WH Smith died years ago

The news that the high street arm of the newsagent WH Smith is in ‘secret talks’ to be sold – talks so secretive that they have been splashed across every newspaper and broadcasting outlet in the country – should be greeted with a sigh accepting its all-but-inevitable fate. There can be little doubt that Smith’s, as it is colloquially known, has a remarkable history. Its first shop opened in London in 1792, and remained family-owned for over two centuries. It was a ubiquitous, hugely popular feature of public life.

At one point, you could buy your newspaper from a WH Smith stand at the railway and then borrow your books from a WH Smith library, which were often published by the company themselves. If you were so inclined, in the later 19th century you could even vote for the scion of the family, William Henry Smith, who successfully stood for parliament as the Conservative MP for Westminster, and later became the model for Gilbert and Sullivan’s pompous First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Joseph Porter from HMS Pinafore.