Guernsey: The Star (August 27, 1942)
Guernsey’s earliest English-language paper was The Star. It was first published in St Peter Port on 29 June 1813 – a full eighty-four years before the Guernsey Evening Press. It was initially published every seven days and carried the alternative title Guernsey Weekly Advertiser.
The Star and The Guernsey Evening Press merged to form the Guernsey Press and Star in 1965.
The Star, publication of which was only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and which was suspended from September 12 1944 until January 10, 1945, as a result of 'the imperative need to economise in gas and electricity.'
During the German occupation, the two newspapers, subject to censorship from the German authorities, continued to publish, eventually on alternate days given the shortage of materials and staff available. After the Germans temporarily removed the editor of The Star, Bill Taylor, from his position, following an article which they deemed offensive, it was edited by Frank Falla. Falla was a key member of the Guernsey "Resistance", being involved in the Guernsey Underground News Sheet (which went by the acronym GUNS). GUNS published the BBC news, illegally received, on a single news sheet. According to Falla's memoirs, through strategic placement of stories handed to him by the German authorities in The Star, he allowed islanders to distinguish easily between German news and stories emanating from Guernsey journalists. Falla was eventually betrayed by an Irish collaborator and, along with his peers who helped to produce GUNS, was deported to German. Falla survived, though other members of the organisation did not return from Germany.
One complete Newspaper in Fair Condition.
