Summary
Gilmour had no political ambitions when he bought the magazine - he did not become an MP until 1962 - but it did not take him long to establish his radical credentials. The execution of Ruth Ellis in 1955 (the last woman to be hanged in Britain) provided the occasion for Gilmour to write a devastating leader, castigating the Home Secretary for failing to exercise his prerogative of mercy and calling for capital punishment, which in his view was 'absolutely indefensible', to be abolished.
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Extract
Farewell to a Noble Figure in Spectator Histort
Simon Courtauld, this magazine's authorised historian, says that Ian Gilmour, who died last week aged 81, was a fine editor and proprietor - radical, humane and fearless
Ian Gilmour was not the only proprietor of The Spectator also to be its editor, but he was unquestionably the best. Patrician, wealthy, high-minded, unassuming, the 28-year-old Etonian ex-Grenadier Guardsman raised a number of eyebrows when he bought the magazine in 195...See the full content of this document
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