Mike Randall (journalist)

Michael Bennett Randall (12 August 1919 – 10 December 1999), known as Mike Randall, was a British newspaper editor.

Life

Randall was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford, and Canford School.[1]

He worked as a shipping clerk in Brazil in his youth, then returned to the United Kingdom at the start of the Second World War and took a job as a journalist at the Daily Sketch. In 1941, he moved to the Sunday Graphic, rising to become its editor in 1953.[1] However, he soon left to become an assistant features editor with the Daily Mirror, and in 1956 moved on to the News Chronicle. This paper merged with the Daily Mail, when Randall joined the Mail, and he became its editor in 1963, after serving as deputy editor.[1][2]

Randall aimed to take the Mail upmarket, introducing more investigative journalism and attract younger readers with a more liberal position. However, the paper lost readers, and Randall was replaced as editor in 1966 while he was on sick leave. He joined the Sunday Times as Managing Editor (News), assisting Editor Harold Evans and co-ordinating investigations. In 1969, Robert Maxwell asked Randall to edit The Sun if he was successful in purchasing it, but the deal did not go ahead, and Randall instead retired from the Sunday Times in 1979.[2]

In semi-retirement, Randall worked as a fruit picker and on a mushroom farm, while involving himself in the launch of the Sunday Standard.[2]

References
  1. 'Randall, Michael Bennett', in The International Who's Who 1991-92 (Europa Publishing, 1991), p. 1,333
  2. Michael Leapman, "Obituary: Mike Randall", The Independent, 14 December 1999
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