He leapt to London in 1969 with a brutal takeover of the News of the World and then The Sun, which he turned into the most profitable papers in the world. He moved to New York in 1973, buying the New York Post in 1976, and Britain’s The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981. It is notable that Murdoch’s expansions were nearly always confined to the media industry. The only times he deviated were to invest in Alwest, which had bauxite leases in Western Australia, and to hold 50 per cent of Ansett in partnership with Peter Abeles’ TNT....