Charles Wintour

Who was Charles Wintour?

Charles Vere Wintour, CBE, MBE, was a British newspaper editor and was the father of editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour.

Wintour wrote articles for the Radio Times while he was at Oundle School, and won a prize awarded by the Daily Mail. He completed his education at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, where he studied English and history and briefly edited Granta with Eric Hobsbawm.

After university, Wintour took a job in advertising, but left at the start of World War II to join the Royal Norfolk Regiment. During the war, he was awarded the military MBE, the Croix de Guerre and the Bronze Star.

In 1946, Wintour became a leader writer for the Evening Standard. He was soon promoted to political editor, then moved to the Sunday Express as assistant editor. He returned to the Standard as deputy editor, during which period he convinced Lord Beaverbrook to launch the Evening Standard Awards for theatre.

Wintour became managing editor of the Daily Express in 1958, then in 1959 moved back to the Standard as editor. During this period, he had five children, of whom two: Anna and Patrick later became prominent journalists.