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She’ll say, “It must have been that dreary summer in Galway, when there was no one else to talk to.” Or, “I suppose things got easier after I married both sisters off to Spaniards.”Or she’ll shrug her shoulders and say it just happened, and then express surprise at your surprise that an 18-year hate-fest could evolve into a mutual fan club without her even noticing. She’ll go on to suggest that forgiving a sister for all the horrible things she did to you is a natural and inevitable part of growing up But don’t you believe it. She’ll claim not to remember how or why or even when things turned wonderful. But now, thank God, we’re the best of friends.” Ask any woman over 21 how she gets on with her sisters, and nine times out of ten that’s what she’ll tell you She’ll be vague on the details, though. Instead we see a manipulative sibling whose aim in life is to seduce her sister’s husband. The portrait is so twisted, they say, that it should be renamed “Hilary’s Revenge”.

How could she commit such sacrilege and hope to get away with it? It’s one thing to vent venom on your sister when you’re still a girl, but a grown woman should at least keep her mouth shut There’s a formula for dealing with intrusive questions It goes like this:
“Oh Yes Well We used to hate each other when we were little. There is little here of the joyous young virtuoso cellist who gave the world so much before being struck down by multiple sclerosis at the age of 28. She would have taken the film in the vicious spirit in which it was intended. We’re sure Jackie would have loved it.” This is what an eavesdropper overheard Hilary du Pre saying at a pre-premiere showing of Hilary and Jackie, the film version of her book about her sister But friends of the real Jacqueline say that’s nonsense.

In the mid-1970s, the family gathered at his summer home in Connecticut to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary. As the lunch progressed, Theodore rose to give the first toast and heads turned expectantly towards his wife, Caroline. But Theodore raised his glass and said simply, “To Sam”.Theodore Newhouse, publisher: born Bayonne, New Jersey 19 July 1903; twice married (one daughter deceased); died New York 28 November 1998.. Moreover, the IRS charged that the original return was so far off base as to constitute fraud and imposed a 50 per cent penalty of $305m on top. A jury found in favour of the family.Throughout his life, Theodore Newhouse maintained a strong interest in the arts. While he was working at the family’s first newspapers, he took night classes at several New York City universities in opera, music and art, and studied dance in the summers.

In later life, he made donations to a wide variety of cultural groups, including the New York City Opera.Theodore Newhouse never lost sight of the fact that it was his elder brother who got the empire started. After Sam Newhouse’s death in 1979, his heirs, Si and Don, filed a return the following year declaring the taxable estate to be $91m, on which $49m tax was owed. The IRS determined it worth $962m and the tax $658m, the biggest tax bill in history. “Si” Newhouse and the more profitable newspaper and television holdings by Si’s brother, Donald.The founding Newhouse brothers established both a punishing work ethic (at work before dawn) and an abstemious life style (they used public transport); however, they also devised a series of tax feints and dodges to keep the revenue services perplexed. Nor were they sentimental – when The Staten Island Advance became unprofitable a few years ago, it was quickly shut down.The brothers embarked on a policy of newspaper acquisitions, amassing the fourth largest newspaper empire in the United States, that includes the Newark Star-Ledger, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Portland Oregonian and the New Orleans Times- Picayune.In 1932, Newhouse became general manager of a new acquisition, The Long Island Press, and soon after became the associate publisher of all the Newhouse newspaper holdings, an involvement he sustained until 12 years ago when his health began to fail.Newhouse moved into a nursing home and the company is now divided into two parts, the glossy magazine holdings run by Sam Newhouse’s son S.I. Together, the brothers established a management style that came to characterise the Newhouse empire – frugal, secretive, and controlled only by members of the family. A third brother, Norman, was also recruited, and moonlighted as a reporter.