Peter Preston

It was the last big British press crisis, when journalists sneaked into the hospital room of the gravely injured actor Gordon Kaye and snapped away.

Last Monday, the day dominated by Bin Laden’s death, was also something you may have missed: World Press Freedom Day

In the land of the free, United States broadcasters assumed viewers would be in thrall to the royal wedding.

There is, said the American secretary of defence, no certainty "that a conventional military victory, as commonly defined, can be achieved here".

Once upon a purer time, Hollywood used to churn out routine biopics before breakfast. Tony Curtis as Harry Houdini, Bob Hope as Eddie Foy, José Ferrer as Sigmund Romberg … They…