Life Stories
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith (1957 BA Philosophy, Honorary Fellow) died on 29 December 2025 aged 88.
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith was a journalist, editor and public servant whose career encompassed newspapers, finance, film and the Church of England.
Born in Macclesfield in 1937 and educated at Birkenhead School, Andreas came up to Keble in 1957. After Oxford, he embarked on a career in financial journalism, working for a number of publications and developing a reputation for independence of mind, sound judgement and a willingness to challenge convention.
Those qualities were evident in 1986, when he co-founded The Independent. The launch of a new national broadsheet was a substantial undertaking: The Independent was the first new British national broadsheet for more than a century. Andreas served as its first editor, helping to establish a newspaper that sought to distinguish itself through the quality of its journalism and its independence from traditional political allegiances. The newspaper became an established presence in British public life, and its creation remains the achievement with which he is most closely associated.
His career after The Independent included a strong commitment to public service. He became President of the British Board of Film Classification, where he presided over a period of change in the approach to film classification. He subsequently served as First Church Estates Commissioner, overseeing the Church of England’s multi-billion-pound investment portfolio. In that role he brought together two strands that had run throughout his professional life: an engagement with financial affairs and a sense of institutional and public responsibility.
His contribution to public life was recognised with a CBE in 2003 and a knighthood in 2015.
Andreas retained a close connection with Keble and served as a member of the Board helping to develop the plans for the 150th Anniversary Campaign. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the College and was also the first President of the Douglas Price Society, Keble’s Legacy Society. In that role he helped to establish a community recognising those who had chosen to support future generations at the College through a gift in their will. His willingness to serve as its first President reflected his continuing interest in Keble and his commitment to the long-term development of the College.
Across a varied career, Andreas combined innovation with a sense of public duty. As a journalist he was prepared to take the risk of creating a new national newspaper; in his later appointments he devoted his experience and judgement to institutions in British cultural, financial and religious life.
For Keble, his life was an example of the contribution its alumni can make beyond the College. Sir Andreas Whittam Smith will be remembered with pride and affection as an alumnus and Honorary Fellow whose independence of mind, public spirit and service to the College remained evident throughout his career.
Kindly provided by Jenny Tudge (1986), Director of Development