The Observer is a
British newspaper published on Sundays. In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper
The Guardian, it takes a
liberal/
social democratic line on most issues.
The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W. S. Bourne, was the world's first Sunday newspaper.
Faced with debts of nearly £1,600 Bourne attempted to sell The Observer to anti-government based groups in London. When this failed Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper – but it agreed to subsidise The Observer in return for influence over its editorial content.
William Innell Clement bought The Observer in 1814 to add to the number of newspapers he already owned. Clement defied an 1820 court order against publishing details of the trial of the Cato Street Conspirators who were alleged to have plotted to murder members of the Cabinet. Clement's editor, Lewis Doxat, went big with the story, using wood cut illustrations to promote it.
