David English (editor)


Sir David English was a British journalist and newspaper editor, best known for his two-decade editorship of the Daily Mail.

Early life

English was born in Oxford, and educated at Bournemouth School. Aged 16, he joined the local Christchurch Times and then had a brief period with the News in Portsmouth, moving to London before he was 20.

Career

English began his national newspaper career at the Daily Mirror in 1951, before moving to the Daily Sketch firstly as Features Editor and then Editor. He took up the editorship of the Daily Mail in 1971, a post he held until 1992, when he became Chairman and Editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, the Mails parent company. At a Mail summer party at Hampton Court, Vere Harmsworth, 3rd Viscount Rothermere described English in a speech as the creator of the modern Daily Mail—much to the discomfort of English's successor, Paul Dacre, who was sitting beside him. This was reported in English's obituary in The Times.
A prominent supporter of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, English was knighted in 1982. He was appointed a life peer in 1998, but died a few days before the official ceremony.

Personal life

English married Irene Mainwood in 1954, and they had three children. He died in London.