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Letters of congratulations from readers and journalists, with replies, sent to Peter Preston concerning the Guardian Media Group's acquisition of the Observer newspaper, April - May 1993.

Also includes: a note from Peter Preston concerning the acquisition of the Observer, nd; press release from the Independent concerning the break down of negotiations between Newspaper Publishing and Lonrho over the Observer, April 1993; memorandum concerning the potential effect of the acquisition of the Observer on the Guardian library, April 1993.
Creator: Guardian Newspapers Limited; Editor's Office; Peter Preston (1938-2018)

General file relating to oil company Atlantic Richfield (ARCO), which covers the period when ARCO sold the Observer to Lonrho. Contains correspondence, memorandums and reports concerning: social occasions; the career of Robert Orville Anderson and his resignation from the Observer board; competitor papers; relations with trade unions; financial reports; trading forecasts; conditions of the proposed deal with Lonrho; the use of Norwegian paper; terms of employment in relation to the Lonrho takeover; plans for the future of the newspaper; the career of Thornton Bradshaw.

Primary correspondents include: Roger Harrison; Robert Orville Anderson; Tiny Rowland; Thornton Bradshaw.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

General file relating to the private bank Coutts & Co, mainly containing correspondence.

Contains correspondence, memorandum and related documents concerning: social occasions; bank guarantees; bank transfers; overdrafts; Lonrho; shares; a US dollar account; bank charges; requests for bank reports; the payment of expenses; the sale of The Times offices; mortgages; the leasing of the printing works; loans; bank balances; cheques; the advertising of bank services; opening an account; pension funds; an enquiry sent to the Coutts Archivist; a special issue of the Observer colour magazine; the account of Julius Beer.

Primary correspondents include: Roger Harrison; Tristan Jones; Coutts & Co; David Bishop; Clifford Franklin.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

General file regarding Lonrho Ltd.

Contains correspondence, memoranda and reports concerning: industrial action; the transfer of the newspaper; social occasions; a price increase; newspaper production under Rupert Murdoch; possible joint printing venture with The Telegraph; the establishment of an internal audit department; Lonrho Textile Products; staff figures; the mail order magazine; relations with the trade unions; budgets; Dutton-Forshaw Finance; computer systems; unsolds policy; the future of the Observer; an analysis of projected results; Lonrho advertising; staff discounts; Lonrho annual reports; research donations; management structure; fuel oil supplies; holiday working; staff contracts; capital expenditure; the Observer Buying Club; Countdown company; the sale of a house boat; printing outside of London; a book by Gavin Young; Stephen Pidgeon; libel cases; electricians; printing capacity; reporting schedules; staff pay; television and radio coverage; the sale of the Observer to George Outram & Company Limited; maintaining the journalistic standards and political independence of the Observer; trade union leaders; the sale of the Observer to Lonrho from Atlantic Richfield and the response of the trade unions; delivery vehicles; conditions of sale of the newspaper.

Primary correspondents include: Roger Harrison; Terry Robinson; Alan Johnstone; Lonrho Ltd; Tiny Rowland; NATSOPA, trade union; Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT); National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

General file regarding Lonrho PLC.

Contains correspondence, memorandum and reports concerning: a contract with the Standard; jobs listings; the Albert exhibition; relations with the trade unions; investment in public information terminals; Lonrho share option scheme; Fitch & Company, design consultants; Scottish newspaper circulation; executive bonus; Fassnidge Son & Norris, building services; Observer funding; pensions; Lonrho annual reports; Michael Lehrer Associates (MLA), management services consultants; social occasions; budgets; an internal audit report; the publication of the 10,000th issue of the Observer; a MORI poll of newspaper readers; staff discounts; Lonrho interests in Africa; magazine costs; reducing staffing levels; cost reductions; the National Readership Survey; cover price increase; strategies for the Observer; the Ladies Live handbook of rules and etiquette; management meetings schedule; staff salary increases; draft statements concerning the position of Lonrho and ownership of the newspaper.

Primary correspondents include: Roger Harrison; Lonrho; Terry Robinson; Fitch & Company; Malcolm Hill.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

General file regarding Lonrho PLC.

Contains correspondence, memorandum and reports concerning: shareholder offers; budgets; wholesalers; the appointment of Roger Harrison as chairman of Lonrho; internal audit reports; relations with the trade unions; overseas agents; staff expenses; chief executives reports; social occasions; publications; competitions; updates on the Observer; vacancies; payment for articles; the Observer magazine; the Monopolies Commission, regulatory body; the dispute over ownership of the House of Fraser; profits and losses; recruitment; Jim Levi; pay increases; holidays; an overview of Lonrho's ownership; features; industrial relations; advertising results; annual meetings; board meetings; Observer funding; marketing; the sale of Reuters Investment; promotional activities; quality control; the National Tyre Service (NTS); loans; circulation; taxes; Third World Book Review, magazine; the editor's contractual terms; article complaints; regional budgets; negotiations with the unions; enterprises; sale of the Standard newspaper; the installation of a telefax machine; the Albert exhibition; Lonrho annual reports.

Primary correspondents include: Roger Harrison; Lonrho; Nick Morrell; Terry Robinson; Tiny Rowland; David Bishop; Alan Johnstone.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

Includes correspondence from and concerning Legum.
Other correspondents include: David Astor; Anthony Sampson; Michael Davie; Richard Findlater; William Millinship; Gritta Weil; Donald Trelford; Shlomo Hillel (Israeli Minister of Police); Roger Harrison.
Subjects covered include: Legum's application to join The Observer; his work as Commonwealth correspondent; Michael Scott; Drum newspaper; affairs concerning various countries including Sudan, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, China, Nigeria, Israel, Spain, Uganda, and the United States; the Suez Crisis; an application to the English-Speaking Union of the Commonwealth for a grant by Legum; Dr [Benjamin] Spock; suggested articles on children's issues; Henry Kissinger and other senior US officials; Lonrho's takeover of The Observer.
Also includes: cuttings on South African affairs; 'confidential non-attributable talk with George Brown', September 1966; 'Reasons for Israel's decision to go to war', 1967; copy letter from Legum to Paul Foot; copy of Legum article, 'How Africa's Asians helped to create their own peril', 8 August 1972; comments on Arianna Stassinopolous' 'The Female Woman' by Margaret Legum; draft of article on Ghana trial; information on Travellers' Rights International; notice of talk by Legum in New York; draft of 'International Flow of News' by Legum and John Cornwell; copy of cartoon of Legum by Trog.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

Documentation relating to the Fayed libel action against the Observer and the House of Lords investigation into Lonrho.

Includes House of Commons official report from Parliamentary Debates dated 18 June 1986; Lonrho report to the Department of Trade and Industry inspectors into the acquisition of House of Fraser by the Fayed brothers; House of Commons report on 'complaint concerning the alleged action of The Guardian newspaper in representing that a letter sent by it to the Ritz Hotel, Paris, was sent in the name of a member of this house'; statement by Roger Harrison to the press; various news releases and press notices from Lonrho and other sources; report to Lord Young from Tiny Rowland; report by Tiny Rowland entitled 'The Sultan and I by Mohamed Fayed'; historical appreciation of Tiny Rowland by Francesca Pollard; transcript of interview between Dr. Marwan and Mohamed Fayed; article transcripts; Lonrho newsletters sent to House of Fraser staff; estimate of valuation of the private and commercial resources of the Fayed family; transcript of interview between an Observer representative and Muhammed Salih Al Al-Zariouni; and a copy of the Department of Trade and Industry report into House of Fraser Holdings plc by Henry Brooke, QC and Hugh Aldous, FCA.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

File 1:
Copies of 'official' documents relating to the acquisition of the Observer by Lonrho. Includes: Memorandum of Agreement dated 9 July 1981 concerning the Observer's editorial independence and the appointment of independent directors, a copy from Hansard of a speech by the Secretary of State for Trade in the House of Commons on 9 July 1981 giving formal consent to transfer the Observer under Section 58 of the Fair Trading Act, legal advice regarding a dispute between the Observer and the Chapel regarding the Observer's editorial independence in 1984, Advice of Professor L C B Gower to the editor of the Observer dated 23 April 1984, Annexes to Memorandum of Evidence to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission by David Astor and Lord Goodman 1981, Lonrho Limited and the House of Fraser Limited: a report on the proposed merger by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission dated 9 December 1981 (in separate volume), copy of Submission to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on behalf of Atlantic Richfield, Offer by George Outram & Company to acquire by means of an issue of shares and the payment of cash the whole of the outstanding capital of the Observer Int., the Secretary of State's announcement of the condition to be attached to the transfer of the Observer to George Outram and Company Ltd.

File 2:
Press cuttings from various newspapers and publications regarding Lonrho's takeover of the Observer in 1981, Donald Trelford's replies to published articles, press releases, Trelford's 'Unacceptable' leader about the offer from Atlantic Richfield and readers' responses, various chapters of 'Profiles in Chicanery' by Stephen A Martindale (1988) and photocopies from DTI report by Henry Brooke QC and Hugh Graham Cazalet Aldous FCA 'House of Fraser Holdings PLC', 1990..

File 3:
Correspondence between Trelford and various people from Lonrho leading up to and after the takeover of the Observer, correspondence with the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, George Outram Ltd.'s offer to acquire the Observer, Trelford's correspondence with Tiny Rowland regarding his document 'Essential Facts Regarding Observer Circulation', notes and information about Lonrho, board papers and agenda for a meeting on 6 December 1976, press cuttings relating to Lonrho, NUJ correspondence regarding the takeover, copy of Donald Trelord' s contract of employment and correspondence regarding Trelford's position as editor of the Observer under Lonrho ownership, set of colour portraits of Donald Trelford.

File 4:
Press cuttings from October 1993 relating to Lonrho's activities in general and its ownership of the Observer in partricular as well as to Tiny Rowland.

File 5:
Schedule of requirements relating to sale of the Observer; News International Limited proposed takeover bid; Memorandum of Agreement relating to Lonrho takeover; press notice issued by John Biffen, Secretary of State for Trade, regarding conditions attached to Lonrho takeover; report from The Monopolies and Mergers Commission regarding transfer of the Observer to Lonrho; copies of Tiny Rowland's birth certificate; transcripts from telephone conversations; report on proposals for the future of the Observer; amendments to conditions relating to transfer to Lonrho; objections to Lonrho transfer.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford

Donald Trelford's subject file Uzbekistan.

Includes press cuttings on Lonrho's deal with Uzbekistan to develop a major gold mine in the country, draft speeches and press releases from senior Lonrho executives, draft of an article by Trelford from Tashkent, administrative arrangements for Trelford's visit to Tashkent and a meeting with the Uzbek president Karimov.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Editor's Office; Donald Trelford