Educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford, William Rees-Mogg joined the Financial Times in 1952, becoming chief leader writer and assistant editor. He then moved to The Times, eventually becoming its editor, and remaining there for fourteen years. An accepted figure of the establishment, he served as vice-chairman of the BBC, chairman of the Arts Council and head of the Broadcasting Standards Council. He died in 2012, aged 84.