Autobiography

Wednesday and a Friday paper, so we were
publishing three days a week.
We discovered that the Friday paper was still
selling on Saturday, so we ended up calling it
the Friday-Saturday Sport, which increased
sales even further. It did so well we eventually
decided to bring out a Saturday paper in its
own right. This might be considered odd in
comparison to other publications, but we were
like no other publication. There were no rules
for us because there was nothing else like it on
the market, and we were in competition with
no-one else. Eventually we ended up with a
seven-day newspaper. We were not deluding
ourselves. We know it was very much the
paper for the young male, a niche market, but
it was a very profitable business. At its peak
the circulation of the newspapers reached 1.5
million copies per week, with a massive
readership because it was handed around from
mate to mate at work.
Lord Stephenson, who was at the time
chairman of Express Newspapers, bought 25
per cent of the shares in Sport Newspapers,
but after being nicknamed ‘Lord Porn’ and
constantly ribbed by other members in the
House of Lord, offered to sell his shares back
to us.
Ralph and I were invited to a meeting at the
headquarters of Express Newspapers. We
negotiated for over an hour in their vast oakpanelled
boardroom complete with a butler
serving coffee; the epitome of upper-class
wealth and success. And here they were, trying
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