Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88 | UK news
Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent newspaper and former chairman of the British Board of Film Classification, has died at the age of 88.
Whittam Smith was also the first editor of the Independent and served as the first church estates commissioner and senior church member of the Church of England from 2002 to 2017.
A family spokesperson said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of Independence newspaper, on 29 November 2025, aged 88.
“He was surrounded by his family until the end and will be greatly missed.
“He is survived by his wife Valerie, two sons, Benedict and Mark, and three grandchildren.”
Much of Whittam Smith’s early career was spent in financial journalism, working for the Stock Exchange Gazette, Financial Times and Times. He has held senior positions at the Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Investors Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette.
In 1986, he founded the Independent with journalists Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds, with whom he had worked at the Daily Telegraph, and served as its first editor until 1994.
In 1998 he was appointed chairman of the British Board of Film Classification. His achievements here included allowing A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist to be released on home video, according to the Independent. He suggested that movie classifications would one day disappear altogether.
Whittam Smith was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 for his services to the film industry, and in 2015 he was knighted “for public service, particularly services to the Church of England”.
In July 2017, he was awarded the Canterbury Cross by the then archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for his services to the Church of England.
Whittam Smith was born in Cheshire in June 1937. In 1940, his family moved to Birkenhead when his father, a vicar, took over a parish in the Wirral dock area. He was educated at Birkenhead school and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Keble College, Oxford. After completing his military service, he worked in a stockbroking firm before switching to journalism.
Amol Rajan, a BBC journalist and another former editor of the Independent, said on Instagram that he was “very saddened” to hear of Whittam Smith’s death, describing him as “radical” and “pioneering”.
“During boozy lunches he was cerebral, ethereal, tough and kind,” he said. “Elsewhere he was the financial regulator, the film censor and the knight.
“Andreas profoundly changed British journalism for the better and forever. With his passing, a titan and the golden age he represented have ventured into the great newsroom in the sky.”
He added: “The Independent was a zeitgeist… Always zigzagging where others were zigzagging.”
Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of The Independent, said staff past and present were “deeply saddened” to hear of Whittam Smith’s death.
“His passion for journalism captured the imagination of the entire nation and built a global brand that never stops fighting for journalism, not beholden to entrenched political or economic interests,” he said.
