Offer to Buy Every Newspaper in the Room

“I then asked him if they would consider selling their business to me. This was what I said to everybody, but, of course, the Daily Telegraph would have suited me very well. I was surprised when he appeared to flush with annoyance and cut the interview short. So no doubt I was partly to blame for what followed. As I have said the suggestion of buying a family-owned newspaper is often received as an insult and no doubt mortally offended the Berrys. I was quite brash in my approach and there was some excuse for him resenting what I did.”

“It was my habit still to offer to buy any newspaper which might come into any discussion, and one of the first 'bites' that came at this time, in fact before the Belfast case was settled, was a suggestion by Sir Christopher Chancellor of Reuters, just before he took over the chair-”