What is The London Gazette?
{{Italic title}} [[Image:London-gazette.gif|thumb|300px|'''The ''London Gazette'' ''', front page from Monday 3–10 September 1666, reporting on the [[Great Fire of London]]. (Click image to enlarge and read).]] The '''''London Gazette''''' is one of the official records of the [[British government]], and one of the most important in the UK. The ''London Gazette'' claims to be the oldest surviving [[England|English]] [[newspaper]]. It was first published on 7 November 1665. It is not a normal newspaper with typical news stories. The ''London Gazette'' is still published each [[weekday]], except for [[Bank Holiday]]s. The Gazette is being put online and records between the years 1752–1998 are online.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/home.aspx?geotype=London |title=Welcome to Gazettes |access-date=2008-09-03 |archive-date=2011-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308215840/http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/home.aspx?geotype=London |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/AdvancedSearch.aspx?GeoType=London |title=Search the London Gazette Archive |access-date=2008-09-03 |archive-date=2008-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206010743/http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/AdvancedSearch.aspx?geotype=London |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==History== [[Image:London Gazette(1705).jpg|thumb|right|250px|The ''London Gazette'', dated 14-17 May 1705 detailing the return of [[John Leake]] from [[Gibraltar]] after the [[Battle of Cabrita point]].]] The ''London Gazette'' was first published as the ''Oxford Gazette'' on 7 November 1665. [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and the Royal Court had moved to [[Oxford]] to escape the [[Great Plague of London]], and [[courtier]]s were unwilling to touch, let alone read, London newspapers for fear of becoming ill. When the King returned to London after the end of the plague the ''Gazette'' moved too. The first issue of the ''London Gazette'' (labelled No. 24) was published on 5 February 1666. The ''Gaze