0:00:05 > 0:00:08It's late Saturday night in Dundee,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10and the Sunday Post is rolling off the press.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17At full tilt, these machines can print 90,000 copies an hour.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20It's a complex, high-tech process,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23but this stronghold of popular journalism,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Oor Wullie and The Broons, is now a century old.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36The Post has sometimes been dismissed as cosy and couthy
0:00:36 > 0:00:40but it's a record-breaking newspaper that, for generations,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43has been an essential part of the Scottish Sunday.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47It was always there when I was growing up. I don't remember
0:00:47 > 0:00:51the first time I ever saw it. It just was part of the family.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56It's a sparky paper as well. It's got a lot of energy, erm...
0:00:56 > 0:00:59and it can be quite cheeky as well and I like that.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02I love the Sunday Post, it's great.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05It goes back to my childhood because it's what we all grew up with
0:01:05 > 0:01:07and every single Sunday it was so special.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11It was giving people reading the material that they wanted.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14It wasn't just giving them short change in any form at all.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16They got a decent read every Sunday
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and, of course, they had Oor Wullie and The Broons as well.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21What a package!
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Wednesday morning.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41The Sunday Post's senior staff gather in its Glasgow newsroom.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44They begin by dissecting last Sunday's paper.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46A really good paper, I thought, this week.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Well done to those on the late team
0:01:49 > 0:01:52on the teenager in the party drug tragedy,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57if it turns out it was a party drug which we need to follow through on.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01That was excellent in getting that in for central and the Dundee editions.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03MUFFLED CONVERSATION
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Now they have to produce next Sunday's paper.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12This week, who's got the biggest story, who's going to hit me first?
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Premium content only.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Donald Martin is only the sixth editor
0:02:18 > 0:02:20of the Sunday Post in a century.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24He's the first not to be DC Thomson trained and he's very aware
0:02:24 > 0:02:29that he's editing a paper that is an icon to its lifelong readers.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33I lost my dad when he was only...when I was only 12,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38and I think it made my sister and my mum and I even closer
0:02:38 > 0:02:44and I think that the Sunday Post just sort of epitomises that really,
0:02:44 > 0:02:49you know, just the family and being together and sharing things,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51and it's...it was special.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54There's no smut, there's no... You know, it's safe,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58I call it a safe paper, you know, if you've got youngsters about.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01So, but, yeah, no, it's always been the paper of choice,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04even the far back as, er, as a child.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07We're anchored in our community and our readership
0:03:07 > 0:03:08and their values.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15But the Sunday Post was a child of conflict, born out
0:03:15 > 0:03:20of the horrors that was World War I, in a city that suffered badly.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32In Dundee, they commemorate their war dead.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Scottish servicemen began to die within weeks
0:03:34 > 0:03:39of Britain's declaration of war against Germany in August, 1914.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41From then on, the casualties mounted -
0:03:41 > 0:03:44thousand upon thousand upon thousand.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Many of the Dundonians killed,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50served in their local regiment - The Black Watch.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53LAST POST PLAYS
0:03:55 > 0:03:59There wasn't a family in the whole of Dundee that didn't
0:03:59 > 0:04:02suffer a loss at that time. You can still feel
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the loss of what is 100 years ago now.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09The city, like every other community in Scotland,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13was transfixed by the war - hungry for news from the front
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and the casualty lists released by the War Office.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25In Dundee, reporting the war fell to the city's own newspaper group -
0:04:25 > 0:04:28DC Thomson - the company that put that third J
0:04:28 > 0:04:33in the city's reputation for "jute, jam and journalism."
0:04:37 > 0:04:40DC Thomson still means journalism.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It's Friday afternoon in Dundee.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Editor Donald Martin is talking to his News Editor in Glasgow.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Donald and his team have got just 36 hours to pull
0:04:51 > 0:04:57together 96 pages of news, sport, comment, features, gossip,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01cartoons, puzzles and pictures that will make up the next issue
0:05:01 > 0:05:03of the Sunday Post.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07A quick review of where we're at.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Nose-clipper one again, not worth a page lead again.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15I'm bored with it, so can we move that one further back?
0:05:15 > 0:05:17'We don't really know what the splash is.'
0:05:17 > 0:05:21We've got maybe four or five really, really strong contenders
0:05:21 > 0:05:24and that's normal for this stage in the week.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Most of our stories, in fact,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30I would say about 20 or 30 stories are all exclusive, so we can play
0:05:30 > 0:05:34around with it and it's about what's the right balance on the front page.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37'How strong - do we want to do a human interest one or a news one?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40'And we'll fight about that later on in the day,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44'but won't decide till maybe about four o'clock tomorrow.'
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Stag one's good. Have we got that to ourselves?
0:05:46 > 0:05:50- Yeah, definitely.- Absolutely? She's not...- Definitely.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Front page mentions - stag woman good enough?
0:05:53 > 0:05:55- I think so.- Yeah.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58'If something happens, then we deal with it,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00'the adrenaline gets you through.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02'We've normally got several options for the front
0:06:02 > 0:06:05'and I can see me right up to half an hour before deadline
0:06:05 > 0:06:07'changing what we decide to do.'
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Talk to you again in a couple of hours
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and see where we get to, all right? Right, thanks a lot. Cheers.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15- Right, are you happy moving those around?- Yeah, OK.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17So we've changed those around
0:06:17 > 0:06:19and at the moment I think it's looking all right.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26A century ago, in 1914,
0:06:26 > 0:06:31journalism in Dundee was already an adrenaline-fuelled industry.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Dundee was a city crowded with news-hungry workers.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Since 1901, the school leaving age in Scotland had been 14,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44so this was a literate society.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46With no radio or TV,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50the popular press was the undisputed mass media of the day.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54The city's home-grown publishing company was DC Thomson.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02The Thomsons had been a Fife family who,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06from the mid-19th century, had built a successful shipping line.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08The Thomsons started off in Fife,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11around about the Pittenweem, Anstruther area.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14The earliest Thomson that has a connection to the business
0:07:14 > 0:07:17was a Captain William Thomson, but, unfortunately,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21he went down with his ship, the Christian, in 1828.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Now his son, who was also William,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27he wanted to go to sea, but his mother just wouldn't allow him
0:07:27 > 0:07:30so he was apprenticed as a draper, first of all,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32and then travelled to Dundee
0:07:32 > 0:07:36to take up a position in the drapery business in the city here
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and then, despite what his mother had warned him about,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42he bought a share in a ship and eventually that grew
0:07:42 > 0:07:46into the Thomson line of steamers which traded all over the world.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Thomson's diversification into newspapers began in 1866.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54William Thomson was approached
0:07:54 > 0:07:58to take a small share in the Courier & Argus as it was then.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01He took a share in that and then eventually
0:08:01 > 0:08:03he took ownership outright.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06And all of a sudden, he was into publishing
0:08:06 > 0:08:11and had ownership of, at than time, a by-weekly paper.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14In 1884, William put one of his sons,
0:08:14 > 0:08:1623-year-old David Coupar Thomson,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20in charge of the family's growing publishing interests.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Now, DC Thomson is an interesting character.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27He was quite young, about 23, when he took over
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and he was into absolutely everything
0:08:30 > 0:08:33to get this newspaper up and running, the Courier,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and also the Weekly News which they owned as well by then.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Dundee was a vibrant industrial city.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The jute industry was thriving.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49The Camperdown Works alone employed nearly 5,000 people,
0:08:49 > 0:08:525,000 potential readers.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Dundee was a place where an ambitious young newspaperman
0:08:58 > 0:09:00could build a business.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04And he did that by virtually doing everything.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07He wrote to people asking for stories, he would send
0:09:07 > 0:09:09self-addressed envelopes out to people and say,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13"Look, if anything happens in your area, pop it in the post to us
0:09:13 > 0:09:15"and I'll pass it on to the editor."
0:09:15 > 0:09:18But he also did things like buy new machinery.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19He was very innovative.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24In 1905, DC Thomson & Company,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28was set up as a separate business to publish newspapers.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Shortly after, the ships were sold.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35From now on in Dundee, Thomson meant journalism.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40There was various things happening in Victorian times
0:09:40 > 0:09:42which helped DC Thomson's expansion.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I mean, there's the great rise in literacy rates.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48In the old days, you might get one Courier going into a mill
0:09:48 > 0:09:52to be read by the only literate person to all the mill people there,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54but by, I suppose, the 1860s,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58John Menzie opened up his first station bookshop.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01The first paper he handled was The People's Journal, in fact.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04If you look at the very first newspapers in Scotland
0:10:04 > 0:10:07they are all priced seven pence, eight pence or nine pence,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09but with the abolition of the taxes
0:10:09 > 0:10:13on paper and on ink and on advertising
0:10:13 > 0:10:16in the 1850 to 1860s - as soon as that happened
0:10:16 > 0:10:20newspapers like the Dundee Courier, the Weekly News and things like that
0:10:20 > 0:10:23were able to sell for a penny or a half pence
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and with the expanded readership, you can see where
0:10:26 > 0:10:28the increase in circulation started to come.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33In 1911, Thomson commissioned this documentary
0:10:33 > 0:10:36about his flagship newspaper, the Courier.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40To review it, here's Maurice Smith - film-maker,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44business journalist and the author of a History Of The Scottish Press.
0:10:44 > 0:10:50I think this film shows DC Thomson as a very self-confident company,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55based in a city that was probably approaching its peak itself.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57It was a strong, industrial
0:10:57 > 0:11:02and commercial city, trading internationally from the Tay
0:11:02 > 0:11:06and DC Thomson reflected that kind of self-confidence, I think.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Although they were always a regional publisher,
0:11:10 > 0:11:16they were a very, erm, a very wealthy publisher from an early stage
0:11:16 > 0:11:21and as a family business, probably a company that was used to
0:11:21 > 0:11:26making what we'd now call strategic investments and taking risks -
0:11:26 > 0:11:28very entrepreneurial company.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34And then the Great War came.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40# Keep the home fires burning
0:11:40 > 0:11:44# While your hearts are yearning... #
0:11:44 > 0:11:49As thousands of Scots left for the front, Dundee's appetite for news
0:11:49 > 0:11:52from the trenches was insatiable - seven days a week.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56But DC Thomson didn't have a Sunday newspaper, so quickly gave
0:11:56 > 0:12:01its existing newspaper, the Saturday Post, a special Sunday edition.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05People wanted to know what was going on
0:12:05 > 0:12:10and the only reliable source of news was newspapers,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13and technology was allowing the newspapers
0:12:13 > 0:12:16to get dispatches from the front much more quickly.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22The Saturday Post Sunday Special, intended to last for the duration
0:12:22 > 0:12:25of the war, became one of the most successful newspapers
0:12:25 > 0:12:31in international journalism, and a Scottish icon - the Sunday Post.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34The new paper had a close bond with
0:12:34 > 0:12:37local troops, especially the territorial part-time soldiers
0:12:37 > 0:12:39of the 4th Battalion Black Watch.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44The 4th Black Watch, "Dundee's Own", was very special.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47It enjoyed a special bond, a special link, with the city.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52While only a small percentage of men who joined the colours from Dundee
0:12:52 > 0:12:55joined the 4th Black Watch, it was Dundee's own battalion.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58It was sourced almost entirely from the three Js,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01the classic jute, jam and journalism. We took...
0:13:01 > 0:13:05The 4th came from the mills - the Craigie Mills, the Ashton Mill,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08the Manhattan Mill - things like that.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The Courier sent over 300 men to the war eventually,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14so more than any other publishing house outside London.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18So there was that locality of it - it was brothers and sons and nephews.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Everyone knew each other.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22For the most part, people in Dundee,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24at least for the first two years of the war, experienced
0:13:24 > 0:13:28events of the Western Front through the lens of the 4th Black Watch.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31There was a close, close link between the two.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34The Post was there when the 4th Battalion first boarded trains
0:13:34 > 0:13:37in Dundee on their way to the front in France.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40They leave with a strength of around 900 men.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44The battalion was described as a well set up gritty battalion,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47ready to rough it with the best of them, and the city of Dundee
0:13:47 > 0:13:51turns out in huge numbers to see them on their way.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Within weeks, news came through that
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Dundee's Own had received a bloody baptism of fire at Neuve Chapelle.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03With many of their staff in the Army, DC Thomson was ideally
0:14:03 > 0:14:05placed to report the battle.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10The various journalists, editors, who served with the 4th Black Watch
0:14:10 > 0:14:12who became known as the fighter writers
0:14:12 > 0:14:14certainly strengthened the link between the 4th Battalion
0:14:14 > 0:14:16and DC Thomson - the papers back home.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18They were all sending home letters, sketches,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20reports from the battlefield.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26What we actually have here is a copy of the Post Sunday Special
0:14:26 > 0:14:29from Sunday March 14th, 1915,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and basically it's a report on, as you can see there,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34the glorious victory of Neuve Chapelle,
0:14:34 > 0:14:39very much about being the latest war news so what you're actually getting
0:14:39 > 0:14:42here is eye-witness accounts of what actually happened.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Fred Tait was one of the Post's fighter-writers.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Among the fronts he served on was the bloodbath of Gallipoli.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57Many years after Fred's death, his daughter, Margaret Anton,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59discovered his diaries.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02He went into the recruiting office
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and he said he went in at the wrong door
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and found he had joined the RAMC, so he ended up as a stretcher
0:15:09 > 0:15:16bearer and was sent out to Gallipoli and was there for several years,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21which sounded absolutely horrible. He wrote diaries when he was there,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25wrote back to the paper, to the Saturday Post,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28"From Our Man In Gallipoli." Didn't give a name.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31It was more or less what he had in the diaries.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37"I was carrying a patient who had been badly
0:15:37 > 0:15:40"hit by shrapnel in the head back to the dressing-station
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"and on our way down, along a narrow trench we passed
0:15:43 > 0:15:47"a half-battalion of men on their way up to reinforce the firing line.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49"As there was not room to pass,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52"we laid the stretcher down till the road was clear.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55"In single file the men marched past,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58"and about the middle of the line one slim,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01"young fellow happened to glance down at the wounded man on the stretcher.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06"Instantly his expression changed. 'My brother,' he exclaimed."
0:16:08 > 0:16:13What we actually have here is an article
0:16:13 > 0:16:17from the Post Sunday Special from July 15th 1917 and what makes this
0:16:17 > 0:16:21article so special is it's actually an article by DC Thomson himself.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26He wasn't content to get reports back from the front line.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29He actually had to go there and see it himself so he actually
0:16:29 > 0:16:34took his chauffeur across there and they toured some of the battle sites
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and then he sent back three reports which were published one after
0:16:38 > 0:16:43the other in the Sunday Post or the Post Sunday Special as it was then.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47"We visit a part of the front and leaving the cars
0:16:47 > 0:16:50"and putting on our helmets, go along reserve trenches well-manned
0:16:50 > 0:16:54"with strong, cheery young fellows, one of whom, on being
0:16:54 > 0:16:59"told we are civilian visitors, tells us with a smile, 'You're lucky.'"
0:17:02 > 0:17:07On 25 September 1914, "Dundee's Own" went over the top again, at Loos.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14The Battle of Loos has often been described as "Scotland's Somme"
0:17:14 > 0:17:17and I think it deserved the title of a Scottish battle.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Some 30,000 Scots go over the top that day,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23including 36 Scottish battalions representing just about every
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Scottish regiment in France at that time.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Now, the Dundee 4th Battalion at that time was down to 420 men,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35from the 900 that set off from Dundee with bands playing,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39the crowds cheering. There was almost a party going on in Dundee
0:17:39 > 0:17:44when they left. So within six months they were down to 400 men.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47ROARING
0:17:47 > 0:17:52'They go over the top at six o'clock. Within minutes they capture the German front line trenches.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55'They capture the reserve trenches, at no small cost,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58'and push on to the more heavily fortified positions beyond.'
0:17:58 > 0:18:02The problem is the battalions on either flank have not been able to take their objectives
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and consequently the 4th are left with their flanks open and,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09as the day wears on, they come under increasingly intense shell fire,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12German counter attacks, and eventually are forced to fall back.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14And at the end of that day
0:18:14 > 0:18:17a battalion that started with 20 officers and 420 men,
0:18:17 > 0:18:22of that number 19 officers and 230 men have been killed or wounded.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27Something like 150 wounded. 159 killed was the estimate.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29It had a massive effect on Dundee.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32It had a massive effect on Scotland, but Dundee in particular.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36What you actually see here is an article which is about incidents
0:18:36 > 0:18:39at the front line which happened to local people,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43so for instance you see here, "A Sergeant's Tribute to his Captain",
0:18:43 > 0:18:45and I'll just read a little bit of this out.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47The Sergeant writes,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50"A Company being the first to go over had to stand the brunt.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53"I know that you will be doubly grieved to hear that
0:18:53 > 0:18:55"Captain Cunningham was among the missing.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58"I cannot get any accurate account about his death.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02"He was last seen on the German front line cheering his men on.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05"What happened there to him no one can tell.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07"The night before as he was leaving to go up,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"he came and shook hands with me and wished me good luck.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14"As he led his party down the village road I watched him.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16"His steady step, his erect head,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18"gave the men all the encouragement they required.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21"The men knew he was a soldier and would follow him anywhere.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26"Our boys had lost an officer whose name will always be remembered and revered.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28"Captain Shepherd is also missing.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31"You will also know that Davie Hutton, W King
0:19:31 > 0:19:33"and Donald Gow are gone.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37"I buried Donald Gow in a nice little cemetery and all our fellows
0:19:37 > 0:19:39"are in one corner."
0:19:39 > 0:19:44So what you're actually getting there is the eye witness
0:19:44 > 0:19:49of the deaths of these men, these local men who would probably
0:19:49 > 0:19:54have been known to people who worked for DC Thomson and then that's why
0:19:54 > 0:19:59you find articles so closely related to the community in these pages.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04The 4th Black Watch has left a lasting legacy
0:20:04 > 0:20:06on the city of Dundee.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08There were very few families untouched by the war,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10particularly after Loos. So many men died.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Chances are whether you had a member or your family serving,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16you would know someone who served in the 4th Black Watch.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18And it still has resonance today, the loss, the sacrifice.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And it's marked by the memorial behind us, unveiled in 1925,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26the Law Memorial. The beacon on the Law is lit on very few occasions
0:20:26 > 0:20:29across the year, but one of them being 25th September
0:20:29 > 0:20:32to mark the sacrifice, the losses of the 4th Black Watch.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39So, the Sunday Post reported the war.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42It did so right through the whole conflict
0:20:42 > 0:20:47and when the war ended it had been so successful that management
0:20:47 > 0:20:51took the decision to keep it and to rename it the Sunday Post in 1919.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Actually, on quite an unforgettable date because it was launched
0:20:54 > 0:21:00as the Sunday Post on the 19th January 1919, so 19-1-19.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06The Sunday Post was no longer a supplement, but a newspaper
0:21:06 > 0:21:10in its own right, with its own quirks, character and loyal readers.
0:21:14 > 0:21:21It was the voice of douce Presbyterian, serious,
0:21:21 > 0:21:26conservative with a small C Scottish attitudes.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30It didn't take risks, it certainly wasn't racy by any description.
0:21:30 > 0:21:37It was a newspaper product that knew its audience very well.
0:21:37 > 0:21:44Its formula of providing a packed, good value, easily read, family paper has worked for a century.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51There was no reading the paper till Sunday lunch.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53I remember that very vividly.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56And then after Sunday lunch, it was like all bets are null
0:21:56 > 0:21:58and void and now we get the paper out,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01but yeah, there was very much that divvying up of the paper.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05It was like some favourite relative had come to visit you,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07you favourite uncle or something.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Because you pulled out the Fun section which was cleverly
0:22:10 > 0:22:14placed in the middle of the paper so you didn't have to disrupt the rest of the paper.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Just take out the Fun section and there it was
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and the rest of the family could get on with reading the important stuff.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22My mum's eyesight wasn't very good
0:22:22 > 0:22:26and as she got older it was harder for her to read the paper,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30so we used to sit and I used to read all the sort of snippets
0:22:30 > 0:22:34that I knew she would like, and we always did the quiz.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36It's almost like one-to-one.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39You're having this conversation with the newspaper.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42The centre pages with these quirky things like
0:22:42 > 0:22:45"The dangers lurking in your tea towel" and things like that
0:22:45 > 0:22:48that really made you think, "What?"
0:22:48 > 0:22:51I grew up in Belfast which you would think wouldn't mean much
0:22:51 > 0:22:54of the Sunday Post experience, but actually it was quite the opposite.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57My parents came from Banffshire and my mum was from Wick
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and they were both firm Sunday Post readers
0:23:00 > 0:23:04so we had it delivered somehow, I don't know how, every weekend
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and it was read copiously for the rest of the week.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Saturday evening in the Sunday Post newsroom, and the pressure is on.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18A wee bit further behind than I would like, I have to say.
0:23:18 > 0:23:2122, 23, who's on that?
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Because that should be about ready.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Chae, were you doing that?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27The stag woman story, is it finished?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30We'll try not to panic at this time.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35The front page at the moment, the guy who had been wrongly told
0:23:35 > 0:23:37he had terminal lung cancer.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40So for three years he had been misdiagnosed,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45which was obviously quite horrific, and it wasn't just one doctor.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49That's probably the strongest human interest story.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54But there is concern over Donald's potential front page lead story.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00I've been speaking to him throughout the week
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and he's had bereavement of a close relative
0:24:03 > 0:24:07and whilst his close relative died this week, the burial,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09the funeral is going to take place on Monday
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and I'm just a bit concerned that if we run this on a splash
0:24:12 > 0:24:15on the front on Sunday and it gets picked up
0:24:15 > 0:24:19by the papers for Sunday, for Monday, then he's going to be quite upset
0:24:19 > 0:24:22if he sees him self in the papers
0:24:22 > 0:24:25on a Monday when he's going to a funeral.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Are we going to be able to hold that for a week till a better time?
0:24:28 > 0:24:29I'm not convinced.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It's such a good story that I have a feeling it'll be out
0:24:32 > 0:24:35there by next week if we hold it.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36It's not our style.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39We get a backlash. I know it's a great story.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43It's getting a wee bit tight but hopefully we'll make a decision
0:24:43 > 0:24:45in about half an hour.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49We've got a reputation for treating our readers right and we won't do
0:24:49 > 0:24:50anything that will upset them.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53The great thing is our reporters will be able to knock on the door
0:24:53 > 0:24:57and say, "We're from the Sunday Post." People will talk to us.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59They'll talk to us because they know we'll treat them right.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02And this is a case where we might not be treating them well,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04just because of the timing.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07So we'll find out and if the timing is not good for them
0:25:07 > 0:25:10we've got to hold it even though we lost a great story.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12It might appear somewhere else,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14but at the end of the day that's just one story.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18We've got 100 years of tradition and reputation to maintain.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Assistant Editor Iain Harrison is talking to the reporter who
0:25:22 > 0:25:25is covering the cancer story.
0:25:26 > 0:25:32Janet's spoken to the family, told them to the extent
0:25:32 > 0:25:33that the piece is being used.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36They are aware that it's going in this weekend,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and that she's been speaking to them fairly regularly on and off
0:25:39 > 0:25:41all week, so she reckons that we should run with it
0:25:41 > 0:25:43and there won't be any issues.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46- Everybody happy then? Are we all agreed on a splash?- Yes.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56The day after this front page of 1926 was published,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00more than a million and a half British workers downed tools
0:26:00 > 0:26:03in support of miners who faced a pay cut.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Among the strikers were the union members responsible
0:26:06 > 0:26:09for producing DC Thomson papers.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Management managed to keep the presses rolling,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15and the General Strike collapsed after just ten days,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18but David Coupar Thomson never forgave the unions.
0:26:18 > 0:26:24Strikers returning to work for his company had to renounce union membership.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33DC Thomson took a decision not to recognise trade unions after
0:26:33 > 0:26:39the General Strike and stuck to that for generations and became,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43you know, when I came into the newspaper industry
0:26:43 > 0:26:48in the late 1970s and early '80s, DC Thomson was known to
0:26:48 > 0:26:54be a non-trade union company and that was very rare at that time.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56I know that people, socialists,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59would not allow the Post to come into the house.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03But, generally speaking, it was one of the most widely read
0:27:03 > 0:27:08newspapers and on a Monday morning at school you had to talk about what
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Oor Wullie was getting up to at the weekend or The Broons and whatnot.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17So your weekend wasn't your weekend without the Sunday Post.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27The 1930s, "The Hungry '30s," were hard times.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31In 1932 unemployment in Scotland was nearly 28%.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34The following year, groups of workless, hungry men
0:27:34 > 0:27:37marched to London in protest.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42'Dundee is an industrial city dominated by this
0:27:42 > 0:27:47'monolith of an industry, jute, but when all the markets
0:27:47 > 0:27:50'disappeared around 1929, 1930, 1931,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53'thousands were thrown out of work in the industry.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58'Something like 30,000 people were out of a job in one industry alone.'
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Times were hard, but readers of the Sunday Post were promised
0:28:04 > 0:28:07a bit of fun for the one penny cover price.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13In what was to become one of the most successful ventures
0:28:13 > 0:28:17in British publishing history, the Post launched a Fun section,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22full of comic characters that were destined to become Scottish icons.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27In March 1936 an eight page Fun section was included for the
0:28:27 > 0:28:32first time and that Fun section included Oor Wullie and The Broons.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35So Oor Wullie and The Broons were in the very first one
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and they've been in the Sunday Post Fun section ever since,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40I'm pleased to say.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45This is the original, the Sunday Post Fun section number one,
0:28:45 > 0:28:50that was a four-page insert into the Sunday Post newspaper.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53What it was, was you pulled it out
0:28:53 > 0:28:55and the instructions at the top were,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57"Give this to the young folks".
0:28:57 > 0:29:01So you handed it to your kids who would cleverly fold it
0:29:01 > 0:29:05and cut it and you had an eight-page little comic.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08This is a 1939 Oor Wullie and it shows Oor Wullie's family,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12but there is another member because Oor Wullie had a little brother.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16He was first seen in '37 and he lasted into '39
0:29:16 > 0:29:18and disappeared one day.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Whether he was in the back cupboard, or whether he was in Barlinnie,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I don't know, but he disappeared. He was just never to be seen.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29And there's maybe a story sometime down the line of what happened
0:29:29 > 0:29:31to Oor Wullie's brother. I'm not sure.
0:29:35 > 0:29:41Oor Wullie and The Broons were created by artist Dudley D Watkins.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46I don't think it's wrong to say that he was a genius in his field,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Dudley D Watkins. I think his stuff the test,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54stands against any other comic artist in the world, all the greats.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58The fact that most of the stuff he wrote was in Scots -
0:29:58 > 0:30:03apart from The Dandy or The Beano - that he's been, you know,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06not that many people know about him in a worldwide scale
0:30:06 > 0:30:07but he should be.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11I think he's one of the most outstanding comic artists ever.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Every Scot was aware of the Oor Wullie book
0:30:15 > 0:30:18through the Sunday Post, through his Christmas books,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Christmas annuals and things. People all knew it.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23And they would quote bits and pieces.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27I mean, "Jings, crivens, help ma boab" became Scottish dialect,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Scottish language.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Going back to when I was five or six,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51I mean, basically there was no TV, there was no nothing.
0:30:51 > 0:30:57And so, I mean, the few comics that you had and the Sunday Post
0:30:57 > 0:31:02and Oor Wullie and The Broons really was your fantasy world.
0:31:02 > 0:31:03I was Oor Wullie.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06I might have been one of the twins in the Broons family as well
0:31:06 > 0:31:08but I basically Oor Wullie.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12I was the wee kind of leader of our wee gang. So I was Oor Wullie.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Actually, I've just remembered,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17it had been completely out my head till this moment,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I once bought a white mouse cos Wullie had a wee mouse called Jeemy.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24And I bought a wee white mouse so I could be like Oor Wullie.
0:31:24 > 0:31:25And I tried sitting on a bucket!
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Have you ever tried sitting on an upturned bucket?
0:31:28 > 0:31:31It's the sorest thing in the world. I don't know how Wullie managed it.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32I couldn't do it.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35The Broons and Oor Wullie, there's nobody can beat them.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38I think it was the way they spoke, the mischief,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42especially Oor Wullie got up to with Fat Bob and Little Eck
0:31:42 > 0:31:45and Soapy Sooter and there was a few things as well. I ended up
0:31:45 > 0:31:49eating rice with jam in it and it was them that started me off.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53I suppose the adults might have seen him as a cheeky young brat.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58Whereas we sort of saw him as a hero who did all sorts of horrible things
0:31:58 > 0:32:01to PC Murdoch and basically got away with it.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04And we wished that we could do the same.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24To be honest, one of the proudest things that's ever happened to me
0:32:24 > 0:32:27was getting my OBE, which was amazing.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30But actually, even better than that, that week,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34the fact I got my OBE was actually featured in Oor Wullie.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I was in Oor Wullie.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40I would love to appear in the Broons or Oor Wullie.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43That would be absolutely wonderful. It would be a great honour
0:32:43 > 0:32:46and I would frame it and put it above my mantelpiece.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51When I came here, the Broons and Oor Wullie were printed on their sides
0:32:51 > 0:32:53so they could be on one side.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56So you just turned the paper sideways to read them.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00I actually put them the right way up and I remember Sunday morning
0:33:00 > 0:33:03the phone went and it's my mother-in-law
0:33:03 > 0:33:07who demanded to speak to me. She said, "Donald! What have you done?
0:33:07 > 0:33:12"You've put the Broons the right way up. That's wrong!"
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Oor Wullie even dominates the exterior of the Dundee building
0:33:16 > 0:33:19where the Post is printed.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23I'm even happy to put Oor Wullie or any of the Broons on the front page.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26We use them for promotions. They are a huge, huge asset.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29I sometimes have the feeling that he's even sitting in my chair
0:33:29 > 0:33:33at times or the office. I'll occasionally turn round and say,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36"I've sure I've seen him." A lot of people have said that in the office.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39It's like his spirit lives amongst us.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45The Broons of 10 Glebe Street.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49None of them are the brightest shilling in the box.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52None of them are the nastiest characters out.
0:33:52 > 0:33:53None of them are boring.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57They're multi-faceted, real people with the language -
0:33:57 > 0:34:00and this is a really important point - the language to boot.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03So, they're actually speaking the same way
0:34:03 > 0:34:05as all the farmers around here speak.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08And that's an important thing cos in the rest of Scotland there's been
0:34:08 > 0:34:11a tendency to sort of sanitise language,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14so the characters don't quite sound like anybody real.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17But to anybody who lives in small-town Scotland
0:34:17 > 0:34:19or actually big-city Scotland,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21the Broons sound like the kind of people you are.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25Or the family next door. And they've never compromised on that,
0:34:25 > 0:34:26which is a great thing.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30There was always a misunderstanding. Not always, but one of the main
0:34:30 > 0:34:33themes you get in the Broons was a misunderstanding.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Somebody would say something like,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39"Oh, somebody's granny fell off the roof."
0:34:39 > 0:34:42And they all rush out and what it is is one of these birly chimney things
0:34:42 > 0:34:45called a granny that had fallen off the roof.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49There was always this big misunderstanding and panic stations.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52There's a kind of veracity about it,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56even though it's covered in sort of sugary schmaltz in a way, isn't it?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58But there's something underneath that that rings true
0:34:58 > 0:35:01and I don't know why. I can't really put my finger on it
0:35:01 > 0:35:03and I'm not sure that anyone can, really.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06It's just very clever cartoon writing, isn't it?
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Everybody knows Paw and maw Broons, Grandpa Broons, we've all had them.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13The brothers, the Hen and Joes.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17Although they're dysfunctional in a way they all come together,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19they would back you up no end.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23If you had a problem that family would be there.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27If I had a favourite Broon it would have to be Maggie.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Cos I fancied her.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32I really, really fancied Maggie. I thought she was a stoater.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35I felt sorry for Daphne. Poor Daphne.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37She was always upstaged by Maggie.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40And Maggie always had these boyfriends that would come back
0:35:40 > 0:35:43that looked like used car salesmen.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45They were always a bit flashy with wavy hair.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49And poor Daphne got some wee guy with a bowler hat.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Coming from Glebe Street didn't stop the Broons
0:36:06 > 0:36:08from visiting Hollywood.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12The Broons came to Los Angeles.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14How brilliant is that?
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Talk about moving something on a little bit.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21The Broons came to LA and the Broons met up with me
0:36:21 > 0:36:23and I showed them round.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26And then I took them to meet Gerard Butler
0:36:26 > 0:36:29because they wanted an introduction to the stars.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33So, Maggie and Daphne, and we were all there,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35and the Hollywood stars,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38the Walk of Fame and I took them there.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42And they watched me broadcast. It's surreal.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46Even as I'm talking about it today it's so surreal of that moment.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50And I desperately, desperately remember that moment
0:36:50 > 0:36:51when it came out.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55And then the amount of phone calls, especially from school pals,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59cos two of my best friends I was at school with
0:36:59 > 0:37:01and I can't even use the language that they used
0:37:01 > 0:37:05but basically it was confirming that I was very lucky.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07HE LAUGHS
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Retired farmer Bob Padget has been reading the Post
0:37:14 > 0:37:17for most of his 90 years.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22He's been a fan of the fun section since it first appeared in 1936.
0:37:23 > 0:37:29My favourite is Oor Wullie. Good example for young boys
0:37:29 > 0:37:33and I'd like to see a lot more young boys like them
0:37:33 > 0:37:37who went outside to play.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40That's where they should be, not inside.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44One of the disadvantages of today is too many gadgets.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49We allow ourselves to be distracted from what we can find outside
0:37:49 > 0:37:51and what we can do ourselves.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Wullie and his friends, a good lot.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Anyway, I enjoyed it and I still enjoy it.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00As the 1930s drew to a close,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03families were confronted with a new threat.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN: This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin
0:38:09 > 0:38:14handed the German Government a final note stating that,
0:38:14 > 0:38:19unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock,
0:38:19 > 0:38:24that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27a state of war would exist between us.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31I have to tell you now
0:38:31 > 0:38:35that no such undertaking has been received,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38and that consequently this country
0:38:38 > 0:38:41is at war with Germany.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51World War II deeply affected every family in Scotland -
0:38:51 > 0:38:53even the fictitious ones.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00October '39, war had not long been declared and Oor Wullie is seen here,
0:39:00 > 0:39:07he's got a shy where he's got all the Nazi leaders -
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Goring, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Hitler
0:39:10 > 0:39:13are all lined up for a shy.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18Right away Oor Wullie is part of how we'd all be feeling
0:39:18 > 0:39:22and I'm sure at the time that was much-loved, that one.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28The wartime Sunday Post not only covered the big political
0:39:28 > 0:39:32and military pictures but also the lives of their readers.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36A military triumph of Stalin is here reported alongside
0:39:36 > 0:39:39an Army wife's appeal or safe accommodation
0:39:39 > 0:39:44for her and her four children during the Clydeside Blitz.
0:39:44 > 0:39:45The Post commented:
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Many of the letters appealing to the Post for help during the war
0:40:03 > 0:40:08are still held in the DC Thomson archive.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13We have so many letters that were written to us from people,
0:40:13 > 0:40:18mainly women, who were saying to us "Look, I don't know where my son is,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21"I haven't heard from my husband in a year, two years,
0:40:21 > 0:40:23"I do not know what to do. Help us."
0:40:23 > 0:40:27You don't know the official channels to go to, what are you going to do?
0:40:27 > 0:40:30You contact the Sunday Post because they'll look after you,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33because you trust them. What we have here is an article
0:40:33 > 0:40:36and I'll just read a small part of it to you.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40"Regarding your article by NO in the Sunday Post, I am writing now to see
0:40:40 > 0:40:43"if you can give me the name of the soldier in the picture
0:40:43 > 0:40:45"who has lost his memory.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49"You see, he is the image of my son who was reported wounded in April
0:40:49 > 0:40:51"in North Africa and who is now
0:40:51 > 0:40:55"reported 'missing, known to be wounded' by the War Office.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58"The War Office state they cannot trace him.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02"Several friends have brought this picture to me to see if I'd notice
0:41:02 > 0:41:07"the likeness, so I decided to write to you and enquire into the matter."
0:41:07 > 0:41:09That's what they felt they were there for.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13I get quite emotional about these, actually, sorry.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Although patriotic, the Post was a campaigning paper -
0:41:19 > 0:41:23never slow to chastise the powers that be.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27In May 1942, it identified highly flammable whisky bonds
0:41:27 > 0:41:31in built-up areas as a major wartime hazard to civilians.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35MAN: "Surely in this crisis it is simple common sense to take every
0:41:35 > 0:41:40"possible precaution to minimise the danger to our people.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42"Yet this is not being done.
0:41:42 > 0:41:48"The worst menace remains - whisky stores in congested areas."
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Month after month, the paper raged on at the Government.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Eventually, the editor of the Sunday Post was called down to London
0:41:55 > 0:41:58to talk to ministers about it, and sure enough,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02gradually, these bonded warehouses were moved to outlying areas
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and quite a lot of whisky was actually moved to Canada
0:42:06 > 0:42:09and one of the ships carrying it famously went down and became
0:42:09 > 0:42:14the source for Compton Mackenzie's famous Whisky Galore.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17So you can thank the Sunday Post for that.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21In 1945, with Germany and Japan defeated,
0:42:21 > 0:42:26servicemen returned home - including the conquering heroes,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Hen and Joe Broon.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43This is the end of the war,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47it's the Broons soldier laddies returning home.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51There is a huge family get-together including Oor Wullie, Fat Bob,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54they're all there to welcome home the boys.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59They're just little capsules that are worth looking at in their own right.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09Page three we're quite worried about. As you can see, it's blank.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14And it's now ten to four, so we're about three hours or so away
0:43:14 > 0:43:18but not going to get too stressed out right now.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Crisis stage at the moment - no, I'm only kidding.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26We're doing OK.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Over the next few hours it's a case of
0:43:29 > 0:43:32getting the live spread sorted out.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38Pages six and seven is essentially all the sort of live breaking news
0:43:38 > 0:43:40stories from today.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42At the moment that's largely blank
0:43:42 > 0:43:45because there's not a huge amount happened today.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49The real danger with papers
0:43:49 > 0:43:51is that everything gets left to the last minute
0:43:51 > 0:43:55and so there's too much for too many people to do in too short a time,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58so what we try to do now is make sure everything stays as smooth
0:43:58 > 0:43:59as we can throughout the day.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04We've got a serious news story then we go to something that's gentler,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06a bit more upbeat, back into serious.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09So that's what I was talking about, the light and shade.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12And that's right throughout the papers cos you want them
0:44:12 > 0:44:14to continue to flow the paper and get enjoyment.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18That's how we also have Lorraine Kelly, which is great,
0:44:18 > 0:44:20having one of the biggest names on TV -
0:44:20 > 0:44:23who lives locally, just down in Broughty Ferry,
0:44:23 > 0:44:27so she's a great supporter of the paper.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31I get a lot of feedback from readers and I really welcome it.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Especially in my life when maybe I've gone through things,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36like when I had a miscarriage, I got so many letters,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38cos I wrote about it in the column,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41and I got so many letters from women who'd been through the
0:44:41 > 0:44:44same thing, or just people saying, "We're thinking of you."
0:44:44 > 0:44:47It's like, "You're part of the family
0:44:47 > 0:44:50"and we're thinking of you," and that's amazing.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52We get dozens and dozens,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57people writing in asking for things like an address of a supplier,
0:44:57 > 0:45:03this one for Cameron tartan by the metre, or, "Do you know where I
0:45:03 > 0:45:07"can get a knitting pattern for an Oor Wullie",
0:45:07 > 0:45:10wanting to do it for charity.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Our readers will respond to that.
0:45:14 > 0:45:20One after another we got replies coming back, from men,
0:45:20 > 0:45:21from people down in England,
0:45:21 > 0:45:27and we were so overcome with all of this we decided we had to do this.
0:45:27 > 0:45:33So I set about doing them, and I got on really well with them
0:45:33 > 0:45:34until I came to his head.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39And I looked in the mirror and I looked at my head,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and I thought he must be the same as me!
0:45:42 > 0:45:50So we sat about and we got lots of wool, cut it all up,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53starting putting it in through a crochet hook in his head.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56I fell in love with him after I seen him,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59and I really didn't want to give him away.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04I put him in the cupboard, in a plastic container,
0:46:04 > 0:46:09and I went in one day and I nearly died off when I saw his face.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13The expression on his face was like disgust.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17And I thought, "Need to get him out."
0:46:17 > 0:46:21And when I brought him out, I gave him a wee cuddle and put him
0:46:21 > 0:46:26back on his perch, on his pail, and he came to life again.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Like the Broons, Scotland celebrated the end of World War II,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38but the hard times continued.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42Food rationing didn't end until the mid '50s,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45but the 1960s were a very different matter.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54GUITAR MUSIC AND GIRLS SCREAMING
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Rare photographs of the Beatles in Dundee.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02The prosperity and youth culture of the 1960s heralded a break
0:47:02 > 0:47:05with restrictive taboos or a collapse of social order -
0:47:05 > 0:47:07depending on your point of view.
0:47:09 > 0:47:14In '63, the Post reported both the rise of the Beatles...
0:47:14 > 0:47:17and the fall of the Conservative Secretary of State for War
0:47:17 > 0:47:21in a sex scandal that involved alleged prostitutes
0:47:21 > 0:47:24and a Soviet naval attache and led to the
0:47:24 > 0:47:28resignation of the Prime Minister and the collapse of his government.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33The Post reported that Beatle Ringo Starr came out of the '60s
0:47:33 > 0:47:37rather better - so rich he couldn't count his cash.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45Pop stars and their antics are still good copy for the Post.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49In the newsroom, assistant editor Iain Harrison
0:47:49 > 0:47:52tells the editor of a breaking story.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Scores of fans have allegedly been handing their tickets
0:47:56 > 0:47:59back in disgust. Not quite sure what they expected from
0:47:59 > 0:48:00a Miley Cyrus concert, to be honest.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04It'll be the parents of teenagers that've obviously seen the coverage
0:48:04 > 0:48:07of London and are saying, "I'm not sending my kid to that."
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Because she's been exhibiting...
0:48:09 > 0:48:13various parts of her body. You happy with that for page three then?
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Yeah, because obviously our readership will think
0:48:16 > 0:48:18- her behaviour's unacceptable.- Yeah.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23OK, Jeremy, if you can find some semi-naked photos of Miley Cyrus,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25please, for page three...
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Censored pictures, behave yourself.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Oh, saved!
0:48:33 > 0:48:39As we say, three hours is a long time, newspapers, so that's great.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43We'll run that on page three, cos visually it'll be good,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45and it can run all editions as well.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Just putting an outline on this picture
0:48:50 > 0:48:53so we can use it as a cut-out, so she can overlap with
0:48:53 > 0:48:55the other pictures on the article on page three.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00So I just use the pen to whizz round it, save the path,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03change the colour.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Set up to CMYK, put it back on the system,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08and then John will pull it into his page.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20By 1935, the Sunday Post had a circulation of 350,000.
0:49:20 > 0:49:2450 years later in 1985, it was 1.5 million
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and it was in the Guinness Book of Records as the most-read
0:49:27 > 0:49:32newspaper in the world in its circulation area.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35So, if you take Scotland as its circulation area,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38it was reckoned that six out of every ten adults
0:49:38 > 0:49:43read the Sunday Post every week, and that made it, according to the
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Guinness Book of Records, the most successful newspaper anywhere.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51The man in charge at the time was Bill Anderson,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54who'd become editor at just 34.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Previously he'd roamed the world for the Post having
0:49:57 > 0:50:00"Holidays on Nothing" - the HON Man.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04His widow, Maggie Anderson, looks back at Bill's career.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08This is Bill being a street salesman,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12almost like a gypsy traveller. Spot the false beard.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15I think it's quite easy to spot!
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Em, now, this was, I don't know if you remember
0:50:18 > 0:50:20Emergency-Ward 10 on television,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22Bill was an extra in Emergency-Ward 10.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25This was him in the Libyan desert, and there's a
0:50:25 > 0:50:28wonderful picture here in which he looks like something out of a film.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31I don't know if you can see that. That's Bill.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34One of my friends loves that picture so much
0:50:34 > 0:50:37she kisses it every time she comes into the house.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39And this is a typical Sunday Post story,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42because the man who sells pounds for pennies
0:50:42 > 0:50:43is a good Sunday Post heading,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45and he went out to try and give away pounds.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47So he'd go to someone and say,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49"Have you got a penny? I'll give you a pound"
0:50:49 > 0:50:50And of course everybody is very
0:50:50 > 0:50:53suspicious about it, so the copy was quite funny.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55You used to meet Bill in the corridor,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58and he'd be walking along with a sheaf of papers in one hand
0:50:58 > 0:51:02and a cigarette or a wee cigar - you know, he was a chain smoker -
0:51:02 > 0:51:05hanging out of his mouth, and he wouldn't acknowledge you.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08He was so focused on what he was doing.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11And even after we were together, even after we were married,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14he would pass me in the corridor and just not acknowledge me,
0:51:14 > 0:51:16and of course by then I knew it was nothing personal!
0:51:16 > 0:51:19But to some of the younger ones, the trainees and everything,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23he was this scary man who was just hell-bent on the task in hand.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Years later, when he'd become managing editor
0:51:26 > 0:51:30of DC Thomson newspapers, he was interviewed by Jimmy Reid.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35We're conservative with a small C - in Scottish terms.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38That's part of what the Sunday Post is all about.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41But you're not disputing that, editorially -
0:51:41 > 0:51:42shall I put it this way?
0:51:42 > 0:51:45- that your politics have consistently been right of centre?
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Consistently our politics have been independently Scottish
0:51:49 > 0:51:53right of centre, and I think that even you, Jimmy Reid,
0:51:53 > 0:51:55would admit that in Scotland
0:51:55 > 0:52:00and in the mass of Scotland there is a conservativism of that nature.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03However they express it politically at the ballot box, and they're
0:52:03 > 0:52:08just as likely to express it in nationalism as socialism.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12Or whatever "ism" allows them to reflect their character politically.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16He's absolutely spot-on. I don't think much has changed.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19We are conservative with a small C.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23We're about the traditional values, hard working,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26about the community, about family and friends.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31So it's all... Hate injustice, hate people being treated unfairly.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34So it's all those good, old-fashioned values,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38they're still relevant today, and we try and appeal to them when we're
0:52:38 > 0:52:42running campaigns and highlighting particular news stories.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46Radical feminist Lesley Riddoch is a regular columnist
0:52:46 > 0:52:49for the small C conservative Sunday Post.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53If you want to be writing for a particular elite who
0:52:53 > 0:52:58are super-served with lefty ideas, you can choose any number of papers.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01But the Sunday Post is a great one,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05because it actually allows you a lot of leeway in certain directions,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08because there is a sort of presumption that "they" are at it.
0:53:08 > 0:53:14That the landed and the aristocratic establishment classes
0:53:14 > 0:53:18and the fat cat politicians, all those guys are presumed guilty
0:53:18 > 0:53:21till proven innocent, and there is a sort of more
0:53:21 > 0:53:25robust kind of running at those subjects with the foot swinging
0:53:25 > 0:53:29attitude in the Sunday Post than there is in a lot of other papers.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40One of the most popular features in Scotland's most popular paper
0:53:40 > 0:53:42was "The Doc."
0:53:42 > 0:53:44It wasn't just the general public that read it.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48Generations of family doctors missed it at their peril.
0:53:48 > 0:53:54And almost inevitably on a Monday morning you would have
0:53:54 > 0:53:59one, two, three, sometimes more patients arriving with exactly
0:53:59 > 0:54:02the complaint that had been in the Sunday Post the day before.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07So, it was fairly important for GPs to read the Sunday Post prior
0:54:07 > 0:54:10to Monday morning surgery.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12I would always read the Doc's column,
0:54:12 > 0:54:14cos people were always having "ops".
0:54:14 > 0:54:16I didn't know what an op was.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20"Why are they having an op?" And their waterworks, it was always
0:54:20 > 0:54:24the wife having trouble with her waterworks and a wee op would help!
0:54:24 > 0:54:25"What's a wee op?"
0:54:25 > 0:54:29Like a wee funny creature would come and sort out her waterworks.
0:54:29 > 0:54:30With a spanner, I don't know.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34"My father (over 70) suffers badly from piles.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37"He refuses to have an op.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40"Isn't it bad for an elderly person to lose blood every day?"
0:54:42 > 0:54:45There were patients who would come in every single week virtually
0:54:45 > 0:54:48with whatever the Doc had been talking about,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50and that was the illness of the week if you like,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54but these patients were generally well known to their GPs
0:54:54 > 0:54:58and I think in general it was much more of a positive experience for
0:54:58 > 0:55:02the health of the nation, and I would put it as strongly as that I think.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07But the Doc column - like every aspect of every newspaper -
0:55:07 > 0:55:11has faced increasing competition from television and the internet.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19Thank you very much. Enjoy your day, thank you.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30The issue facing Donald Martin at the Sunday Post is how you
0:55:30 > 0:55:33make the Sunday Post relevant again,
0:55:33 > 0:55:38how you appeal to a younger readership and how you compete with
0:55:38 > 0:55:43the internet as a source of news and editorial and feature content.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48The Sunday Post has seen its circulation decline
0:55:48 > 0:55:52because its readership has died off, so it has to appeal to
0:55:52 > 0:55:55a younger set of potential readers.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59It has to become relevant
0:55:59 > 0:56:03by covering the real world, if you like.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09In the newsroom, they are minutes from going to press
0:56:09 > 0:56:11with the first edition.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14They say that while doctors bury their mistakes,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16journalists print them.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20The Post journalists tweak and check right up to the very last second.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25With a click of the mouse, Andy Clark, the assistant editor
0:56:25 > 0:56:27in charge of production,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30releases the journalists' work to the printers.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34That's it, sent.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37- Away to presses.- Well done, everyone.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Fleet Street - once a byword for British journalism.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47Today, DC Thomson is the only newspaper group
0:56:47 > 0:56:49still active on the street,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53and they've just spent millions refurbishing their offices here.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57It's brilliant. I love...
0:56:57 > 0:57:01having a Fleet Street address, and our officers are magnificent.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06The outside of the building, the ornate brickwork,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08the names of our titles up there.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11It's a tourist attraction in its own right.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13It's well worth taking a trip down Fleet Street
0:57:13 > 0:57:16and just looking up. It's a wonderful place.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20I think the new investment in offices and printing plant
0:57:20 > 0:57:22is a declaration of intent by DC Thomson.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26They have the great luxury of being a family-owned company
0:57:26 > 0:57:29and a company that have a great deal of faith in their products,
0:57:29 > 0:57:31including their newspapers.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42I think they're confident that they can still make money from
0:57:42 > 0:57:46newspapers and that the death of the newspaper, which has been predicted
0:57:46 > 0:57:50for 50 years, is going to take longer than some people might think.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Sitting on the settee with your feet up
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and a cup of coffee beside you with the paper open is relaxing.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Sitting in front of a computer with a cup of coffee is too much effort,
0:58:00 > 0:58:02you've got to have a nice, relaxing Sunday.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08In the future, perhaps it will all be online.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10I'd rather it wasn't.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13I'm a newspaper man, a print man through and through.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16I'd like to think that there is still a place for newspapers,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19even in the next 100 years we'll still pick up a Sunday Post.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23There's nothing beats that feel of a newspaper in your hand.