THE TIMES

'The Times' is England's oldest daily newspaper. Established as 'The Daily Universal Register' by John Walter in 1785, it became 'The Times' in 1788. In 1814 The Times pioneered a new technology by being the first newspaper to be printed on a steam press. The machines had been set up in a nearby building in secret as a Luddite response by the papers printers was feared. The Times also bucked convention by being printed as 'The Times' whereas other British newspapers were printed without the definite article appearing in Roman type in the title, for example, the 'Observer' and the 'Sun'. Although the paper retained Times New Roman for 40 years, technological and format changes have caused it to change typeface 5 times since 1972. However, all the latest typefaces are variations of the Times New Roman original. Legal action in the 1980s failed to change the status quo regarding the two similar typefaces, Times Roman and Times New Roman. Linotype (and its licensees) continue with the name Times Roman, and Monotype (and its licensees) uses Times New Roman. Subtle differences existing between the two typefaces are not normally noticeable. Microsoft has licensed a version of the Times New Roman typeface from Monotype that matches the widths of the Linotype (Times Roman) version, but there are other versions that do not.