Harald Evans. It was Hamilton who first- got in touch with Chichester on behalf of the Sunday Times. His personal assistant, Harold Evans, conducted all the early- negotiations and drew up the contract. When the question of the return journey came up, Evans had become editor of the Sunday Times. He naturally had little diffi- culty when the Guardian dropped out in per- suading Hamilton and Rees-Mogg, the new editor of The Times, to take over the daily share of the contract.

At first Hamilton was reluctant for The Times to move in. He did not wish it to be thought that The Times was cashing-in on the misfortunes of the Guardian. The facts set out above show there was no question of this. The Guardian could not or would not do it and t:iere were no other bidders around. At an early stage Beaverbrook newspapers could have had the whole story—Sydney and back—for £5,000. They missed their opportunity and when The Times came into the picture there were no other bidders.

Fleet Street should mice up. Cheque books are not enough. There must be brains, initiative and decisive action as well.

Donald McLachlan is on holiday.