Hugh Whittow

Who is Hugh Whittow?

Hugh Whittow is a British newspaper editor.

Whittow worked for the Western Telegraph and the South Wales Echo, before moving to London to work on the London Evening News, and then the Daily Star. In the mid-1980s, he joined The Sun, where he became known for obtaining scoops. In October 1986, Whittow became one of the first journalists to report that Queen singer Freddie Mercury could be suffering from AIDS, just a couple of months after his final live performance with the band at Knebworth Park. Whittow approached Mercury at Heathrow Airport where he was returning from a shopping trip to Japan. Mercury denied that he had a sexual disease.

In 1987, Whittow travelled to Spain with a brief to purchase a donkey which was due to be beaten as part of a fiesta, and send it to a sanctuary in the UK. However, a Daily Star journalist achieved this before him, and his newspaper taunted The Sun over this in a front-page story. Soon after, Whittow returned to the Star.

Whittow became deputy editor of the Daily Star, and edited the Daily Star Sunday from its launch until 2003, then became Deputy Editor of the Daily Express. In 2011, he was promoted to become Editor of the paper.