London Gazette - London, UK

The Gazette has a long and established history, and has been at the heart of British public life for almost 350 years.During the 17th century, potentially 'reckless' publishing of articles – often just scurrilous rumours issued in pamphlet form – was thought to endanger national security, and this led to a climate in which the printing of any news not pertaining to the coverage of events abroad, natural disasters, official royal declarations and the most sensationalist of crime reporting was largely prohibited.As a consequence, the British press was an ill-developed and badly defined industry. The introduction of censorship in 1663, together with the licensing of all news publications, did little to encourage the growth of a healthy press.However, the situation was to change dramatically in 1665, with the worst outbreak of plague in England since the Black Death of 1348. The Great Plague is thought to have killed 15% of the population in London, and it forced King Charles II to remove his court from the capital and relocate – what was effectively the government of the day – to the relative safety of Oxford. It is said that the exiled courtiers were so terrified of the disease that they were unwilling to even touch London newspapers for fear of contagion. The Oxford Gazette emerged from this turmoil, and when the plague finally dissipated and the court returned to London, the London Gazette was born.