Observer text timeline

1791 The Observer is published for the first time on Sunday 4 December 1791. In the first issue WS Bourne, founder of the newspaper, stated that it would share "the spirit of enlightened Freedom, decent Toleration and universal Benevolence."

1812 Observer journalist Vincent George Dowling had a real scoop when he not only witnessed the assassination of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval but also seized the assassin.

1814 William Innell Clement purchases the Observer, adding it to the number of newspapers he already owns.

1820 Clement defies a court order against publishing details of the trial of the Cato Street Conspirators accused of attempting to murder members of the Cabinet. Wood cut illustrations are used to promote the feature.

1857 Lewis Doxat, Clement's editor, retires and is succeeded by Joseph Snowe.

1861-1865 The Observer sides with the North during the American Civil War, a position which costs the newspaper hugely as the readership rapidly declines.

1870 Julius Beer, a wealthy businessman, buys the Observer. He appoints first Edward Dicey and then, from 1889, Henry Duff Traill as editors.

1880 Frederick Beer inherits the Observer on the death of his father. Frederick's wife, Rachel, purchases the Times in 1893 and from 1891 to 1904 she is editor of both newspapers.

1905 The executors of Frederick Beer's will sell the Observer to Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe). Circulation is so low, just 5,000 copies, Harmsworth comments that the Observer "lay derelict in the Fleet ditch". Austin Harrison is appointed editor and circulation begins to increase.

1908 James Louis Garvin becomes editor and in 1909 circulation has increased to 40,000.

1911 William Waldorf Astor buys the Observer, subsequently giving it to his son, Waldorf.

1919 JL Garvin's famously prophetic editorial on the Treaty of Versailles following the end of World War I states "The Treaty left the Germans 'no real hope except in revenge'".

1942 On Garvin's departure, David Astor, son of Waldorf Astor, immediately begins to modernise the Observer. Advertisements are removed from the front page in favour of news and photographs and the Profile, a collective opinion of an individual in the news, is introduced to British journalism. Ivor Brown is appointed editor and the Observer begins to move away from the traditional conservatism of the Garvin era.

1945 The Astor family transfer the ownership of the newspaper to a Trust which states that any profit must be used to improve the newspaper, promote good journalism or for charitable purposes.

1948 David Astor becomes editor, a post he holds for 27 years. He famously favours writers over traditional journalists bringing to the Observer, George Orwell, Vita Sackville-West, Arthur Koestler, Philip Toynbee, Jon Davy, Kenneth Tynan and many others.

1956 On 10 June 1956 the Observer publishes the 26,000 words of Nitika Krushev's denunciation of Joseph Stalin in full.

The Observer's position as the first national newspaper to write against the Government's action during the Suez Crisis is costly as thousands of readers desert it.

1963 Kim Philby, widely accused of being the Third Man (the Soviet Spy who had let it be known that Donald Maclean was about to be exposed), was cleared by the British and American Government. He became the Observer's Middle East correspondent based in Beirut but was expelled and fled to Moscow. He had been the Third Man all along.

1964 The Observer Colour Magazine was introduced in 1964. Thirty years later it was merged with the Life section to form a new tabloid-sized 'Life' magazine.

1975 Donald Trelford is appointed editor and fights to find new owners and save the Observer from extinction. Between 1977 and 1993 the Observer is owned by two large international companies, first Atlantic Richfield and then, from 1981, by Lonhro.

1989 Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft was arrested on a false charge of spying whilst investigating a story in Iraq. He was drugged by his captors, subjected to a bogus trial and, despite an international outcry, was executed in Baghdad six months later.

1993 Guardian Media Group buy the Observer, effectively saving it from closure and Jonathan Fenby is appointed editor.

1995 Andrew Jaspan becomes editor, succeeded one year later by Will Hutton.

1998 Roger Alton is appointed editor and Will Hutton becomes editor-in-chief. In 2000 Alton is named Editor of the Year in the What the Papers Say newspaper awards.

2001 Peter Mandelson resigned at the end of January 2001 after it was discovered that he had given misleading answers to the Observer over its revelation that he had made contact with the Home Office over a passport application by Indian businessman, Srichand Hinduja following his family's £1million donation to the Faith Zone at the Millennium Dome.

2002 In June 2002 the Newsroom, Guardian and Observer Archive and Visitor Centre, opens to preserve and interpret the histories of the newspapers through education programmes, exhibitions and research.

2003 Observer Music Monthly magazine launched, published on the 3rd Sunday of each month.

2004 GNL launches digital editions of the Guardian and The Observer. Subscribers to the Digital Editions will access Guardian and Observer articles, images and adverts as they appear in print, through a web-based interface developed by the GU in-house team. No files need to be downloaded or special software installed - just download your browser, go to http://guardian.co.uk/digital and follow the instructions.

2005 The Observer launches the first Sunday newspaper weblog at blogs.guardian.co.uk/observer/

2006 The Observer relaunches in a Berliner format becoming the UK's only full colour Sunday newspaper.

2007 The Guardian and Observer digital archive is launched, the first example of a national UK newspaper making its paper archive available online via its website. The archive will eventually contain the digital reproduction of every page, article and advert published in the Guardian (since 1821) and the Observer (since 1791).

2008 John Mulholland becomes editor of the Observer.