Cyprus Mail turns 60: oldest newspaper on the island

The English-language daily Cyprus Mail celebrated its 60th anniversary Wednesday by distributing 15,000 copies free of charge.

The island’s oldest newspaper was launched six decades ago today by Iacovos Iacovides, father of the present day publisher Kyriacos Iacovides.

A front-page comment said the first edition on November 2, 1945, cost one piastre, or half a cent in today’s prices, and consisted of two tabloid pages, a front and a back because of post-war newsprint shortages.

“For 60 years, the Cyprus Mail has chronicled Cyprus’ troubled political evolution, but also its changing society and habits,” the comment added.

A look through the decades as reported by the paper on its centre pages “reminds us of just how much our lives have been transformed.”

The main headline in the first issue was “Growing Violence in Palestine” (as if nothing has changed in the last 60 years), with other news about the official verdict into Hitler’s death, while local news reported a 50-tonne export of Kaskavali cheese to Palestine. An advertisement promoted flights to Beirut for 9.50 pounds and Cairo for 19 pounds on board Misr Airlines, predecessor of today’s EgyptAir. With air tickets to Athens starting from 19 pounds nowadays, any bets on when flights to Beirut will be offered at 60-year prices?