John Junor
Sir John Donald Brown Junor (15 January 1919 – 3 May 1997) was a Scottish journalist and editor-in-chief of the Sunday Express, having previously worked as a columnist there.[1] He then moved to The Mail on Sunday.
Born in Glasgow, he studied at Glasgow University and had a wartime commission in the Fleet Air Arm.[2] At Glasgow University he became president of the University Liberal Club, and later stood unsuccessfully three times for Parliament for the Liberal Party.[3] He was knighted in 1980.[4]
Junor married in 1942, and had two children.[3] The journalist, Penny Junor is his daughter,[2] and the journalist, Sam Leith, his grandson.
His Sunday Express column (which he continued to write in his years as editor-in-chief) was noted for recurrent catchphrases, two of them being "pass the sick-bag, Alice" and "I don't know, but I think we should be told". Junor frequently mentioned the small town of Auchtermuchty in Fife.[3]
Junor could be brutally forthright in his column. He once wrote: "[W]ith compatriots like these [the IRA Brighton bombers] wouldn't you rather admit to being a pig than be Irish?". Following complaints that the comment was racist, Junor was censured by the Press Council in May 1985.[5]
On 24 January 1957, Junor was called to the Bar of the House of Commons to be reprimanded for contempt of Parliament[6] - the last non-politician to be so called.[7] The matter concerned an article about petrol allocation that appeared in the Sunday Express on 16 December 1956. Junor apologised:
| “ | Mr Speaker, I wish to express my sincere and unreserved apologies for any imputations or reflection which I may have cast upon the honour and integrity of the Members of this House in the article which I published in the Sunday Express of 16th December. At no time did I intend to be discourteous to Parliament. My only aim was to focus attention on what I considered to be an injustice in the allocation of petrol, namely, the petrol allowances given to political parties in the constituencies. In my judgment these allowances were a proper and, indeed, an inescapable subject of comment in a free Press. That was a view which I held then and hold now, Sir, but I do regret, deeply and sincerely, that the manner in which I expressed myself should have been such as to be a contempt of this House. I have nothing more to say. I now leave myself in the hands of this House. | ” |
Works [edit]
- The Best of JJ (1981)
- Listening for a midnight train: memoirs (1990)
References [edit]
- Penny Junor (2002): Home Truths: Life Around My Father, ISBN 0-00-710213-5
Notes [edit]
- ^ Editor 1954-1986.[1], [2]
- ^ a b Peregrine Worsthorne "Sympathy for the devil", New Statesman, 12 August 2002
- ^ a b c Julian Critchley Obituary: Sir John Junor, The Independent, 5 May 1997
- ^ John Donald Brown Junor (1919 - 1997), Find A Grave Memorial
- ^ http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=30527§ioncode=1 Press Gazette
- ^ http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1957/jan/23/committee-of-privileges-second-report
- ^ [3]
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by ? |
Deputy Editor of the Evening Standard 1953–1954 |
Succeeded by Charles Wintour |
| Preceded by Harold Keeble |
Editor of the Sunday Express 1954–1986 |
Succeeded by Robin Esser |
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