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Cherwell
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	OSPL
Founded	1920
Political allegiance	none
Headquarters	7 St Aldate's, Oxford
Circulation	c. 14,000
Website: www.cherwell.org

Cherwell newspaper is a student newspaper published by and for students of Oxford University. First published in 1920, it has had an electronic version, now called Cherwell24, since 1996. Named after the local river, Cherwell is published by OSPL (Oxford Student Publications Ltd.), who also publish the sister publication ISIS. One of the oldest student publications in the UK, it is editorially independent and has been the launching pad for many well known journalistic careers. The newspaper receives no university funding and is independent of the student union. The current editors are Laura Pitel and Tom Seymour.

Contents 1 History 2 Organisation 3 Scoops 4 Politics 5 Cherwell and the English language 6 Well-known Cherwell contributors 7 Recent Cherwell editors 8 Cherwell 24 9 Recent Cherwell 24 editors 10 Sources 11 External links

Cherwell was conceived by two Balliol College students, Cecil Binney and George Edinger, on a ferry from Dover to Ostend during the summer vacation of 1920 while the students were travelling to Vienna to do relief work for the Save the Children charity. Erdinger recalls the early newspaper having a radical voice: "We were feeling for a new Oxford… We were anti-convention, anti-Pre War values, Pro-Feminist. We did not mind shocking and we often did."

Nonetheless, early editions combine this seriousness with whimsy and parochialism. The first editorial gives the newspaper's purpose as being "to exclude all outside influence and interference from our University. Oxford for the Oxonians".

Cherwell was the only newspaper printed in Britain during the UK General Strike of 1926, other than the British Gazette and the British Worker, during which time it was produced at the offices of the Daily Mail in London.

Throughout the 1920s Cherwell had a strong literary focus, and a policy of not editing literary contributions. Undergraduate contributors included Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, L. P. Hartley, Cecil Day-Lewis and W. H. Auden.

The newspaper's literary focus broadened over the coming decades until by 1950 it had become a general-interest newspaper. In 1946 Cherwell was briefly banned by the university for distributing a survey on the sex lives of undergraduates, and in 1954 ran a series of pin-up photographs entitled "Girls of the Year". In 1970 then-editor Peter Stothard published a current Oxford theatre poster featuring a naked female, possibly a first for a British newspaper. Under his editorship Cherwell also published a backless photo of Gully Wells, considered very daring for the time. Both editions caused much comment. In 1973 the paper became a 'cause celebre' in the national papers when the Cherwell published a photo of General Editor David Soskin with a topless model. This resulted in a personal fine by the proctors for David Soskin.

In 1964 the newspaper's longest-running feature was born, the John Evelyn gossip column (which has run almost uninterrupted ever since). Over the decades many famous people have been the subject of John Evelyn's wry and faux-condescending style, among them future Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto, politician Jonathan Aitken, and actor Imogen Stubbs. In 1981, Hugh Grant is described as "New College's answer to Brooke Shields", and his unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate a ball with his date are reported.

In the mid-1970s Cherwell survived one of its periodic financial crises, and politically the paper campaigned against Oxford University's investments in apartheid-era South Africa.

Cherwell staff are Oxford students who run the paper while studying for their degrees. Editors and deputy editors are elected termly by the Board of Directors, also largely made up of former editors and business staff. The editors determine the rest of their team, usually consisting of a news editor, features editor, arts editor and sports editor, and their respective deputies. All positions may be held jointly, more commonly in the junior positions. Section editors hold their own section meetings, at which any student may participate. Guest contributors are commonly employed, often Oxford-educated national figures.

The engagement of Charles, Prince of Wales to Diana Spencer was announced in a Cherwell world exclusive, after the news leaked to the paper through a connection working in the British royal household. News that Chelsea Clinton planned to study for a masters degree at Oxford was also first published in Cherwell.

Cherwell has no party political line or stated political sympathy. A broad range of views are expressed, and the centre of gravity tends to change frequently, owing to the rapid turnover of staff.

The Oxford English Dictionary lists the terms 'sherry party' and 'Marxism' (as pertaining to the Marx Brothers) as having been coined in Cherwell. Additions from recent decades are lacking probably because Cherwell is only sporadically lodged at copyright libraries, and because it is not included in electronic text search systems such as Lexis-Nexis.

• Evelyn Waugh
• Graham Greene
• John Betjeman
• L. P. Hartley
• Cecil Day-Lewis
• W. H. Auden
• Michael Crick (currently a BBC Newsnight reporter, author)
• Sir Howard Davies (currently director: London School of Economics)
• Evan Davis (currently BBC Economics Editor)
• David English (editor Daily Mail 1971-1992)
• Lord Heseltine (advertising)
• Rupert Murdoch (advertising)
• Peter Preston (currently of the Guardian)
• Peter Stothard editor 1970 (currently of the Times Literary Supplement)
• Simon Jenkins Union correspondent 1962 (former editor of The Times)
• Peter Sissons Sports editor, 1963 (BBC news presenter)

Michaelmas Term 2007: Sophie Manning and Peter Wright

Trinity Term 2007: Willa Brown and James Rogers

Hilary Term 2007: Ian Duncan and Catherine Rutter

Michaelmas Term 2006: Paul Hinds and Alex Stewart

Trinity Term 2006: Emily Gosden and Kate Tolley

Hilary Term 2006: Andrew Dagnell and Jonathan Theodore

Michaelmas Term 2005: Luke Alexander and George Davies

Trinity Term 2005: Venetia Ansell and Daniel Bennett

Hilary Term 2005: Ben Coffer and Jack Fanning

Michaelmas Term 2004: Robert Crowe

Trinity Term 2004: Elaina Evans and Aled George

Hilary Term 2004: Rowena Mason

Michaelmas Term 2003: Hannah Charlick

Trinity Term 2003: Waleed Ghani

Hilary Term 2003: Josh Goodman

Michaelmas Term 2002: Nicholas Randall and James Kettle

Trinity Term 2002: Niall Stewart (resigned) and Andrew Sutton

Hilary Term 2002: Marcus Edwards and Meera Sabaratnam

Michaelmas Term 2001: Jon Boone

Trinity Term 2001: Andrew Morris and William Shuckbrugh

Hilary Term 2001: Charlie Talbot

Michaelmas 2000: David McNeill and Jenny Finch

Trinity Term 2000: Andrew Alexander

Hilary Term 2000: Richard Colebourn and Michelle Teo

Michaelmas Term 1999: Matt Brindley and Chris Tryhorn

Trinity Term 1999: Tim Robey

Hilary Term 1999: Rachel Williams

Michaelmas Term 1998: Hadley Freeman

Trinity Term 1998: Louise Knowles and Alex von Tunzelmann

Hilary Term 1998: Ross Hawkins

Michaelmas Term 1997: Rishi Dastidar

Trinity Term 1997: Lindsey Harrad

Hilary Term 1997: Becky Lloyd

Michaelmas Term 1996: Chris Philp and Justin Huggler

Trinity Term 1996: Jat Gill and David Black

Hilary Term 1996: Lucie Whitehouse and Jeffrey Gettleman

Michaelmas Term 1995: Emma Brockes, Nick Mountfield and Conal Walsh

Trinity Term 1995: Dermot Canterbury and Paul J Taylor

Hilary Term 1995: Lucy Manning, Dov Waxman and James Tozer

Michaelmas Term 1994: Nadia Hall, Ilsa Godlovitch and James Erskine

Trinity Term 1994: Michael Peel and Ben Cohen

Hilary Term 1994: Nick Gibbons, Tom Penn, Chris Taylor

Michaelmas Term 1993: Oliver August, Niels Bryan Low, James Carter

Cherwell has had a website since Trinity 1996, when Cherwell Online was launched by Thor Mitchell under Cherwell editors Jat Gill and David Black. Now called Cherwell 24, the site is updated every day during term. The site contains all of the articles from the print edition, as well as extra news, features, arts reviews and sport reports. Recent additions to the site include an online-only science section, video footage and news and sport podcasts that can be downloaded for free. Since 2007 it has also had its own sections and section editors, as well as contributor bases independent of the print edition. Students use the website to vote on the paper's regular feature, Fit College, vote on polls and post comments on articles. The current editor is Selena Wisnom with deputy editors Thomas Carpenter and Daniel Millichip and associate editors Leon Harrington and Charlotte King.

Hilary 2008: Selena Wisnom

Michaelmas 2007: Leah Klement and Fiona Wilson

Trinity 2007: Emma Bullimore

Hilary 2007: Larry Smith

Michaelmas 2006: Ali Gibson

Trinity 2006: Elle Perry

Hilary 2006: Alex Laffan

• Cherwell 75 Years, anniversary edition of Cherwell, November 1995

• Cherwell24, the paper's electronic edition, updated every day during term time
• Isis Online, the sister publication
• Oxford Student Publications Ltd