125 years of the FTSpecial four­page pullout:

how we covered the stories that shaped our age

The first edition of theFinancial Times on February13 1888. It styled itself asthe friend of the ‘HonestFinancier’ and the enemy ofthe ‘Bull’ and ‘Bear’

14 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 2013

Reporterstell theinside story

Sir Geoffrey OwenJoined 1958, FT editor 1980­1991

In 1963 I was the only FT journalistin the US. At 2pm on November 22I returned to my desk after lunch tobe greeted with a shout from acrossthe newsroom – “Kennedy has beenshot”.The events of the next few days

and weeks, which I spent mostly inWashington, are imprinted in mymemory. The signing of thepresidential oath of office byLyndon B. Johnson in the presenceof a blood-stained Jackie Kennedy,the bizarre incident when thepresident’s assassin, Lee HarveyOswald, was killed by Jack Ruby inthe basement of the Dallas policeheadquarters; and, some days later,Johnson’s powerful address to bothhouses of Congress, which united thenation behind him.On the Monday after the

assassination came the state funeral,which I watched from a vantagepoint near the Capitol.It was an extraordinarily moving

occasion – the dignity of theprocession, the silence of the grievingcrowd along Pennsylvania Avenue,the tall figure of General de Gaullealong with other world leadersmarching behind the late president’swidow. No one who was there willever forget it.

Bridget BloomCorrespondent 1969­1992

I joined the FT’s syndicationdepartment in 1968 and wrote myfirst story for the FT six monthslater when I got a scoop that HaroldWilson, the prime minister, wouldtravel to Nigeria to try to sort outthe crisis over Rhodesia’s unilateraldeclaration of independence.When our local stringer, a tall

Yoruba named Gabriel Fagbure,was introduced as the FT’s Nigeriacorrespondent, Wilson turned to himand asked: “So you’re BridgetBloom?” I then became Africa editor[and the paper’s first womancorrespondent], initially coveringAfrica out of London.A couple of years later, when I

returned to London from reportingthe aftermath of the Biafran war[eastern Nigeria’s failed bid forindependence], I was summoned tosee Lord Drogheda, the FT’smanaging director. After asking meabout my trip, during which I hadspent a lot of time travelling withsoldiers who enabled me to get thestory, he said: “Well done”. Then heturned to me in earnest and asked:“Tell me my dear, what did youwear?” As the paper’s first femaleforeign correspondent, I often woretrousers, which in those days wasbarely acceptable.

In 1971 I wrote in the introductionto the South Africa survey thatapartheid was unsustainable andtherefore made the system’s collapseinevitable.When I showed the article to

Gordon Newton, he threw it back tome across his polished desk and said:“Madam, you have written withvitriol in your pen.” The article didappear in the end, but with themediation of deputy editor FredyFischer.

Robert GrahamCorrespondent 1969­2000

When I asked Gordon Newton, editor,for a salary raise he looked at mewith surprise. “But Graham, Ithought you had private means!”He was most put out when I told

him it was beside the point whetheror not I had private means. I hadbeen hired in 1969 on £2,000 a year.Later, in the early 1990s, the FT

became a player in Italy’s politicaland economic travails. SilvioBerlusconi’s brief first government in1994 fell partly because the FT hadhighlighted its incompetence.Lamberto Dini, then finance

minister, tried to get me fired andtold me: “The sooner you leave Italy,the better,” to which I replied:“Those are words unbecoming of aminister of the Italian republic.”

‘I read the Financial Times beforeother people read the Financial

Times. Now it’s trendy andeverybody carries around a

Financial Times’Barack Obama

US president, in an interviewwith the FT in 2009

‘Reading the FT over the last 20years, I have often been pleased,

occasionally irritated, alwaysintellectually stimulated,

rarely uninterested. This British­rooted salmon­coloured finest

financial newspaper has turnedinto a valuable global asset’

Christine LagardeIMF managing­director

‘I am an ardent reader of the FT, notonly for its balanced news coverage,

but because of its insightful andchallenging reflections on the state of

our global community’Kofi Annan

former UN secretary­general

‘Day in and day out, the newspaperthat I turn to to understand what isgoing on in the world, is the FT. The

breadth, the depth and the expertopinion is unrivalled’

David Lichairman of Bank of East Asia

October 30 1929The Wall Street crash‘The FT calls for a “Need for Calmness”, while its gloomierFinancial News rival declares: “The harvest of figs has turnedto thistles”. The crisis is so tough that in 1931 the FN makesan early attempt to merge with the FT. This eventually comesto fruition, but only in 1945’ David Kynaston, historian

November 26 1963Funeral of John F. Kennedy‘It was an extraordinarily moving occasion – the dignity of theprocession, the silence of the grieving crowd, the tall figure ofGeneral de Gaulle along with other world leaders marchingbehind the late president’s widow. No one who was there willever forget it’ Sir Geoffrey Owen, former FT editor

August 9 1974President Nixon resigns‘Although front pages from our competitors were already onthe streets saying that Nixon had gone, I remember JurekMartin, foreign desk chief, saying that the FT must always beright, not first. And anyway, he said, Nixon was not known asTricky Dicky for nothing’ Sir David Bell, former FT chairman

November 6 1991Robert Maxwell investigation‘The morning Maxwell died, we phoned his son Kevin to say wewere going to run a story that his father was effectively bust.Reporters, news editors and sub­editors pulled together to wina British press award for what judges called ‘the definitivenewspaper investigation’ Sir Richard Lambert, former editor

October 1 1992Britain and Germany fall out after Black Wednesday‘After we published a memo giving Germany’s side of the storyin sterling’s exit from the European exchange rate mechanism,the chancellor of the exchequer stopped talking to the FT. . .giving me my first real Christmas break since I joined in 1988’

Peter Norman, former economics editor

January 11 2000AOL Time Warner merger‘AOL’s merger with Time Warner, later described as ‘the worstdeal of the century’ by Time Warner’s chief executive, wasillustrated with a cartoon – a foretaste both of bolder splashlayouts and the cartoonishly calamitous fate of the deal itself’

Andrew Hill, management editor

125 years of the FT

Editors and correspondents recall theirfinest – and strangest – momentsworking for the FT over the past 50 years

FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 2013 ★ 15

‘I have always appreciated thequality and the amplitude of theinformation provided by the FT.

Not to mention that part of itdedicated to controversy, even

provocation. But that stimulates us’Jacques Delors

former president of theEuropean Commission

‘With its worldwide coverage ofbusiness, foreign affairs, luxury and

the arts, the FT is a valuabledecision­making tool for me. When

you talk to the FT, you talk to a trulyinfluential audience. It is, sans pareil,

the opinion leaders’ go­to source’François­Henri Pinault

chairman of luxury group PPR

‘I think the FT is the best paper inthe world. It brings together the right

mix of news and analysis both ineconomics and politics’

Palaniappan ChidambaramIndia’s finance minister

‘I read your newspaper everymorning. Being a reference paper for

political decision makers andbusiness leaders across the globe is

an outstanding achievement’José Manuel Barroso

president of the EuropeanCommission

David BuchanCorrespondent 1975­2006

The Delors committee was due topublish its long-awaited blueprint formonetary union in April 1989following nine months of secretdiscussions among the central bankgovernors of the 12 EU states, withJacques Delors, president of theEuropean Commission, in the chair.This secrecy would have remained

intact had not a slightly nervousleaker handed me the report on theFriday before its launch with therequest that “perhaps you [the FT]might not make too much of thestory” - to which I replied that it wasnot the kind of story that the FTcould easily downplay!But tragedy intervened to make

that happen. The following day, theHillsborough football disasteroccurred in Sheffield with 96 dead,and the FT made that the splash andran the Delors report downpage. Youmight say this prioritisation wastotally obvious – and I would agree.But I would add that it alsodisproved the cliche about the FTputting economy ahead of humanity.

Paul TaylorCorrespondent 1976­present

The FT’s recruiting process in the1970s typically involved at least five

interviews, culminating with anaudience with the then editor, FredyFisher. Potential recruits sat on alow black sofa looking up at Fredy,whose first question, in his deepGerman accent, was typically: “Areyou numerate?” If you said yes, hisnext question was “what is the GDPof Great Britain?”When I came to New York in the

early 1980s, the office bought sevenIBM PCs at a cost of $7,000 each.These were the first computers usedby FT journalists, and paved the wayfor the transition from typewritersand hotmetal to digital publishing.Until then, reporters typed on telex

machines and the copy came out onthe foreign desk’s “hot line” printerin London.To get round the UK print unions’

aversion to new technology, I foundsomeone to build a “black box” thatwould translate the output from thenew-fangled machine into a tape thatwe could feed into the old telexmachines. That way it came out onthe foreign desk in the usual wayand the print unions were none thewiser.

Christopher ParkesCorrespondent 1977­2006

I had been labouring as a freelancein Brussels with “O” level French. Atmy job interview in early 1977, editor

Fredy Fischer told me he waslooking for an experienced journalist.“I have many bright young menhere, Eton, Balliol and all of that,but none of them can write.”Minutes later, I was checked over

by David Palmer, news editor, in apurple shirt with a white collar anda piercing stare. “Which college?” hedemanded. Salford Tech was the besta Mancunian grammar school chapcould offer.I joined the FT on All Fools’ Day,

1977 as deputy commodities editorwriting about coffee futures and thecommon agricultural policy, buriedin a cubby hole in the FT’s thenoffices in Bracken House. JohnEdwards, my boss, and legendaryluncher, took a look at my long curlyhair and crazed beard: “You look likea rat stuck in a dead bear’s bum.”

Lucy KellawayJoined 1985, Columnist

In the early 1990s, in the days whenthe FT still saw itself as a fine,upstanding newspaper of record, Iwrote a story about the hopelessfashion sense of Britain’s grandestcaptains of industry.I thought the piece was pretty

good, though this was not amajority view. Martin Wolf took meto one side to tell me that Imisunderstood the FT’s unique

selling point, which was to be boring.Sir Richard Greenbury, the then

boss of M&S, didn’t like the articleeither, though in his case it wasbecause I’d said Sir Richard could beforgiven for looking awful as he wasobliged to wear his company’sfrumpy clothing.He wrote me one of his famously

furious letters, in which he made thefollowing declaration: “I have neverworn an M&S suit in my life,” orwords to that effect.This was a year or two after

Gerald Ratner had caused hiscompany’s near collapse by sayinghis jewellery was “total crap”, and asI read the letter I thought that thedownfall of M&S might be nigh. Thiswas quite something for me: my first(and as it turned out my only) bigscoop.Alas, it turned out that the FT’s

real USP was not so much boring asbeing blameless. I was told that wecouldn’t use the material: it wascontained in a private letter.

Alain CassJoined 1974, news editor 1989­1995

As our foreign reporting blossomedunder JDF Jones, some feared the FTwas losing its way. A fierce debateraged about “small wars”. It was feltby some that, under the foreigneditor’s patronage, we were straying

far from the FT’s core remit as apaper of record and analysis. Weshould stick to what we knew bestwhich was finance, economics andbig picture politics. We had to fightto persuade people that coveringinsurrections was important becausethey were often signposts to thefuture stability of a country andtherefore investment and trade.“Why, Alain, are we devoting so

much space to these bearded mullahsprotesting in Iran,” I was asked byFredy Fischer, editor at the time.“Because these bearded mullahs

will do for the Shah and BP andbillions in UK and US trade withIran,” I replied.In February 1979 the Shah fell and

I flew into Tehran on the same AirFrance Boeing 747 carrying theAyatollah Khomeini thanks to an actof selflessness by David White inParis equalled only by Scott of theAntartic’s long walk. He slept allnight, wrapped in a rug, atKhomeini’s HQ to get me a place.The small wars controversy was apassing squall, a minor but necessarydiscomfort as the FT felt its waytowards a bigger, more globalperspective. If it now reaches placeswhich other news organisationscannot reach, we have JDF to thankfor that.

Continued on Page 16

February 12 1990Nelson Mandela’s release‘We were minutes away from missing the deadline for thebiggest story of our careers. [Reporter] Patti Waldmeir saysshe was to blame – she had locked the ignition keys insideour car. I blame Mandela – he was late’

Michael Holman, former Africa editor

August 15 1990Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait‘Victor Mallet was one of only three foreign journalists in Kuwaitwhen Saddam invaded. Caroline Southey, foreign news editor,stood on the news desk table to discuss the crisis. When Victorresurfaced after days of operating undetected by the Iraqis, hegot the FT’s first picture byline’ David Pilling, Asia editor

September 12 2001Terror attacks on America‘Our building on Sixth Avenue had a large screen in the frontwindow, which displayed the pages of the FT. I’d never seenanybody pay it much attention before but that night a crowdwas standing there, silently reading our coverage’

Andrew Edgecliffe­Johnson, media editor

October 11 2008Stock market crash‘Lehman Brothers went bust on September 16 2008 – butmarkets staggered on for three weeks before collapsing inearly October. Accelerating losses settled some tense internaldebates over whether the word “crash” in a headline would bea self­fulfilling prophecy’ John Authers, investment columnist

March 12 2011Japanese earthquake and tsunamiThe tsunami that killed 20,000 people was arguably the firstnatural disaster to be captured in real time. Apart fromdeploying its Asian correspondents to great effect, the FTlaunched a rolling news blog that ran over several days,operated out of London, New York, and Hong Kong

125 years of the FT

November 11 1989The fall of the Berlin Wall‘We were covering the story, which took over the whole frontpage, from every side: from Moscow where they werein total denial, to the streets of Berlin where they werecelebrating in disbelief’

Quentin Peel, chief Germany correspondent

16 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 2013

Peter SpiegelCorrespondent 1999­2006;2010­present

My pulse began to quicken. Therewere US military Humvees along theroad. And a few tanks. We got to thepalace and it was clear the US armywas using it as a base. There waseven another reporter there, PatrickMcDonnell of the Los Angeles Times.We had no idea if we were in theright place, but there was a hum ofactivity that made us feel like wewere on to something. Just then, astaff sergeant walked out. “You guyshere for the press conference?” Pressconference? Patrick and I looked ateach other and came to the sameconclusion: we must be the only tworeporters for a press conference withthe men who captured SaddamHussein. What luck! What a scoop!

Tom BurgisCorrespondent 2006­present

When over dinner I asked MichaelHolman, veteran Africa editor, forhis advice as I prepared for a postingto Johannesburg, he said simply:“Be subversive and have fun.”

Edited by Leyla BoultonPicture research by Aisha Gani

For more anecdotes, visit ft.com/125

Guy DinmoreCorrespondent 1997­present

It was early 1997 and I had justjoined the FT as Balkans stringer,based in Belgrade. Within weeks Ifound myself covering the financialmeltdown in Albania with thecollapse of a pyramid scheme thatcost the life savings of manyAlbanians.One evening in Tirana I was lying

on the floor of my hotel room astanks rumbled by with rumoursflying of a coup. My satellite phonerang and I heard this rathergentlemanly voice saying “RichardLambert here.” “Who?” I replied.“Richard Lambert, editor of the FT.”He was awfully nice and I was

touched that the editor whom I hadnever met would bother to pick upthe phone to his new stringer andurge him to take all precautions andnot get in harm’s way etc. Tragically,two years later, Sander Thoenes, FTstringer in Indonesia, was murderedin East Timor. I was back in Londonbriefly and know how devastatedRichard Lambert and others were.Before that, in 1991, David Thomas,

a reporter and commentator, andAlan Harper, a photographer, werekilled in a flash fire in Kuwait fromoil fields set alight by retreatingIraqi troops just after the end of thefirst Gulf war.

how could I have been so stupid?As I cut it too fine to get to

Gatwick, the BA flight left on timewith the FT’s Africa editor, MichaelHolman, and photographer, AshleyAshwood, on board – but not me.I got a late flight on Nigeria

Airways. And 18 hours later, I foundmyself alone, at 4am, in Lagosairport, conspicuous in a stupidwhite suit and unnerved by thesecurity guards who were insisting Iwent with them. I was taken into awindowless room where a mandressed only in shorts rose from thesofa as I entered. He sat down at thedesk, pulled out a gun and laid it onthe table before me and said: “MrBalls, welcome to Nigeria.”I was held there for six hours,

hoping I was going to be deported –other options seemed less attractive.Eventually, around mid-morning,Michael and Ashley arrived. We wereall to be expelled. But as we weretaken towards the BA aircraft by thehead of airport security, there was aphone call, and the mood changed. Aterrible mistake had occurred.Representatives of the FT were mostwelcome after all.Three hours later, we were

interviewing the president. Thetransition to civilian rule was underway after all – someone had justforgotten to tell Nigeria’s secretservice.

developing economy worthy of morecoverage in the FT.

Peter WhiteheadSection editor, 1987­present

As journalists took over more andmore production processes, all pageeditors had to learn the Applesystem – including how to use amouse, technology that few of themhad even seen – and I would have toteach them. The first day of eachweek-long course was spent gettingmy class to play patience, the cardgame, on the screen – the idea beingthat it was a painless way of makingeveryone familiar with using amouse. In nearly every case itworked. But one Friday afternoon,after a week of teaching, cajoling,and tearing out of hair, one studentwas still complaining that the deskwas not big enough as his mousehad reached the edge and the on-screen pointer still had further to go.

Ed BallsLeader writer and columnist, 1990­4

As a young FT leader writer in1993, the opportunity to fly to Lagosto interview Ernest Shonekan,Nigeria’s new civilian president,appointed by the militarydictatorship to head the “transitionalcouncil”, was not to be missed. So

Jimmy BurnsCorrespondent 1978­2009

My rights of passage as a youngjournalist were exercised on April 21982, when I rang the foreign newsdesk from Buenos Aires in the firstof a series of exchanges leading toour front-page story on the Argentineinvasion of the Falklands.That the FT happened to be the

only British newspaper with a full-time correspondent in the Argentinecapital was pure luck. It stemmedfrom a lunch that FT editor GeoffreyOwen had had a few weeks earlierwith a senior executive of BritishAmerican Tobacco who suggestedArgentina was an important

Continued from Page 15

Writerstell insidestory

‘The Weekend FT was a brilliantinnovation. The range of its subjects

and authority of its arts coverage is awelcome weekly reminder that man

does not live by bread alone’Nicholas Serota

director of the Tate

‘I am a very loyal reader of the FT.I totally trust its editors, I love theglobal yet concise approach. I lookforward every week to reading the

weekend edition’Diane Von Furstenberg

fashion designer

‘Science and industry are inextricablylinked through innovation, yet the link

has not always been given duerecognition. The FT has alwaysbrought that perspective to its

coverage. That benefits everyone’Sir Paul Nurse

president of the Royal Society,Britain’s academy of sciences

‘No FT, no comment!’Sir Martin Sorrell

chief executive ofadvertising group WPP

‘Apart from the Financial Times, Ihaven’t read the press for years’

Gwyneth Paltrowin L’Express magazine, 2008

FT WeekendQuality sectionsinspire reader loyaltyThe FT Weekend targets readers whowant an intelligent, witty andinternationally relevant read.

It has a loyal readership: 90 per centof those who read the Weekend FTread it three to four times a month.While it has long won accolades for itsaward­winning luxury style magazineHow to Spend It – which, despite theeconomic downturn, has enjoyed robustcommercial performance – ourinvestment in the FT weekend magazinehas paid dividends.

It has included the much talked aboutinterview by Stephen Fry with LadyGaga; been host to interviews with TonyBlair and Bill Clinton, through to roguessuch as an in­jail interview withfraudster Bernie Madoff.

It has also overseen major features,such as the “astronauts of planetearth”, which involved interviewing 35astronauts from Brazil to Mongolia. Theproject involved 17 writers using 11languages.

Our Life & Arts section hasmaintained its reputation for intelligentarts coverage, with books, style andtravel advice from across the globe.

It is rightly recognised for its muchcopied Lunch with the FT format.Some of the best – from presidentsto priests – are included in aPenguin book to celebrate our 125thanniversary.

House and Home has been refocusedon the prime global market, with anagony uncle column from Sir DavidTang – with memorably off­beat advicesuch as how to deal with RobertMugabe.

Our Money section has campaignedwith great effect on transparency infund management fees and on a weeklybasis leaves our readers better off, withhands­on advice on managing money.

Caroline DanielEditor, Weekend FT

FT.comLeading the wayin the digital ageFrom smartphones to tablets; fromdesktops to e­readers; from videos tointeractive graphics, FT.com is puttingthe Financial Times’ award­winningjournalism in front of readers where,when and how they want it.

Last year the website passed a bigmilestone, when online subscriptionsovertook newspaper subs. We nowboast 312,000 online subscribers out ofglobal total of 600,000.

The immediacy and accessibility ofthe web means the FT is able tocompete in every marketplace,delivering the latest news and smartestanalysis, unencumbered by print siteand delivery deadlines.

Spring will see the launch of our newweb app for tablets – upgrading the FTexperience on mobile.

FT.com has also been a ground­breaking website, challenging many ofthe perceived wisdoms of the web. Wewere one of the first big newsorganisations to charge for content,developing a business model that isnow being imitated by news groupsacross the globe.

The development of mobile apps hasalso been innovative as we build thefirst HTML5 news app – available atapp.ft.com – to ensure we maintain adirect relationship with readers,independent of the technology giantssuch as Apple and Google. FTAlphaville, our markets blog, helpedchange the face of financial journalism.

But even while innovation has been,and will continue to be, at the heart ofour approach, one thing will neverchange – our commitment to accurate,honest and balanced journalism.

In a world of increasing noise andrumour, informed reporting andinsightful comment are the touchstonesof the FT in the digital age.

Robert Shrimsleymanaging editor FT.com

125 years of the FT

FT.com milestones

Launch ofFT.com

Launch of metered pay model providing a template for paywalls later adopted by other media organisations such as the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph

FT.com wins Eppy for best business website

FT.com wins Eppy for best news website

FT.com overtakes number of newspaper subscribers

FT Alphaville launches. Two years later wins Best business blog in Webby awards

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FT montage Photos: Charlie Bibby, Dreamstime

FT anniversary subscription off er Save over 50% with a year’s digital subscription for just £125

Off er open for 24 hours on 13th February for new customers only, terms apply

You can stay up to date with quality, independent, global news and analysis with a digital subscription to the FT for just £125

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