Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Encyclopedia
The Northampton Chronicle & Echo is a local newspaper serving Northampton
, England, and the surrounding towns and villages, with editions from Monday to Saturday. It has a circulation of 17,483 and is owned by Johnston Press
.
office building overlooking Northampton's famous market square. This was demolished in the late 1970s to make way for a shopping development. A blue plaque marks the spot where the Daily Echo was published for well over a century. The Chronicle & Echo and its associated titles moved to new quarters at Upper Mounts.
.
and Thomson Newspapers), whose books about the Sir Harry Oakes murder case and the Haiti
an tyrant Papa Doc have found an international audience. Valentine Low, a journalist on the Times, and columnists Yvonne Roberts and Matthew Engel also worked on what is known locally as "The Chron".
Michael Green's novel Don't Print My Name Upside Down was based largely on his experiences at the Chronicle & Echo. The paper's chief sub-editor Stanley Worker kept a copy in his desk and, during rare dull moments, would proudly peek at references to himself. Green's book The Art of Coarse Acting was based on his experiences as an amateur actor at Northampton's amateur drama group the Masque Theatre.
Green, Foot, Marquis and Warwick were all at different times editor of the Chronicles long-running daily 'chat' page, called Town Talk and County Gossip by Hamtune. Three went on to become authors and the fourth (Foot) a playwright. Mayes has also published compilations of his 'corrections and clarifications' columns in The Guardian
. Two went on to become editors: Lou Warwick of the Northampton Town and County Independent, John Marquis of the Packet Newspapers group in Cornwall and The Tribune (a morning newspaper) in the Bahamas.
Both John Morris and John Marquis were also London Sports Editors and Chief Boxing Correspondents of major newspaper groups—Morris of United Newspapers (Yorkshire Post, Lancashire Evening Post and Chronicle & Echo) and Marquis of Thomson Regional Newspapers (The Scotsman
, the Western Mail, the Press and Journal and The Journal).
Among the Chronicle & Echos editors were W Cowper Barrons, John Barrons, Vincent Halton, Gerald Freeman, Philip Green and Mark Edwards. One of the company's most notable figures was L W Dickens, long-serving editor of The Mercury and Herald, in its heyday the 'bible' of Northamptonshire farmers. Another of the company's great characters was the photographer Roland Holloway, who worked on the Chronicle, Mercury and Independent for half a century. He was born in 1905, the same year his father William Henry Holloway launched the Independent. During a career running from the 1920s to the 1970s, Roland took more than 80,000 photographs and attended 28,000 assignments. An excellent collection of his work was published in book form in 1985. It was called Roland Holloway's Northamptonshire, Fifty Years of Photographs 1924–1974, published by Northamptonshire Libraries.
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, England, and the surrounding towns and villages, with editions from Monday to Saturday. It has a circulation of 17,483 and is owned by Johnston Press
Johnston Press
Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
.
Origin
The title was the result of a 1931 merger of two dailies and two weeklies (the Mercury and Herald was the merged weekly) which occupied a striking art decoArt Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
office building overlooking Northampton's famous market square. This was demolished in the late 1970s to make way for a shopping development. A blue plaque marks the spot where the Daily Echo was published for well over a century. The Chronicle & Echo and its associated titles moved to new quarters at Upper Mounts.
Related media
A glossy monthly, the Northampton Town and County Independent, edited by Bernard Holloway and the local author-editor Lou Warwick, was also published by the same company, which was once part of the United Newspapers group headed by Lord Barnetson. One of the Chronicles sister papers in those days was the Yorkshire PostYorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
.
Staff
Among the Chronicle & Echos most notable journalists were author Michael Green, who wrote The Art of Coarse Rugby, scriptwriter Alistair Foot, the Guardians readers' editor Ian Mayes, chairman of the Sportswriters Association Barry Newcombe, former Boxing Board of Control general secretary John Morris, theatre historian Lou Warwick, and author and editor John Marquis (formerly of ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
and Thomson Newspapers), whose books about the Sir Harry Oakes murder case and the Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an tyrant Papa Doc have found an international audience. Valentine Low, a journalist on the Times, and columnists Yvonne Roberts and Matthew Engel also worked on what is known locally as "The Chron".
Michael Green's novel Don't Print My Name Upside Down was based largely on his experiences at the Chronicle & Echo. The paper's chief sub-editor Stanley Worker kept a copy in his desk and, during rare dull moments, would proudly peek at references to himself. Green's book The Art of Coarse Acting was based on his experiences as an amateur actor at Northampton's amateur drama group the Masque Theatre.
Green, Foot, Marquis and Warwick were all at different times editor of the Chronicles long-running daily 'chat' page, called Town Talk and County Gossip by Hamtune. Three went on to become authors and the fourth (Foot) a playwright. Mayes has also published compilations of his 'corrections and clarifications' columns in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. Two went on to become editors: Lou Warwick of the Northampton Town and County Independent, John Marquis of the Packet Newspapers group in Cornwall and The Tribune (a morning newspaper) in the Bahamas.
Both John Morris and John Marquis were also London Sports Editors and Chief Boxing Correspondents of major newspaper groups—Morris of United Newspapers (Yorkshire Post, Lancashire Evening Post and Chronicle & Echo) and Marquis of Thomson Regional Newspapers (The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, the Western Mail, the Press and Journal and The Journal).
Among the Chronicle & Echos editors were W Cowper Barrons, John Barrons, Vincent Halton, Gerald Freeman, Philip Green and Mark Edwards. One of the company's most notable figures was L W Dickens, long-serving editor of The Mercury and Herald, in its heyday the 'bible' of Northamptonshire farmers. Another of the company's great characters was the photographer Roland Holloway, who worked on the Chronicle, Mercury and Independent for half a century. He was born in 1905, the same year his father William Henry Holloway launched the Independent. During a career running from the 1920s to the 1970s, Roland took more than 80,000 photographs and attended 28,000 assignments. An excellent collection of his work was published in book form in 1985. It was called Roland Holloway's Northamptonshire, Fifty Years of Photographs 1924–1974, published by Northamptonshire Libraries.
Sponsorship
In the 1994–95 English football season the company sponsored local team Northampton Town F.C.Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...