There is nothing on earth like Fleet Street. The thoroughfare, which runs like a crooked spine through east central London has been the home of the British press for 300 years. Here are published almost all of Britain’s national newspapers. Here also are the headquarters of many magazines, foreign and provincial press bureaus, international news agencies, trade papers, and the attic offices of freelance journalists. It was in Fleet Street tavern that the British press was born. Three centuries ago the Great Fire gutted the City of London, driving writers from their lodging-houses, and with quill and ink-horn they resumed scribbling their newsletters and pamphlets in the tavern of Fleet Street. There they were strategically located, for their
