The Astors: landmarks
Landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
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- antecedents
- in the UK (1893)
- out of publishing (1961)
Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site.
Antecedents
1785 first edition of London Daily Universal Register
1788 London Daily Universal Register becomes The Times
1791 Observer founded
1763 John Jacob Astor born in Waldorf, Germany
1783 migrates to US
1808 establishes American Fur Company
1836 subsidises publication of Washington Irving's Astoria
1848 dies worth US$20m, richest man in the country
1875 son William Backhouse Astor dies
1882-85 grandson William Waldorf Astor serves as US minister to Italy
In UK
1893 William Waldorf Astor moves to UK
1893 buys Pall Mall Gazette
1893 starts Pall Mall Magazine
1899 becomes UK citizen
1911 buys The Observer from the Harmsworth family
1912 John Jacob Astor IV dies in the sinking of the Titanic
1914 Pall Mall Magazine sold to Hearst
1916 William Waldorf Astor becomes British peer
1919 wife Nancy becomes MP for Portsmouth
1922 son John Jacob Astor buys London Times from Northcliffe estate
1933 Vincent Astor and W Averill Harriman launch Today magazine in New York
1937 Today merges with competitor News-Week as Newsweek
1948 David Astor becomes proprietor of The Observer
Out of publishing
1961 Newsweek magazine bought by Washington Post
1966 Astors sell The Times to Thomson
1977 Astors sell the ailing Observer to US oil giant Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for US$1
1981 ARCO sells Observer to Lonrho
1993 Observer bought by Guardian Media Group