AFTER 168 years, the News of the World will see its last edition

END OF AN ERA

AFTER 168 years, the News of the World will see its last edition roll off the presses this Sunday.

first edition

Founded in 1843 — the same year Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol — the Sunday tabloid quickly became famous for its shock-and-awe style of exposing politics and sex scandals.

And in a sign of things to come, its first edition on October 1, 1843, carried a crime story titled Extraordinary Charge of Drugging and Violation.

Priced at 3pence, it was the cheapest newspaper of the day and was aimed at the newly-literate working classes.

Sales reached four million in 1939. By 1950, the paper had become the biggest-selling newspaper in the world with more than 8,440,000 copies a week.

In 1969, Rupert Murdoch bought the title ahead of rival Robert Maxwell after a year-long struggle for its ownership.

The News of the World was famed for exposing the secrets of the rich and famous.

It broke the story of David Beckham's affair with Rebecca Loos in 2004.

The paper also exposed former FIA president Max Mosley's SM orgies with five prostitutes in 2008.

Earlier this year, the Sunday title won Scoop of the Year for revealing the Pakistan cricket match-fixing scandal.

It famously campaigned for "Sarah's law" — which allows people like single mothers to ask police if their boyfriends or others in contact with their children are paedophiles.

Editors have included Emsley Carr, Derek Jameson, Piers Morgan and Colin Myler.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3683538/News-of-the-World-closing-down.html#ixzz1RfgQYkUA