Read on Twitter
Just because.
Here's an interesting story about the first ever newspaper published in Britain. It may take a few tweets, but what else are you doing on a Wednesday night? Shut up, you bumhole.
Thread...
Here's an interesting story about the first ever newspaper published in Britain. It may take a few tweets, but what else are you doing on a Wednesday night? Shut up, you bumhole.
Thread...
Sometime around the year 1400 a metallurgist called Johannes Gensfleisch was born in Rhineland, and became the most important man to have ever lived.
And you've never heard of him. Idiots.
Little is known of his life, but when he was about 35-40, he invented ...
And you've never heard of him. Idiots.
Little is known of his life, but when he was about 35-40, he invented ...
... the printing press, and changed his name to that of his family home, "GoodMountain". He became Johannes Gutenberg.
(Good thing too, cos Johannes Gensfleisch literally translates to Johnny Gooseflesh, and... poor lad).
And now, a slight diversion...
(Good thing too, cos Johannes Gensfleisch literally translates to Johnny Gooseflesh, and... poor lad).
And now, a slight diversion...
... Gutenberg's financial backer was a man called Johann Fust, but just as the development of the moveable type printing press was finished, Fust demanded his money back, and Gutenberg was bankrupted.
Gutenberg died in penury, but not misery, because ...
Gutenberg died in penury, but not misery, because ...
... a local clergyman, in recognition of what he'd achieved, awarded him a suit of clothes, and 2000 litres of wine. Party on, Gutenberg!
And what happened to Johann Fust? Well, that's how he spelled it, but his family spelled it Faust, and it is thought that ...
And what happened to Johann Fust? Well, that's how he spelled it, but his family spelled it Faust, and it is thought that ...
... he was the model for the famous Dr Faustus, the guy who sells his soul to the devil in the Marlowe play. Bit of a dick.
Anyway, back to printing.
Before the printing press, news, such as it was, had been a combination of Chinese Whispers and Town Criers...
Anyway, back to printing.
Before the printing press, news, such as it was, had been a combination of Chinese Whispers and Town Criers...
... although in some parts of Europe, there would be "gazettes": handwritten sheets, pasted to a wall, with local info, or news that the King was dead or a war had happened.
But with the printing press, mass reproduction of news could happen, and on both side of the page! ...
But with the printing press, mass reproduction of news could happen, and on both side of the page! ...
In 1618 the first multi-page weekly gazettes were sold in Germany, Netherlands and Gdansk, and the name "newspapers" stuck.
In 1620 the first English-language newspaper (called, with bad spelling, "Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc") was published in... Amsterdam, weirdly ...
In 1620 the first English-language newspaper (called, with bad spelling, "Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc") was published in... Amsterdam, weirdly ...
Britain didn’t rush to join this continental frippery. The authorities couldn’t see what was wrong with simply plonking a fat man with a bell in the middle of a town square, and letting him shout at the yeomanry for a few minutes once a month...
... Then, as now, it was believed Britain didn’t get where it was today by having a clue what was going on in the world.
So it wasn't until 80 years after Germany did it, on 11 March 1702, that Britain got its first newspaper, the (also badly spelled) "Daily Courant"...
So it wasn't until 80 years after Germany did it, on 11 March 1702, that Britain got its first newspaper, the (also badly spelled) "Daily Courant"...
It shouldn’t be remarkable, but this is the world we live in, so it is: the first editor was a woman, Elizabeth Mallet.
She set up a premises above a tavern on Fleet Street, London, and journalism is still inseparably associated with that location. And with taverns...
She set up a premises above a tavern on Fleet Street, London, and journalism is still inseparably associated with that location. And with taverns...
The Daily Courant stated its aims with admirable rectitude and probity: the editor announced she would not add any comments of her own to the news she reported, on the basis that she imagined readers would have “sense enough to make reflections for themselves”....
... which was a lovely idea, and lasted a surprisingly long time: 40 days, after which the publication was bought out by the future publisher of The Spectator, who relocated it to a place called - I'm not making this up Little Britain.
You may laugh darkly now.
End of thread.
You may laugh darkly now.
End of thread.
