The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times, influential Sunday newspaper published in London, England. It is known around the world for the quality of its reporting and editing and for its coverage of British politics and the arts. It corresponds in quality to its daily counterpart, The Times.

The Sunday Times was founded in 1822 as a nationally circulated paper with an independent editorial policy. It developed a reputation for being dignified, carefully written, and well edited. For years, reports of The Sunday Times correspondents have been syndicated to other major world newspapers.

In 1959 The Sunday Times was bought by Roy Thomson, and under his guidance the paper introduced Britain’s first colour magazine supplement, in 1962. Thomson subsequently purchased The Times, and, beginning in 1967, the two papers were published by the newly created Times Newspapers Ltd. Publication of The Sunday Times was disrupted and suspended in 1978–79 amid disputes between management and unionized labour over a range of issues, including the implementation of modern editing and printing methods. A settlement was reached, however, and the paper maintained its reputation and recovered its high circulation. In 1981 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation gained ownership of The Sunday Times when it purchased Times Newspapers. In 2013 News Corporation divided its publishing and its television and film holdings into separate conglomerates, and ownership of the paper was transferred to the reconstituted News Corporation.