Arthur Christiansen

{{Short description|British journalist and newspaper editor (1904–1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Arthur Christiansen | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Arthur Robin Christiansen | birth_date = {{birth date|1904|7|27|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Wallasey]], [[Cheshire]], England, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|9|27|1904|7|27|df=y}} | death_place = [[Norwich]], [[Norfolk]], England, UK | education = | occupation = Journalist, editor | other_names = Poodah (pet name in family) | title = | family = | spouse = Brenda Winifred | children = [[Michael Christiansen]]<br/>Antoinette B Christiansen <br/>Andrew N Christiansen<br/>Greta J Christiansen | relatives = | credits = }} '''Arthur Robin Christiansen''' (27 July 1904 – 27 September 1963) was a British journalist, and editor of [[Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]]'s newspaper the ''[[Daily Express]]'' from 1933 to 1957.<ref>{{cite web |title=Journalism: The Express Way |url=http://www.northtrek.plus.com/Christiansen.htm |work=Perspective uk North / media |publisher=northtrek.co.uk |access-date=5 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204160553/http://www.northtrek.plus.com/Christiansen.htm |archive-date=4 February 2016 }}</ref>

Christiansen was born in [[Wallasey]], [[Cheshire]] to Louis Niels Christiansen, a [[shipbuilding|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 ''[[Daily Express#Sunday Express|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.<ref>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.</ref>

He was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1957, when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at the BBC Television Theatre.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

In 1961, he was cast as the editor of the ''Daily Express'' in the [[Fleet Street]]-based [[science fiction|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 Christiansen|Michael]], also became a newspaper editor; his grandson [[Rupert Christiansen]] was the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' opera critic until 2020.

==Bibliography== *''Headlines All My Life'' (1961)

==Partial filmography== *''[[The Day the Earth Caught Fire]]'' (1961) – 'Jeff' Jefferson – Editor *''[[80,000 Suspects]]'' (1963) – Editor – Bath Evening Chronicle (Mr. Graney) (final film role)

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-media}} {{succession box | before=[[Beverley Baxter]] | title=''[[Daily Express|Editor of The Daily Express]]'' | years=1933–1957 | after=[[Edward Pickering (journalist)|Edward Pickering]] }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christiansen, Arthur}} [[Category:1904 births]] [[Category:1963 deaths]] [[Category:British male film actors]] [[Category:20th-century British male journalists]] [[Category:British people of Scandinavian descent]] [[Category:Daily Express people]] [[Category:People from Wallasey]] [[Category:20th-century British newspaper editors]]