The Anglo-Portuguese News (1937–2004)

Author:

Andrew Shepherd

Report:

Newsletter 24

Year:

2024

Subject Matter:

British in Portugal

Excerpt:

The Anglo-Portuguese News (APN) was first published in February 1937, with the initial owner being the correspondent of The Times in Lisbon. With Portuguese law requiring newspapers to have a Portuguese editor, this role was taken by Luiz Artur de Oliveira Marques, who would become the owner in 1954. Marques married Susan Lowndes in December 1938 and, with just one full-time assistant, they would publish the APN fortnightly, and during WW2 weekly, until his death in 1976. Lowndes carried on almost singlehandedly for three years before selling the paper to Nigel Batley, an Englishman with no knowledge of Portugal, who expanded the size of the paper and returned it to being a weekly. The paper mysteriously ceased publication in February 2004 with no explanation other than that it was undergoing “restructuring”. Described by the Germans as “the voice of Churchill in Lisbon”, the APN provided an important service for the British community, as well as for other international residents. That it is now a valuable historical resource on Anglo-Portuguese relations and on the lives of expatriates in Portugal was first recognised by the preparation of an index covering the years when Marques was in charge and, now, by a new website that provides online access to scanned copies of all issues.

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