Join us on our journey to the 50,000th Journal

Sep 8 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THE first issue of The Journal hit the streets on Saturday May 12, 1832 and since then we’ve covered local, regional, national and international news from the earth-shattering to the parochial – from the devastating effect of nine million dead in the Great War to the surreal antics of Laurel & Hardy.

In 1832, horse-drawn travel was the norm and passenger steam railways were in their infancy.

In our time we’ve paralleled the internal combustion engine, watched huge liners slide gracefully down slipways and witnessed Man’s first bold steps on the Moon.

Today, it’s back to the future; we’re talking of re-investing in those old rail tracks and scaling down air travel to save energy and to limit carbon usage. It’s the cyclical nature of human endeavour where The Journal has always taken a leading role, informing, instructing and educating.

In the first years the reporting style was ornate with scene-setting high on a reporter’s procedure. These days stories are presented with no less information but are incisive and economic, yet they remain highly readable and immensely informative.

Presentation over the past few years has changed dramatically – for instance, our website www.journal live.co.uk continually updates stories as they develop, often with video linkage.

Today we turn the pages that featured the space race and remind readers how momentous events punctuate history:

Friday April 14 1961: Gagarin says I could have gone on longer. “Major Yuri Gagarin yesterday described his thoughts and feelings as the first cosmic voyager – the strange experience of being weightless, the beauty of the Earth floating in a completely black sky and the brilliance of the Sun.

He was ‘full of joy’ when he touched the Earth. ‘Above all, I am glad because I have successfully carried out my task,’ he said.

June 17 1963: A Date In Space: 26-year-old ‘cosmonette’ is fine. In blatantly sexist language, we reported: “Russia yesterday launched into space the world’s first woman cosmonaut – 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova.

Valentina, the pretty, unmarried daughter of a tractor driver who started her working life at a tyre factory, is circling the Earth in Spaceship Vostok 6.”

Friday July 21 1969: Man on the Moon. “No man has ever been there. It has never been touched by any living thing. Now, this is about to change.

It is July 21 1969. On four spindly legs its rocket spouting hot exhaust against the lunar cover, a manned spacecraft has settled shortly on the moon’s surface. Two earthmen inside are preparing to emerge.”

Wednesday January 29 1986: 72 seconds to space disaster. Woman teacher among 7 dead astronauts. “The space shuttle programme will go on despite the deaths yesterday of seven astronauts on the Challenger craft 73 seconds after lift-off, President Reagan pledged: ‘The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave. Nothing ends here. Our hopes continue.’”

The first 5,000

The Newcastle Daily Journal’s 5,000th issue arrived on Thursday February 15, 1872. Advertising covered page one and inside, the lead story was headed "The Assassination of Lord Mayo".

"The Times correspondent at Calcutta has forwarded the following despatch, dated Tuesday morning: ‘The news of the assassination of Lord Mayo was telegraphed to Calcutta yesterday. The city is in deep mourning; all business is suspended. The Viceroy and friends, after inspecting the convicts on the 8th of February, climbed Mount Harriet and rested there... immediately a man sprang forward through the guards and stabbed the Viceroy in both shoulders."

In the same edition, a news brief reported: "About one hundred bears have been killed in North Carolina this winter."

Another claimed: "Forty-four thousand three hundred and ninety-nine years from now the sun will burn out, says the Monthly Scientist."

The continuing cover story

Amazingly, The Journal cover price remained at one penny from day one on May 12, 1832 until February 26, 1951 when it was increased by a ha’penny, an incredible run of 119 years.

On March 14, 1939 a motoring supplement took the paper up to 32 pages, its biggest yet.

The Journal’s first full-page colour advert appeared on March 15, 1963.