Sir Andreas Whittam Smith was at the forefront of major change in British media
Sir Andreas Whittam-Smith in 2015(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
Tributes have been paid to a legendary figure in British media who grew up in Merseyside. Sir Andreas Whittam Smith was one of the co-founders of The Independent in 1986, regarded as the first in the history of Fleet Street not to have a permanent allegiance to a political party.
A family spokesperson announced Sir Andreas’s death on November 29, saying that he was “surrounded by family until the end” and that he would be “dearly missed”. He is survived by his wife, two children and three grandsons.
Sir Andreas worked at a range of British papers including the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph before founding The Independent. He later became the president of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), allowing provocative films such as A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist to be released on video for the first time.
Sir Andreas was born in Macclesfield on June 13, 1937 but his family moved to Birkenhead when he was a child. His dad, Canon JE Smith, was a Church of England vicar and his parish covered the town.
Sir Andreas went to Birkenhead School before securing a place at Oxford University. The Independent said his upbringing was often forgotten about in later years as he rose up the ranks of the establishment.
In its obituary, the newspaper said: “He was knighted in 2015 (‘for public service, particularly to the Church of England’), and his double-barrelled (but not hyphenated) name, as well as his ways, often led people to think he had come from some greatly privileged background. He had not.
“He was known at school as “Andy Smith”, and somewhere along the line, the embellishments were added. He was, strictly, a Scouser, growing up in Birkenhead with his father, Canon JE Smith, and mother.”
The newspaper also included a quote from Sir Andreas directly about his time at Birkenhead School. He said: “I had a good education, but not one that could be described as elitist in a social sense.
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith in 1989(Image: PA Wire)
“‘It wasn’t Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, nor Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge…there was nothing pukka about the school: the social mix stretched from dockers’ sons to doctors’ sons.”
The Guardian’s obituary added: “He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, the son of a Church of England vicar, Canon JE Smith, originally from a Manchester working-class family, whose parish was in an impoverished area near the docks of Birkenhead on Merseyside.
“His mother, Margaret (nee Barlow), a piano teacher, was the daughter of a Lancashire mill owner.
“Their son’s Christian name derived not from some exotic foreign relations but from a village on the Isle of Man where his parents had spent their honeymoon.
“Andreas was educated at Birkenhead School and obtained a third class degree in politics, philosophy and economics at Keble College, Oxford.”
Most of his career was spent as a journalist.
Sir Andreas co-founded The Independent in 1986 with Matthew Symonds and was its first editor from 1986 until 1993.
After this, he worked at the BBFC and was chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2001 to 2003. He was appointed the First Church Estates Commissioner, a senior lay person in the Church of England, in 2002 and stood down from the role in 2017.
Paying tribute, former Independent editor and BBC presenter Amol Rajan said: “A radical and a pioneer, Andreas profoundly transformed British journalism for the better, and forever. With his passing, a titan – and the golden era he personified – has ventured to the great newsroom in the sky.”