1st September 1795

New York Herald founder is born

James Gordon Bennett Sr was born in Banffshire and initially trained to become a priest. However, in 1819 he instead travelled to Nova Scotia, then the United States, where he found work as a proof-reader, translator and, latterly, freelance writer.

New York Herald

He founded the New York Herald in 1835, which remained in print until 1924. Just four years after founding the paper, he landed a scoop when he interviewed Martin Van Buren, who was then President of the United States.

Today, many know him less well than they know the mild oath, ‘Gordon Bennett’, which can be used to denote anger or surprise. On 5 February 2017, the BBC News website wrote that the term may have been inspired by the publisher himself, or his son, also called Gordon, who “one very drunken evening… turned up late to a posh party held by his future in-laws, and ended up urinating into a fireplace in full view of everyone. The engagement, unsurprisingly, was broken off.”