New Pope

William Francis Casey, a newsman himself, once wrote a novel about an ambitious, grasping newspaperman. He called it Portrait of a Successful Man. Nobody who knew William Francis Casey thought it was in the least autobiographical. Last week success went out of its way to settle on Casey. After 35 faithful years on the staff, he became editor of the London Times, which makes him a kind of pope of Britain's press.

When Editor R. M. Barrington-Ward left on a voyage last winter, Deputy Editor Casey moved into the magnificently shabby Editors Room at Printing House Square. When Barrington-Ward died in Tanganyika, nobody expected Casey to succeed him. Fleet Street rumors pointed to the Economist's brilliant Editor Geoffrey Crowther or the Times's Senior Assistant Editor Donald Tyerman (whom Tories consider too far left); Colonel the Hon. John Jacob Astor, who owns a controlling interest in the Times, couldn't get Crowther so didn't try, and needed Tyerman where he was. He decided to leave Casey at the bat.

The new pope, born in South Africa and educated in Dublin (Trinity College), views the world editorially with a gently Tory tolerance. A bulky, dignified man Casey likes claret, canes, conversation and clubs (his favorite: the stage-minded Garrick). He had planned to retire this year to return to playwriting, his real love. How long did he think he could last in the strenuous editor's job? Says Casey, who is 63: "Three to five years, I should think."

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