Arthur Christiansen

Arthur Christiansen
Born	Arthur Robin Christiansen 27 July 1904 Wallasey, England
Died	27 September 1963 (aged 59) Norwich, England
Other names	Poodah (pet name in family)
Occupation	Journalist, editor
Spouse(s)	Brenda Winifred
Children	Michael Christiansen , Antoinette B Christiansen Andrew Christiansen Greta J Christiansen

Arthur Christiansen (27 July 1904 – 27 September 1963) was a journalist, and editor of Lord Beaverbrook's newspaper the Daily Express from 1933 to 1957.^[1]

Christiansen was born in Wallasey to Louis Niels Christiansen, a shipwright, and his wife Ellen. From an early age he demonstrated a talent for writing, producing a magazine for his grammar school. At 16, he became a reporter for the Wallasey and Wirral Chronicle, where he worked for three years before moving to the Liverpool Evening Express and the Liverpool Daily Courier. He was named the London editor of the Evening Express in 1925, a position he held for a year before moving to the Sunday Express.

Christiansen made his reputation four years later, when, as assistant editor, he produced a special late-morning edition of the Sunday Express to report the R101 airship disaster.^[2]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1957, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.

In 1961. he was cast as the editor of the Daily Express in the Fleet Street-based sci-fi thriller The Day the Earth Caught Fire, directed by Val Guest. He also played a news editor in the 1963 medical thriller 80,000 Suspects, again directed by Guest.

Christiansen's son, Michael, also became a newspaper editor.

References

1. "Journalism: The Express Way". Perspective uk North / media. northtrek.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
2. Edward Pickering, "Christiansen, Arthur Robin (1904-1963)", in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 11, p. 527.

External links

• Arthur Christiansen's appearance on This Is Your Life