Memorial: Bill Hagerty

A memorial service giving thanks for the life of Bill Hagerty, journalist, will take place at St Bride’s Church, the Journalists’ Church, on Thursday 23rd April at 11:30am.

Hagerty was a veteran Fleet Street editor and staunch defender of press freedom. He spent a significant part of his 70-year journalistic career at the Mirror Group, joining the Daily Mirror in 1967 and becoming its showbusiness editor at a time when the world’s gaze was focussed on the golden, but ageing stars of Hollywood. Hagerty rose to the office of deputy editor of both the Sunday Mirror and Daily Mirror before finally taking the editor’s chair of the People in 1991.

In later life, Hagerty campaigned tirelessly for freedom of the press and the vital role of local and regional newspapers in a functioning democracy. He edited the British Journalism Review for a decade and was an active council member of the Journalists’ Charity until 2021.

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• The Mirror
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