Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media mogul blamed for sweeping British newspapers off Fleet Street, has returned to the London thoroughfare to read the last rites at a ceremony tinged with nostalgia and irony.

The afternoon event Wednesday at the journalists' church, St Bride's, was convened by Reuters, the 154-year-old wire service hat is the latest major news organisation to pack its bags and shift its headquarters off Fleet Street.

Mr Murdoch, whose grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, read a hymn in honour of ancestors from Ecclesiasticus 44:1-15, which recalls, among others, those who "recited verses in writing".

About 250 reporters and media executives turned out, including Murdoch MacLennan, chief executive of the Telegraph Group, and Richard Desmond, chairman of Daily Express publisher Northern and Shell. Also there was Baroness de Reuter, one of the last surviving links to company founder Baron Julius Reuter.

Fleet Street became synonymous with British print journalism, just as Wall Street is shorthand for the US investment banking elite.

"Fleet Street as the geographic home of the press is a deserted village filled with ghosts and memories but it remains the generic name for the press," said Canon David Meara, who co-led the service with Rabbi Helen Freeman.

Source: Agencies