Sun Newspapers history

The first glamour model appeared on page 3 on 17th November 1970, along with other taboo features that sparked reactions of distaste in parliament.

Acquired first by Booth Newspapers of Ann Arbor, MI, they were sold in 1977 to the Post Corp. of Wisconsin, which in turn was purchased by Geo.

Page 3 girls were introduced the following year and finally, in 1978, The Sun overtook its closest rival The Mirror in the circulation war.

In 1986 Sun Newspapers were sold to a group of local and out-of-town investors organized as the SunMedia Corp.

The Sun’s campaign is widely credited with helping John Major to win the election and thus on 11th April 1992, the newspaper ran with the headline: “It’s the Sun wot won it.”

The chain had grown by 1995 to 76 community newspapers with a combined circulation of approx.

The Sun supported the centre-left Labour Party during Tony Blair’s last three General Election wins, changing allegiance to him on 18th March 1997.

In 2002 the New York Sun’s name and masthead were used for a newspaper founded and edited by Seth Lipsky.

The Sun newspaper moved to full colour production for the first time on 28th January 2008 with the opening of three new printing plants.

In 2012, the Sun began printing a Sunday newspaper which replaced the recently-closed News of the World newspaper.

In 2018, it overtook the Mail Online to become the largest newsbrand online in the UK.

Despite circulation numbers dropping, the Sun reached its largest-ever online audience in 2019, with 33.9 million unique visitors in July.