Leon Alexander Lee Howard (1914–1978), known as Lee Howard, was a British newspaper editor.
Born in London, Howard was educated privately.Margaret Connolly and Mervyn O. Pragnall, The International Yearbook and Statesman's Who's Who (1975), p.498 He served with the Royal Air Force during World War II, initially as part of the Coastal Command, then later with the RAF Film Unit. During this time, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross.Nicholas John Wilkinson, Secrecy and the Media, p.562
Once demobbed, he worked in journalism, becoming editor of the women's section of the Daily Mirror in 1955, then editor of the Sunday Pictorial in 1959, and finally of the Daily Mirror itself in 1961, serving for ten years. He had planned to retire on turning sixty, but Hugh Cudlipp unexpectedly asked him to leave a year early.Roy Greenslade, Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda, pp.254-255
In his spare time, Howard wrote four novels: Crispin's Day, Johnny's Sister, Blind Date (filmed 1959) and No Man Sings, under the pseudonym Leigh Howard.
Howard was married to Sheila Black, a journalist with the Financial Times.Roy Greenslade, Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda, p.251 In retirement, he moved to Rome.
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