Different view on The Herald’s 175th anniversary

I am somewhat surprised to see all the glowing tributes to The Herald on its 175th anniversary, particularly the references to how proud John Paterson, founder of the newspaper, would be of the 2020 offering.

I obviously have very different standards, when it comes to the use of good, grammatically correct English, from many of your readers and I have, on occasion, brought attention to the glaring mistakes which occur on its pages.

Having been a subscriber for more than 50 years, I have seen necessary changes in the format and subject matter, but I really miss the excellent critiques of symphony concerts, recitals and theatre performances which formed part of the “old” newspaper.

I have to smile when I think of how the elegant and articulate Elizabeth Foster, who wrote the social column back in the day, would have cringed at the mediocre efforts of her successor, who has thankfully disappeared.

However, the main reason for my letter is that I find it ironic in the extreme that we should be celebrating the 175th anniversary of The Herald, when the 200th anniversary of the landing of the 1820 settlers in Algoa Bay earlier this year, and without whom there probably would never have been an English-language

newspaper in the Eastern Cape, has been treated as a non-event, not only nationally, but specifically in the pages of your newspaper.

I hardly think John Paterson would have been too delighted at that!