A brief history
The daily mail was began by Alfred Harmsworth and his brother Harold in 1896
At its time of release it cost a half penny
The newspaper was an instant success with the first copy selling 297,215 more copies than expected
By 1902, at the end of the Boer Wars the circulation was over a million, making it the largest in the world
Alfred took up the editing side of production and Harold policed the business
It was the first newspaper to recognise the potential market of the female reader with a women’s interest section
In 1900 the Daily Mail began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so
Before the outbreak of WW1 the paper was accused of warmongering when it reported that Germany was planning to crush the British empire
Warmongering: encouraging or advocating aggression towards other countries or groups
The paper’s circulation dropped from 1,386,000 to 238,000 because Harmsworth criticised Lord Kitchener, the Secutary of state of war, regarding weapons and munitions. Kitchener was considered by some to be a national hero.
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When Kitchener died, the Mail reported it as a great stroke of luck for the British Empire.
a contest with a prize of £100 for a new design of hat – a subject in which Northcliffe took a particular interest. There were 40,000 entries and the winner was a cross between a top hat and a bowler christened the Daily Mail Sandringham Hat. The paper subsequently promoted the wearing of it but without much success
Daily Mail Sandringham Hat
Lord Rothermere was a friend of Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards him in the early 1930s.
Notable features of the Daily Mail
The daily mail online is free to read (funded by advertising)
In 2011 MailOnline was the second most visited English-language newspaper website worldwide.
It has since then become the most visited newspaper website in the world, with over 189.5 million visitors per month, and 11.7 million visitors daily, as of January 2014
Regular cartoon strips
- I Don’t Believe It (discontinued)
- Odd Streak
- The Strip Show
- Chloe and Co. (by Knight Features)
- Up and Running (by Knight Features)
- Fred Basset
- Garfield