Obituary: Lord Rees-Mogg; Former editor of the Times who played a key role in reshaping the newspaper industry Born: 14 July, 1928 in Bristol, Somerset. Died: 29 December, 2012 in Somerset, aged 84. WILLIAM Rees-Mogg was one of the most influential journalists of the post-war era. He had a commanding intellect and could marshal an impressive array of facts to support an argument. His speaking voice had the strains of his Somerset origins and preserved a slightly upper-class drawl that gave Rees-Mogg an individualistic, almost charismatic, air. He was a fine wordsmith and his articles in the Times were widely followed - his last, earlier this month, was an interview with Ed Miliband: it started, "I have known every Labour leader since Clement Attlee." As ever, it demonstrated Rees-Mogg's insight and forthright clarity. Rees-Mogg edited the Times for 14 years from January 1967 - a momentous time in both journalism and society. In his first year, he played a major part in one of the sensational stories of the era. The Rolling Stones had attracted much unfavourable attention and Mick Jagger had been arrested for possession of cannabis. In a famous editorial, Rees-Mogg defended the singer under the headline (borrowing a line from Alexander Pope): "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?" His intervention led to a reversal of Jagger's conviction and, although the singer had problems with visas for many years, Jagger admitted, "Rees-Mogg saved my career." In many ways, Rees-Mogg was a delightful anachronism. He always wore three-piece suits, had a distinctly donnish appearance, spoke correct English and neither held a car license nor could type. But he had direct influence on the remodelling of the print news industry and played a major role in the restructuring of the workforce - both within the unions and journalists. William Rees-Mogg was educated at Charterhouse in Surrey and then read law at Balliol College, Oxford. He was president of the union in 1951. He immediately joined the Financial Times and started on the Lex column before becoming a leader writer. In 1960, he moved to the Sunday Times first as deputy editor then as political editor. He introduced the Business news section in 1964. That year he wrote a powerful article - A Captain's Innings - arguing that the Conservative Party leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home should resign and hand over to someone younger. Sir Alec soon resigned and was succeeded by Edward Heath in 1965. Rees-Mogg wrote an equally stinging article about John Major's leadership in 1992 after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. He pulled no punches and called Major "over-promoted and unfit to govern." Rees-Mogg became editor of the Times when he was 38 and captured the mood of the age by broadening the paper's coverage of women's issues, the arts, science and sport. He gave journalists bylines and brought in Bernard Levin as a star columnist. Again, he concentrated on expanding the City news and emulated his success at the Sunday Times with a separate business section. He ensured the paper remained firmly Conservative - he himself had been a Tory candidate in a by-election. The organisation faced challenging times after proprietor Roy Thomson's death in 1976 and his son showed less interest in newspapers. The conflict between the management and the print unions over the introduction of new technology created much ill-feeling. Thomson, with the support from Rees-Mogg, adopted shock tactics and ceased printing the newspapers from December 1978 to November 1979. The titles were put up for sale in 1980. Initially, Rees-Mogg did not support a sale to Rupert Murdoch but when he changed his mind, the staff viewed it as a betrayal. In 1981, Rees-Mogg resigned and his final editorial signed off under the headline "My resumption of liberty." Rees-Mogg wrote opinion columns for the Times and promoted his firmly-argued views with conviction. He remained a Tory supporter, but held high opinions of such Labour leaders as Attlee and Hugh Gaitskell. All his articles were written in his dry, erudite manner, displaying a shrewd assessment of the economy, society and politics. With reason, Rees-Mogg once wrote: "It's not my job to be right. It's my job to be interesting. He experienced further controversy as a governor of the BBC. Rees-Mogg was accused by BBC journalists of supporting a banning, in 1985, of the transmission of a contentious programme on Northern Ireland. There were allegations that Rees-Mogg had bowed to government pressure to cancel the programme - which was later changed and transmitted. Other appointments included chairman of the Arts Council and chairman of antiquarian booksellers Pickering & Chatto. Books, along with Somerset Cricket Club, his family and his devotion to his Catholic faith, were central to his life. Rees-Mogg was recently diagnosed with cancer and is survived by his wife Gillian and their five children.