The London-based press magnate Sir Quentin Watt was an imposing chap, whose six-foot, sixteen-stone, tweed-clad, cane-toting, pipe-smoking, mutton-chopped figure was one of the more noticeable at the prestigious gentlemen’s club where he used to spend many an evening at bridge and port. He was an extremely successful businessman, who founded several publications, including, in 1811, The Gatshire Gazette, the only one still operating. Until 1907 this was a weekly; since then it has been produced daily, except Sundays. As Gatshire’s sole county newspaper, it plays an important role in local life, as is reflected in its high circulation. Originally it consisted almost entirely of advertisements, public notices and court reports, plus the occasional stern leader on The State Of The Nation, and was a single sheet in size. It cost 1d. Today, each edition of this evening paper covers twenty to thirty pages, not including the various supplements that appear (the Saturday TV preview; the Monday sports review; the Tuesday motoring section; the Wednesday property guide; the Thursday employment pages; and the Friday pullout known as ‘Fun in the Sun’ from April to September and ‘Wintertainment’ during the other half of the year). The price has risen to 35p, although there is the option of subscription, payment of £100.00 guaranteeing the delivery of every issue for a year. (In other words, one gets a deal that is slightly better than twelve months for the price of eleven.)

The Gatshire Gazette used to have a competitor, The Gatshire Mercury. The rivalry between the two was especially fierce between the wars, and neither shied at undertaking underhand measures to get the better of its opponent. The Mercury tended to use street urchins, for their resourcefulness (they were good at pranks such as letting the air out of tyres, not to mention getting themselves jobs as printer’s devils, which gave them the opportunity to get up to all kinds of mischief with the ink and type). The Gazette preferred femmes fatales, for their guile (they were good at waylaying journalists and getting them drunk). In the end, the Gazette won. The signs were there in December 1936 when it managed to prevent the Mercury from announcing the abdication of Edward VIII, and when it made sure that the Mercury missed an even more important story around 33 months later the latter never recovered.