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 and appoints Edward Dicey as editor. Dicey revives the newspaper, especially its coverage of foreign news and arts
1880 Frederick Beer inherits the Observer on the death of his father and in 1891 installs his wife Rachel as editor. She buys the Sunday Times in 1893 and is editor of both newspapers until 1904
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 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 - “We had not realised that our Government was capable of such folly and such crookedness”
1963 Kim Philby, the Observer’s Middle East correspondent based in Beirut defects to the Soviet Union. Previously a high ranking British Intelligence Officer, in 1963 it is discovered that he is in a fact a double agent. When he realises his cover has been blown he flees to Moscow to avoid arrest
1964 The Observer Colour Magazine is launched. The front cover of the first issue of the magazine features The Observer’s first colour photograph, a portrait of Lord Mountbatten by Don McCullin
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. The Newsroom’s activities all transfer to Kings Place in 2008
2003 Observer Music Monthly is launched to sit along side the paper’s other popular and innovative monthly magazines - Observer Sport and Observer Food. Another magazine, Observer Woman, is introduced in 2006
2005 The Observer launches the first Sunday newspaper weblog at blogs.theguardian.com/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.
2008 John Mulholland becomes editor and the Observer moves to its new home in King’s Cross.
2010 The Observer relaunches as a four section paper
2012 The iPad edition of the Observer is launched
2018 The Observer relaunches in a tabloid format. Paul Webster succeeds John Mulholland as editor.