The Daily Telegraph has marked its 160th birthday with a newspaper redesign, which has included reinstating its traditional gothic masthead.
The newspaper also today carries a four-page pull-out on the Telegraph’s history.
Published for the first time as The Daily Telegraph and Courier on 29 June 1855, costing two pence, the newspaper claimed to have “the largest circulation in the world” in 1874.
The Telegraph claims to have printed the first daily crossword in 1925, the first television supplement in 1935 and the first daily national newspaper sports supplement in 1990.
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The newspaper’s offices moved from the Strand to 135 Fleet Street in 1860, remaining until 1987 when it moved to Canary Wharf. It has been based in the Victoria area since 2006.
The supplement also documents how The Sunday Daily Telegraph was launched in 1899, lasting seven weeks, and The Sunday Telegraph in 1961.
The daily edition merged with the Morning Post, which was founded in 1772, in 1937, and the newspaper claimed to sell more than 1m copies daily in 1947 and 1,439,000 in 1980. In May this year, the newspaper's circulation was 486,262, down 5 per cent on May 2014.
In 1994, The Electronic Telegraph became the first national newspaper website. According to ABC, the Telegrapht is now the fourth most popular national newspaper website, claiming an average 4.9m unique daily users in March, up 23 per cent on April and 52 per cent on last May. The Telegraph website has a metered paywall allowing people to read 20 articles a month for free. The
In a letter to readers today, editor Chris Evans said that in addition to the refreshed masthead – which will be rolled out onto the website and apps – the newspaper also has a new typeface, Austin, for headlines and body text.
The size of the main font in the newspaper is also increasing, which will result in approximately 5 per cent fewer words in the paper.
Evans also said that the number of features in the daily newspaper has been “boosted”. He said that Monday features will focus on health, Tuesday’s on living, Wednesday’s on fashion, Thursday’s on family and relationships and Friday’s on lifestyle.
Evans added: “Unusually for a Monday, we also have a Matt on the front page today. We couldn't let a day like this go by without marking it with one of his inimitable cartoons.”
Cartoonist Matt Pritchett, mentioned in the newspaper's timeline today, joined the Telegraph in 1988.
Matt celebrates 160 years of the @Telegraph pic.twitter.com/rScEqey3YP
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 29, 2015
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