
As The Independent celebrates its 25th birthday Press Gazette salutes its record of newspaper design innovation with this look back over 25 front pages.
Independent timeline (source: The Independent)
Oct 1986: The Independent was launched with Andreas Whittam-Smith as editor, at City Road in North East London
April 1987: The Independent played a defining role in the Spycatcher affair
Jan 1990: The Independent on Sunday was launched with Stephen Glover as editor
June 1992: The Independent was the first national newspaper to make climate change a front-page issue
Aug 1994: Ian Hargreaves replaced Andreas Whittam-Smith as editor of The Independent
Dec 1994: Both papers moved to Canary Wharf at One Canada Place
May 1995: Independent News & Media and Mirror Group Newspapers became controlling shareholders of the Independent and The Independent on Sunday
Jan 1996: Charles Wilson was appointed as acting editor of The Independent
May 1996: Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent
July 1996: Robert Fisk published the first of two interviews with Osama Bin Laden
Jan 1998: Rosie Boycott was appointed as editor of The Independent
May 1998: Simon Kelner was appointed editor of The Independent
Aug 1999: independent.co.uk website was launched
Aug 2000: The Independent and The Independent on Sunday moved to the Marsh Wall site in Docklands, East London
2002 – 2003: The Independent was the only quality national newspaper to oppose the Iraq war
Sept 2003: The Independent launched its compact edition alongside the broadsheet
May 2004: The Independent switched all editions to the compact format
May 2006: Bono edited The Independent for a special (RED) issue
25 Mar 2010: Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev confirmed they were to buy The Independent and The Independent on Sunday
May 2010: The Independent launched a national campaign around the general election to encourage the public to place votes without influence from media owners
Oct 2010: The Independent launched i, the compact quality daily that was the first national newspaper to be launched in 25 years
Dec 2010: Elton John edited The Independent & i for World AIDS Day
Feb 2011: The Independent & i overtook The Guardian’s print circulation
July 2011: Chris Blackhurst was appointed as the new editor of The Independent
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