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Signed minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors of Guardian Newspapers Limited (GNL) from 21 November 1967 (first meeting) until 18 December 1974. Not indexed.
Meetings were held at 192 Grays Inn Road, London or 3 Cross Street, Manchester.

Present or attending the meetings are (in order of appearance): PW Gibbings; Alastair Hetherington; MGA Jack; HG Milner; GP Taylor; WH Thomas; JC Markwick; Stanley Porter; BLB Hutchings (Lovell, White & King); JJT Stephens (Lovell, White & King); FA Ravenscroft (Cooper Bros & Co); MA Anderson; JHM Kelvie; HC Thompson; JM Cole; RS Rix; NH Thompson; and HJ Abbiss.

The first meeting of the board of directors records the initial administration of the new company including: the incorporation of the company; appointment of directors and secretary; recording of the registered office of the company as 3 Cross Street, Manchester; recording of the company bank account to be opened; recording the common seal of the company (impressed into minutes); and the transfer of shares and the register of members.

Regular items discussed at the meetings include newspaper sales and promotions; advertisement sales; production (including Lancashire Colour Printers and newsprint supplies); the company's financial position and budget; editorial appointments; strategy and development.

Other items discussed include (with year of first recording):
Guardian Weekly (1967); Guardian Business Services (1967); impact of devaluation of pound sterling (1967); price increases (1968); acquisitions and shares; editorial strategy (spring 1968); investigation of colour printing (1968); content aimed at women (1968); new building at Deansgate, Manchester (1968); facsimile transmission (1968); Autumn Plans including staff and layout changes - supporting paper (July 1968); readership figures; facsimile production (1968); negotiations with NUJ/NPA (1968); young readers (1968); university exam results (1969); Film 'News Story' (1969); Saturday papers (1969); Guardian's 150th anniversary (1970); Northprint Ltd (1970); wholesalers dispute (1970); commercial radio (1971); European syndication (1971); group structure (1972); investigations into Guardian sharing The Observer's premises at Printing House Square, London (1972); Guardian Study Vacations (part of Guardian Business Services) (1972); typeface change (1973); Gemini News Service (1973); impact of Price Commission (1973); fuel supplies for distribution (1973); shortening working weeks (1973); London printing, contract with The Times (1973); Peter Preston's visit to USA to investigate new technology production (1974).

The minutes of two meetings with separate item numbering sequences are also filed in this volume:
29 December 1967: Extraordinary General Meeting of GNL, 3 Cross Street, Manchester, concerning the increasing of the capital of the company.
5 April 1973: Meeting of a sub-committee of GNL, 192 Grays Inn Road, London, concerning the proposal to purchase Gemini News Service.
Creator: Guardian Newspapers Limited

Interview with John Palmer, journalist for the Guardian. Conducted by Donald Wintersgill in January 2010.

Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):

Disc 1:
Track 1
00.25 Joined the Scotsman in 1961 as a member of the new London office
00.48 Expansion of financial and economic reporting and its shift into mainstream news
02.10 How he came to join the Guardian in November 1963
02.58 Richard Fry's history, personality and role as head of a team of specialist market reporters
03.51 Career of Fry's deputy, Harold Griffiths, who later progressed into the Treasury
04.46 Appointment as Guardian City Editor
07.15 Standing as a Labour candidate
08.00 The sterling crisis of July 1966 and the problems for newspapers
08.40 Suggested merger with the Times
09.20 Beginnings of the Scott Trust

11.15 Took role as Economic leader writer
12.00 Discussion of writers budgets
13.25 Alastair Hetherington's strong personality
14.40 Hella Pick's complaint against an article
16.14 Pick reporting from Chequers, the Prime Ministers country house retreat
17.12 Covering a NATO summit with Pick and Martin Walker
19.07 *

20.59 *
22.22 Anecdote about Hetherington's late appearance at his own party
24.48 Hetherington's concerns about Peter Jenkins
26.45 Memorial service for Hetherington
27.05 Remembers Bill Davis
28.00 Davis' failure to file copy for the Guardian on the disassociation of the US dollar from the gold standard

30.30 Remembers Patrick Keatley
32.12 Involvement with the far left
32.50 Retirement of Harford Thomas and appointment of Hamish McRae and Francis Cairncross
34.34 Appointment as the paper's first European Editor
36.25 Director of London Transport for a year
36.50 Return to England and the Guardian
37.25 Guardian office in Brussels
37.45 Decision to leave the Guardian and set up the think-tank, the European Policy Centre
38.25 Left the Guardian in 1997
38.45 Respect for labour correspondent John Cole

40.00 Remembers Bernadette Devlin, independent socialist MP
40.40 Lunch with Devlin and Cole
41.30 Relationship with Hetherington and Peter Preston
42.20 Hetherington's role as controller of BBC Scotland
44.20 Preston's reputation
46.20 Remembers Francis Boyd
47.12 Importance of copy-takers
48.14 *

52.00 Member of Guardian cricket club
52.30 Cricket team visit to Sri Lanka
53.00 Labour stories featured in the Guardian
54.20 Bernard Ingham's suspicions about class prejudice in the newspaper
56.15 Labour reporting offered a way into political journalism
56.44 Harold Lever MP became Jenkins' high politics source for the newspaper
58.58 Friendship with Roy Jenkins

Includes photographs of:
Taylor, Gerry
Taylor, Geoffrey
Taylor, John Edward (print of a painting)
Thomas, Clem
Thomas, J H
Thomas, William Harford (includes caricature)
Thompson, Harvey
Thomas, Pat Ward
Thornber, Robin
Thorpe, Denis
Thurgood, Liz
Tindall, Gillian
Todd, Eric
Tonge, David
Torode, John
Townsend, John
Toynbee, Polly
Story, Jack Trevor
Tucker, Anthony
Tweedie, Jill
Creator: Manchester Guardian; Picture Desk; Manchester Picture Library