Paul Bach
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Paul Bach
| image = Paul_Bach_24.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1938|11|13}}
| birth_place = Forest Gate, London, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2011|09|18|1938|11|13}}
| death_place =
| othername =
| occupation = Magazine editor
| yearsactive = 1955 to 2002
}}
Paul Bach (born Paul George Roger Bach on 13 November 1938 in Forest Gate in London – died on 18 September 2011) was a regional press journalist and editor, at one time the editor-in-chief of the Celtic Press group and group editor of the Stratford Express series of newspapers, and the founder-editor of Saga Magazine, which, under his editorship, became for a time Britain's largest-circulation monthly magazine.
Working life
Straight from leaving school Bach went into journalism, working as a reporter on a local weekly newspaper. He went on to edit and work for several local and regional newspapers in various parts of England and Wales.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8830319/Paul-Bach.html | title=Obituaries: Paul Bach | work=The Telegraph | date=16 October 2011 | accessdate=24 October 2011}} While he was News Editor at the Merthyr Express, the newspaper won the Hannen Swaffer award in 1967 for its coverage of the Aberfan disaster of 1966.{{cite web | url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2010/11/25/paper-that-started-with-a-bang-still-going-strong-after-146-years-91466-27715491/ | title=Paper that started with a bang still going strong after 146 years | publisher=WalesOnline.co.uk | date=25 November 2010 | accessdate=14 December 2011}}
In 1979 Bach began working for then family-owned Saga Holidays, joining the company as editor of Saga News. He transformed it into the monthly Saga Magazine, launched in 1984.{{cite web | url= http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/not-just-for-greybeards-pZeaqOpSyI | title=Not just for greybeards | publisher=DeepDyve, Inc. | accessdate=25 October 2011}} As its founder-editor, he grew it within a decade into the biggest-selling monthly magazine in Britain, overtaking Reader's Digest, as its circulation grew to 1.25 million.
Bach described the magazine as general interest rather than "grey".{{cite news | url=http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/27017/GREY-MEDIA-AGE-GAP---They-rsquore-rich-available-publishers-don-rsquot-yet-know-reach-over-50s-Lucy-Hone-writes/ | title=Grey Media – The Age Gap | publisher=PR Week | date=23 April 1999 | accessdate=13 November 2012}} Under his leadership, major political figures like Lord Carrington,{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/431279.stm | title=Ex-Nato chief criticises Kosovo campaign | publisher=BBC News | date=26 August 1999 | accessdate=8 November 2011}} Margaret Thatcher,{{cite news | url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/THATCHER+IS+STILL+SMARTING.-a060262462 | title=Thatcher is still smarting | publisher=The Free Library (Daily Record) | date=28 August 1998 | accessdate=8 November 2011}} Mo Mowlam{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/807458.stm | title=Mowlam sparks royal palace row | publisher=BBC News | date=27 June 2000 | accessdate=8 November 2011}} and former US Senator George Mitchell{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/was-mo-the-latest-famous-victim-of-the-curse-of-saga-magazine-707415.html | title=Was Mo the latest victim of The Curse of 'Saga' magazine? | work=The Independent | date=2 July 2000 | accessdate=4 November 2011}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} were interviewed for the magazine, and Her Majesty The Queen invited it on a royal away-day.{{cite news | url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-queen-in-her-knit-your-own-monarch-role-1.317293 | title=The Queen in her knit-your-own-monarch role | work=The Herald|location=Glasgow | date=26 November 1998 | accessdate=8 November 2011}} Leading writers such as Paul Lewis,{{cite news|title=More elderly claimants win pension rights | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B7dAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u6UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6413,3803845&dq=paul-bach+saga&hl=en | accessdate=24 October 2011| newspaper=The Glasgow Herald| date=18 February 1985}} Michael Parkinson, Clement Freud and Keith Waterhouse{{cite news | url=http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/17045/| title=Grey Media Grows Up | date=4 April 1997 | accessdate=1 November 2011}} provided contributions, and celebrities such as Raquel Welch, Sir Cliff Richard,{{cite news | url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-814729-sir-cliff-comes-out-fighting.do | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912034843/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-814729-sir-cliff-comes-out-fighting.do | url-status=dead | archive-date=12 September 2012 | title=Sir Cliff comes out fighting | work=London Evening Standard | date=22 November 2001 | accessdate=6 November 2011 }} Sting,{{cn|date=November 2020}} Twiggy, Pierce Brosnan, Anita Roddick,{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/aug/22/pressandpublishing2 | title=Mick Jagger grows up | work=The Guardian | date=22 August 2001 | accessdate=13 November 2012}} Kevin Keegan, Goldie Hawn and (controversially) Mick Jagger{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/aug/23/pressandpublishing?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 | title=Jagger upset by Saga appearance | work=The Guardian | date=23 August 2001 | accessdate=25 October 2011}}{{cite news | title=Mick Jagger Grows Old | url=https://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2001/08/46267 | accessdate=24 October 2011 | newspaper=Wired | date=23 August 2001}} appeared on the cover.{{cite news | url= http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2001/08/23/pensioners-pin-up | title=Pensioner's Pin-up | work=British Vogue | date=23 August 2001 | accessdate=25 October 2011}} Under Bach the magazine was among the first to campaign for the preservation of the English village, calling on the UK government to stop the closure of rural banks and post offices.
In 2001 Bach co-edited "My Story 1: Memoirs of Everyday Life from the Readers of Saga Magazine"{{cite book | editor=Paul Bach | editor2=Will Adams | title=My Story 1: Memoirs of Everyday Life from the Readers of Saga Magazine (Memoirs of the 20th Century SAGA Magazine series) | publisher=Silver Link Publishing Ltd. | year=2001 | isbn=978-1-85794-142-5}} and "My Story 2: Further Memoirs of the 20th Century from the Readers of Saga Magazine".{{cite book | editor=Paul Bach | editor2=Will Adams | title=My Story 2: Further Memoirs of the 20th Century from the Readers of Saga Magazine (Memoirs of the 20th Century SAGA Magazine series) | publisher=Silver Link Publishing Ltd. | year=2001 | isbn=978-1-85794-143-2 }}
Bach edited Saga Magazine until retiring in 2002.{{cite news | url=http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/117862/ | title=MEDIA BRIEFS: Appointment at Saga Magazine | publisher=PR Week | date=25 January 2002 | accessdate=6 November 2011}}
Personal life
Paul Bach attended Plaistow County Grammar School from 1950 to 1955. His father was a professor of languages at King's College, London.
A widower (his wife Florence having died some nine months previously), Bach died on 18 September 2011. He was survived by three sons.
References
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External links
- [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8830319/Paul-Bach.html Bach's obituary in The Telegraph]
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