Colin Valdar was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 newspaper editor.

Valdar studied at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School

Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School

The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School is a British independent school for boys aged 4–19. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Haileybury Group....

, then in Hampstead

Hampstead

Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...

. He worked as a freelance journalist from 1935 to 39, then served with the Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. In 1942, he became Features Editor with the Sunday Pictorial, soon moving to become Assistant Editor. In 1946, he moved to the Daily Express

Daily Express

The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

, again as Features Editor, and in 1951, they too promoted Valdar to Assistant Editor. In 1953, Valdar returned to the Sunday Pictorial as Editor, serving until 1959. For last two years of his tenure, he was also a director of the publishing company. He was able to raise circulation to five million copies per issue.

In 1959, Valdar became editor of the Daily Sketch

Daily Sketch

The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...

, serving three years in the post. He was also appointed to the council of the Commonwealth Press Union

Commonwealth Press Union

-Commonwealth Press Union :The Commonwealth Press Union was an association composed of 750 members in 49 countries, including newspaper groups , individual newspapers, and news agencies throughout the Commonwealth of Nations...

. In 1964, he briefly served on the board of Liberal News, the official Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 newspaper but, the following year, he worked with his wife Jill and brother Stewart to set up a weekly journal for the newspaper industry, which soon became the Press Gazette

Press Gazette

Press Gazette, formerly known as UK Press Gazette , is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. It was first published in 1965, and currently has a circulation of about 2,500, although it had enjoyed higher circulations earlier in its history...

. Valdar took the title of publisher, but remained strongly involved with supervising the content. The family retired in 1983.