FT274


In November 1886, after a newspaper poll had voted the Illustrated Police News “the worst newspaper in England”, a journalist from the Pall Mall Gazette went to interview the proprietor of this notorious publication, Mr George Purkess. The office of the IPN, in the Strand, could be detected from some distance, due to the small crowd gathered outside, in front of the pictorial placard advertising the current issue. Purkess, described as “a stout, comfortable-looking man of middle age,” received the news of the vote with the greatest composure, being thick-skinned with regard to such criticism. He jovially invited his fellow journalist into his private office.