Historical Background: "When in the autumn of 1665 Charles II sought shelter in
Oxford from the Great Plague, he and his courtiers wanted newspapers to read,
yet feared to touch "The Intelligencer" or "The Newes," which, coming from
London, might be infected. Therefore Leonard Litchfield, the university printer,
was authorized and ordered to bring out a local paper. On Tuesday, November 14,
1665, the first number of "The Oxford Gazette" appeared, and it continued
afterwards through eleven weeks on Thursdays and Mondays. It was meager enough,
but, though comprised in only two double-columned pages of folio, each number
contained nearly as much matter as one of Roger L'Estrange's papers, and it soon
became a formidable rival to those papers, especially as Thomas Newcomb, the
old printer of the Commonwealth organs, was allowed to reproduce its sheets in
London "for the use of some members and gentlemen who desired them.
The plague was soon over and King Charles went
back to Whitehall, but he was pleased with the Oxford effort and it was soon
succeeded by "The London Gazette, which made its first appearance, labeled as
No. 24, on February 5, 1666, and which has been kept alive, altering its size
and character from time to time, down to this day.