In 1880, newspaper editor William Stead moved from the ‘Northern Echo’ in Darlington to London’s ‘Pall Mall Gazette’, and pioneered many familiar features of modern journalism including illustrations, subheadings, interviews and sensational human-interest stories — all with the stated aim of influencing government policy. His best-known scoop exposed child prostitution in London, leading to a change in the law.

After nine years with the Gazette, Stead struck out on his own, diversifying into educational materials such as popular poetry and condensed fiction, and pursuing his campaigns ofr social reform and international peace. Invited to New York for a peace conference in 1912, he was a passenger on the ill-fated ‘Titanic’, and drowned after giving away his life-jacket.

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