Harold Digby Fitzgerald Creighton (11 September 1927 – 3 July 2003) was a British businessman and machine tool pioneer, who bought The Spectator magazine in 1967 for £75,000.[1]

Harold Digby Fitzgerald Creighton
Born(1927-09-11)11 September 1927
Died3 June 2003(2003-06-03) (aged 75)
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Industrialist, magazine proprietor
Known forProprietor and editor of The Spectator
SpouseHarriet Wallace
ChildrenFour
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Rank2nd lieutenant
UnitRoyal Armoured Corps

In 1947, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant[2] in the Royal Armoured Corps and served in Egypt and the Far East. After completing his National Service, he joined a tin-smelting business in Malaya (now known as Malaysia) and returned to Britain, where he eventually became Chairman of the Scottish Machine Tool Corporation of Glasgow.

In 1967, bought The Spectator, a politically conservative, weekly magazine. In 1973, he took over as editor although he had no prior experience as a journalist, after sacking the incumbent editor, George Gale. He edited the magazine until 1975, when he sold it for £75,000 to Henry Keswick. During his tenure, the magazine fervently opposed British entry into the European Economic Community.[3]

Education

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Creighton was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an independent school for boys (now co-educational), at Hertford Heath, near to the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire.

References

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  1. ^ "Harold Creighton Obituary". The Times. 14 July 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2011.[dead link]
  2. ^ "No. 38130". The London Gazette. 21 November 1936. p. 5576.
  3. ^ "Harold Creighton Obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 8 July 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
Media offices
Preceded by Editor of The Spectator
1973 – 1975
Succeeded by