As of Monday, The Thunderer, as it has traditionally sometimes been known, will appear in a form which the management prefers to call "compact."
"Monday, November 1, 2004, will mark another important date in The Times' long and extraordinary history," editor Robert Thompson wrote in a special message to readers in Saturday's edition, adding it "will be a compact newspaper."
The newspaper, owned by international media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, has already tested the water and found that the new format helped sales.
It first introduced the compact version last November and this has coexisted until now with the broadsheet.
The Times appeared as a broadsheet for 216 years, but it was only in the mid-1960s that news first appeared on its front page, which had hitherto been covered in small advertisements.
It now follows in the footsteps of another London newspaper, the Independent, which went over to compact format in May.
A national daily newspaper whose sales stood at 661,000 daily last June, The Times is part of the News Corporation group, controlled by Murdoch.
Traditionally it was regarded as the unrivaled newspaper of record for Britain and played an influential role in politics and forming public opinion.
More recently it has been seen as tending more to reflect the owner's conservative political views.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.