{{Short description|British newspaper editor (1905–1953)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Silvester Bolam''' (23 October 1905 – 27 April 1953) was a [[British people|British]] [[newspaper editor]].
Born in [[Tynemouth]], [[Northumberland]], Bolam studied at the [[University of Durham]]'s [[Colleges of Durham University#Colleges in Newcastle (Armstrong College and King's College)|Armstrong College]] before joining the ''[[The Journal (Newcastle upon Tyne newspaper)|Newcastle Journal]]''. He then moved to work for the ''[[News Chronicle]]'', and in 1936 became a sub-editor on the ''[[Daily Mirror]]''. Although he left in 1938 to rejoin the ''News Chronicle'', he returned ten months later, and in 1948 became the newspaper's editor.<ref name="odnb">"[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/articleHL/56737 Bolam, Silvester]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''</ref>
As editor, Bolam focused on a strategy of [[sensationalism]], and was able to make the ''Mirror'' Britain's best-selling daily newspaper. In March 1949, after publishing material which might have prejudiced the trial of [[John George Haigh]] (later convicted of murder), he was jailed for three months for contempt of court.<ref>{{cite book | title=Press gang: how newspapers make profits from propaganda | author=Roy Greenslade | authorlink=Roy Greenslade | publisher=[[Pan Macmillan]] | year=2004 | isbn=0-330-39376-6 | page=40 }}</ref><ref>''[[Daily Herald (UK newspaper)|Daily Herald]]'', 26 March 1949, p.3</ref> The ''Daily Mirror'' also fined £10,000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Benjamin Wellesspecial To the New York |date=1949-03-26 |title=London Editor Is Jailed for Murder Story; Largest-Selling Daily Paper Fined $40,000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/03/26/archives/london-editor-is-jailed-for-murder-story-largestselling-daily-paper.html |access-date=2025-05-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
By 1953, he had fallen out with the paper's editorial director and resigned. He died a few months later.<ref name="odnb" />
==References== <references />
{{start box}} {{s-media}} {{succession box|title=Editor of the ''[[Daily Mirror]]''|years=1949–1953|before=[[Cecil Thomas (journalist)|Cecil Thomas]]|after=[[Jack Nener]]}} {{end box}}
{{Daily Mirror editors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolam, Silvester}} [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:1953 deaths]] [[Category:British prisoners and detainees]] [[Category:People from Tynemouth]] [[Category:Daily Mirror people]] [[Category:Alumni of Armstrong College, Durham]] [[Category:People convicted of speech crimes]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales]] [[Category:20th-century British newspaper editors]]