Betty Jerman
Betty Jerman, journalist and author, instigator and campaigner, has died after a short illness from cancer. She worked on the Manchester Guardian in Fleet Street 1948-56 as a fashion and interior design writer, and subsequently was a Guardian freelance contributor into her eighties, singlehandedly writing the children's holiday events page "What's On" and supporting several society-changing movements, including the National Women's Register.
She was born in Harlesdon, London on June 26 1922. By the age of 14 she had moved home thirteen times through her mother's property deals which included confectionery and tobacconist shops manned by her printer father who was unemployed in the thirties' slump. Her formal education was chequered, since her very many London schools were constantly changing.
During the war, from 1939-41 she worked in the Peterborough office of the network of Buffer Depots, wartime emergency stores, whilst living with her father's family, with a break at the Middlesex Hospital, for the removal of a Dermoid cyst from her lower back; she had been carrying her own unborn twin up till then.
Then she joined the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office in London, latterly editing a several times a day internal news sheet covering enemy news and propaganda. Post war she moved to the German Section of the Foreign Office and provided the Secretary of State with a daily summary of media comment and reaction.
The Manchester Guardian had no woman's page post war but at the Fleet Street office she was asked to produce a female interest piece to accompany the weekly article by pre war cookery writer Ambrose Heath. Gradually there was more space as the fashion and beauty industry came out of wartime austerity.
She wrote about fashion, attending the twice yearly couture shows of Hartnell and Amies but also about the new fashions, new techniques, new domestic equipment that were reaching the high street and the much needed export markets, an interest in fashion and clothes that never left her. Later she reported on the royal gowns for the Coronation, which she reported from among thousands of children on the Embankment and attended Palace garden parties, because, she said, "I had a hat".
She married the Scotsman journalist Leslie Jerman in 1954 and they had three children, Seth. Stacey and Toby. In 1969, the family bought a second home in Norfolk and the vagaries of second home owning produced a large vegetable crop, as Leslie was a very keen gardener. Never a keen cook, Betty learned to produce up to 12 dishes of different vegetables for Sunday lunch.
In 1960 she sparked the correspondence that would lead to the formation of the National Women's Register (NWR) by writing an article for The Guardian Woman's page for the legendary women's editor Mary Stott, on how boredom affected young mothers' creativity and opportunities for making friends. Under the title "Squeezed in like sardines in Suburbia" Betty wrote suburbia was "an incredibly dull place to live and I blame the women. Their work kept them alert. Home and child-minding can have a blunting effect on a woman's mind, but only she can sharpen it."
Maureen Nicol, one such housewife, wrote a letter to the editor in response saying: "Since having my first baby I have been constantly surprised how women seem to go into voluntary exile in the home once they leave their outside work... Perhaps housebound wives with liberal interests and a desire to remain individuals could form a national register so that whenever one moves, one could contact like-minded friends."
Maureen was inundated with replies to her letter and the Housebound Housewives Register, as it was first called, began. The name was soon changed to National Housewives' Register, and in 1987 to National Women's Register, the theme, where like-minded women could meet for companionship and mental stimulation, a constant.
When NWR was granted charitable status in 1980, Betty was appointed one of the three trustees - a position she held for nineteen years.. She was also the author of 'The Lively-Minded Women', which charts the history of the first 20 years of the NWR. NWR celebrates 50 years this year, an anniversary of which Betty was justly proud to be associated with.
She was personally involved in or publicised in The Guardian or relevant magazines the new, mostly women led, organisations that changed society. These included pre-school playgrounds, the Association for the Advancement of State Education, the National Association for Children in Hospital, Toy Libraries, and the Childminders' Association. The Duke of Edinburgh wrote the foreword for her book "Do Something", a guide to self-help organisations.
Drawn into involvement in the campaign for safe play space for children she pioneered the now huge media listing of leisure activities for families, writing a thrice yearly major feature "What's On" on school holiday events for the Guardian for 27 years. The Pan paperback she wrote "Kids' Britain" came from that knowledge.
In 1971 she wrote a series of articles for The Guardian on the case of Pauline Jones, who was sentenced to 3 years in Holloway prison for the abduction of baby Denise Weller in Harlow, Essex. The abduction occurred after Jones had nursed her dying mother, miscarried her own baby and her lover had deserted her. Betty became a conduit between the media and the Jones family. Her articles prompted a 'Free Pauline Jones' campaign. There were questions in Parliament, women protesting outside Holloway where Jones was imprisoned. Even in the 1990s, reporters asked Betty for contact with Jones (which she did not have), because the case had over the years changed the public perception of these desperate women. Betty continued to be interested in cases of 'baby-snatching', amassing many press cuttings on the subject from 1971-2002.. Her papers on this, for a planned book, together with the archive of the National Housewives Register and the personal papers of Rachel Pinney, the child therapist, have been donated to The Women's Library, part of London Metropolitan University, in East London.
In later life, suffering from macular degeneration, with steely but quiet determination she seamlessly swapped the printed word for the spoken word, adopting talking books, talking newspapers and of course, a great favourite, Radio 4. She went on to campaigned quietly to spread knowledge and usage of these and other helpful pieces of equipment to others similarly afflicted.
She is survived by her children Seth, Stacey and Toby, grandchildren James, Hannah and Emily and great grandchild Reece.
Betty Jerman, journalist and author, instigator and campaigner 26 June 1922 - 8 July 2010
Leslie Jerman
By STACEY WHATLING
Journalist
Born: 21 August, 1921, in East Ham, London.
Died: 12 August, 2009, in Epping, Essex, aged 87.
STARTING as a teaboy at The Scotsman in 1938, Leslie Seth Jerman rose through the ranks to become air correspondent, then London neADVERTISEMENTws editor and deputy London editor. He retired in 1996.
The ninth child of 18, he was born in east London to a father described as a poetry-quoting, library-loving gambler and womaniser who sold papers at East Ham Station. Leslie's mother had been in service as a girl, working as a maid in south London.
Leslie read as many of his father's papers as he could and sold his first story at the age of eight to the East Ham Advertiser for 10/- (50p); at 16 he went on to beat 199 other hopefuls to become a copy boy on The Scotsman. "Once I saw my name in print (aged eight], I knew what I was going to do," he said.
He went on to report on a wide range of subjects, liking nothing more than getting a scoop, in his own specialism, aviation, or in the wider field, where he contributed a reported 12,000 entries in Londoner's Diary in the London Evening Standard, earning the title, the King of the Fleet Street Diarists.
Before that, during the first part of the Second World War, he lived at The Scotsman's Fleet Street office, easier than attempting to travel the seven miles to home. He was working as an office boy in Fleet Street from 3pm until 11pm. All the bound paper files had been sent for salvage from the basement and on the racks there were cheap mattresses. A teleprinter was installed so they could continue to send news to Edinburgh and The Scotsman's head office
The Scotsman gave him four days off a week, so he worked for only three. By then, in his spare time, he was driving a small Ford 8 mobile canteen from the YMCA Red Triangle Club at Plaistow, east London. Of the war, he said: "One good thing Hitler achieved - he drove all the bedbugs out of the East End because the humans on which they feed were no longer at home."
In 1941 he volunteered to train as a pilot with the RAF and he went to the United States to learn to fly. But he became ill and was sent home, whereupon the RAF wanted to train him as an air gunner. Declining that, he went on to control fighter aircraft from the ground. He was latterly with 484 Ground Control Centre, 2nd Tactical Air Force in France, operating from Normandy and worked in an operations room, at Kirkwall Orkney, for a year - guarding the fleet in Scapa Flow.
He was widely travelled, cycling to the south of France, meeting Gracie Fields at her home in Capri, and reporting on the Berlin air lift when he flew in on the aircraft bringing succour, or dining out with Jayne Mansfield in a Hollywood nightclub. He referred to The Scotsman as "a great breeding ground" and so it was, producing names such as Michael Leapman, Andrew Marr and James Naughtie, who later referred to Leslie as an eccentric Fleet Street scavenger.
Leslie worked hard at being an eccentric, as, doubtless, Lord King of BA, Sir Michael Bishop, chairman of BMI and Sir Adam Thomson, the founder and chairman of British Caledonian, could once testify. One of Leslie's bugbears was Concorde, of which he reported it was impossible to eat fresh oranges on board, as there was no extra cabin space to store them.
He married journalist Betty Jerman in 1954 and they had three children, Seth, Stacey and Toby. In 1969, the family bought a second home in Norfolk and the vagaries of second home-owning produced much good copy, as well as a large vegetable crop, as Leslie was a keen gardener.
At home in Epping Forest he was especially proud of his Suttons Summerday seed-sown lawn. TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh once came to see it, and the lawn was featured in a Sutton's seed catalogue. He would weed it with a knife from the kitchen, in the evenings after work.
Following a burglary at home in the mid 1980s, Leslie was given the opportunity to meet one of the trio of youths who had robbed his family and he decided to intervene, saying he did not want anyone to go to prison over material things, and that "people are more important". He managed to get the boy a conditional discharge. Leslie and the boy stayed in weekly touch over more than 30 years and the burglar has been out of trouble since they met.
From that, Leslie was prompted to become a prison visitor, over the next 15 years visiting and befriending some 60 prisoners in 24 jails.
In 1991 he was awarded the Howard League for Penal Reform's fourth Annual Media Award for his stories in the Independent and Guardian on the need for offender/victim mediation and reparation schemes, including highlighting the role of the prison visitor. The judges of the award were Katherine Whitehorn of the Observer, Zeinab Badawi from Channel 4 News and Andrew Rutherford of the Howard League. A letter he wrote to the Daily Telegraph, headed "Give burglars a chance" in May 2004, prompted the journalist Ginny Dougary to interview him, and report, in a double page spread in the Telegraph, of his philosophy and dealings with his erstwhile burglar, "Paul".
Later Leslie would admit to wanting to broadcast. In his words: "Initially, getting on the air was a problem. My first stint on radio involved rowing a boat across the lake behind the Mohne Dam in Germany, scene of that epic raid in 1943 when the RAF breached the dam with bouncing bombs.
"I was an office boy turned young reporter. We were visiting RAF stations in Germany, long after the 'dambusting', when a BBC correspondent asked if I would like to see the repaired dam. We were driven there by a young pilot and, once at the dam, we hired a rowing boat. I had to row while the BBC man interviewed the pilot on tape. Some weeks later I turned on the radio to hear a programme called Eye Witness. Suddenly, the Mohne interview began - punctuated by squeaks and splashes." He went on: "That was my bit."
After many setbacks he presented a weekly radio programme on BBC Radio Scotland, What The Papers Say, beginning with a piece about the patron saint of gardening, the little-known St Phocas.
In later years, he wrote articles for the Lady and his local paper, the Epping Forest Guardian and Independent and encouraged young journalists as they started out or advised members of his family on the path to becoming journalists.
He was a prodigious letter writer, to local and national papers and his family. In January 2006, he had a letter in the Daily Telegraph, suggesting, for the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square, a large sculptured telephone of the kind used by the Rev Chad Varah, who founded the Samaritans in 1953. To Leslie, the phone "would symbolise the power of love". He also spent much time on family history, linking up with fellow genealogists all over the world. He liked nothing better than to be in print, and if he was stirring things up, so much the better.
Lesley Jerman is survived by his wife, three children, and three grandchildren.
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Former Journalists' Charity chairman Robert Warren dies aged 73
Bob Warren died on January 6, one week after his 73rd birthday, and just six days after completing 45 years on the News of the World and his two-year term as chairman of The Journalist' Charity. The Screws has lost its most formidable champion, the Journalists Charity a great leader. And his family and everyone else lucky enough to have spent time in his company have lost a loved and loyal friend.
A Sussex man through and through, Bob was born the third of four sons to an Arundel GP. During the Second World War Bob was evacuated to the Lake District, where he spent several years as one of just a few young boys at the relocated Huyton College for girls. Bob was never heard to describe this as an unpleasant experience and it may do much to explain his enjoyment and ease in the company of ladies - and theirs in his.
He completed his education at Lancing College in Sussex and after a spell as a junior Latin teacher in a local school he embarked upon National Service in the Royal Navy. Two years before the mast - a time he looked back on with pride - saw him rise to the dizzy height of lieutenant. It was entirely understandable, given his former rank, his elegant demeanour and his amusing tales of life in the Senior Service, that in recent years he was widely and fondly known as "The Admiral", a soubriquet he enjoyed.
After the Navy, Bob chose not to follow his father's path into medicine, which some around him had expected, but elected instead to try his hand at journalism. A short spell on the Coventry Evening Telegraph was followed by two years on the Montreal Star. Life as a front-line reporter covering some of Canada's remoter areas was not always easy. Among other obstacles, he found that numerous areas on his patch were "dry", a level of temperance with which neither young nor old Warren was ever entirely comfortable.
But it was there in Nova Scotia that Bob met and married Madeline. Beautifully matched, they were to enjoy 46 years of happy marriage.
They returned together to England in 1963 and Bob took up occasional employment with the mighty News of the World, then owned by the Carr family and selling eight million copies each Sunday. On January 1 1964 he was offered a job on a staff he was never to leave. He quickly progressed to deputy news editor under the great Charlie Markus and then to news editor, where he remained - running the most formidable news operation in popular journalism - for more than 20 years, a stupendous feat unlikely ever to be matched.
During that period Bob Warren masterminded countless great scoops that helped guaranteed the News of the World's unassailable position as the world's biggest-selling English language newspaper. He also gave a start in newspapers to dozens of young reporters who went on to become great names in the national newspaper world known then, and now, as Fleet Street.
His bond with the paper remained unbroken beyond the customary age of retirement. As executive editor he became responsible for dealing with any editorial problems that might interrupt the smooth running of the newspaper he loved. In 2002, the News of the World held its own version of the British Press Awards, called The Real Press Awards, in which it presented Bob with a lifetime achievement award for his "40 years at the top".
He also became a tireless worker for the Newspaper Press Fund, soon to renamed The Journalists' Charity, and was elected chairman at the beginning of 2007. His affability and "soft sell" approach enabled him to instigate far-reaching changes in a body that had been dragged almost reluctantly into the twentieth century and was still tending to squeal a little at radical thinking. Shouting or table thumping wasn't Bob's style. Adjournment to a local hostelry and a glass of a few of fine claret were usually the road to achieving the programme of development that has ensured the level and quality of support for journalists in need continues to improve.
And still his extraordinary energy was not spent. The "Admiral" announced he was happy and proud to accept a demotion when asked to be the Press Golfing Society's Captain for 2008/2009. As a teenager, Bob had enjoyed an occasional knock around Goodwood's panoramic golf course and returned to the game through the PGS only in the mid-1990s. It was a lasting love affair, although - following the philosophy he adopted in many areas of life - Bob saw golf simply as a healthy and scenic way to enjoy the company of friends old and new. Not for him the disputatious business of strenuous competition, or striving to reduce his handicap. The odd topped ball never produced a curse, nor did a shank ever annoy him. Indeed he was never heard to curse or ever seemed truly to be annoyed, either with golf or anything else.
Playing alongside him, you could not fail to enjoy his whimsical musings on the more unusual fauna and flora encountered on the course - he was a keen allotment-keeper - as well as the anecdotal trip through his lifetime of famous editors and great news stories. Only an unbreakable commitment elsewhere and, during the three months before his death, serious illness prevented him attending a PGS day and whenever possible he signed up for the Society's overseas tours and travelled to support its Wryter Cup team in competition with French journalists. Often playing towards the back of the field at our monthly golf days, he would eventually appear in the bar, ruddy-cheeked and bright-eyed to comment, if asked, that his round had been "great fun", to ask who wanted a drink and heartily applaud whoever took the trophy.
The Admiral won just one cup during his years as a member of the PGS: the Vic Woodman Trophy awarded to him at the end of the 2007 Wryter Cup Match on the Isle of Man for his "enthusiasm, friendship and unswerving loyalty" to the PGS team. Yes, Robert, gave us all of those things and much more. We will miss him terribly.
Testimony to the huge esteem in which he was held is the torrent of tributes that flooded in upon news of his death. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, leader of the Opposition David Cameron and News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch led the way and seven of Bob's former editors and countless former colleagues also took time to pen their own personal memories and impressions of working with a man many of them describe as a legend.
Bob is survived by Madeline and their children, Angela and Charles.
With sorrow we report the passing of the following Officers and Members of the Charity during 2008, or before:
Bannister, Frederick - W Australia
Chapman, Ray
Christiansen, Rex - Macclesfield
Crawley, John C - London
Dettmer, Charles
Frost, George - Clitheroe
Garbutt, Christine
Garrett, Arthur
Hughes, Gwynne - Wrexham
Johnson, Stuart - Bidduph
Light, Nicholas
Macmillan, Gavin - Dundee
McCaskill, Douglas - Edinburgh
Moore, Malcolm - Higher Beoington
Morris, Martin - Ross on Wye
Neillands, Martin - London
Richley, Noel
Stott, Richard - Kingston upon Thames
Surplice, Ronald - Burwash
Weston, A Reg - Rochester
Ian Brodie OBE
Ian Brodie, who died in Maryland on May 7th aged 72, was, a Daily Telegraph correspondent in Washington and Los Angeles. He was born in Bath on March 23 1936 and showed an early interest in journalism as a reporter for the Luton News, Daily Sketch and Daily Express. After a time as the latter paper's foreign editor, he became the last editor of the Scottish Daily Express in Glasgow before his return to America with the Daily Telegraph. Beginning as a freelance in Los Angeles in 1975, he spent more than a decade covering the post Vietnam war, the rise of Ronald Reagan and disasters such as the volcanic eruption of Mount St Helens in Washington State and the Challenger space shuttle disaster. After becoming its Washington correspondent and putting put down roots in America he declined a return to London and moved to The Times.
David Gordois
AWARD-WINNING News of the World journalist David Gordois has died after losing his brave battle against cancer. Sir Richard Branson led tributes to the former Travel Editor, who was acknowledged as a "wonderful ambassador of travel writers and a true gentleman". Sir Richard, President of Virgin Atlantic, said: "Travellers had no greater friend than David. His deep knowledge of so many countries, tourist hotspots, pretty paths and unspoilt beaches, guided News of the World readers to some of the best holiday locations in the world.
''David can rest knowing that his wise advice will live on forever. Our thoughts are with his family."
David, 70, had worked at the News of the World since 1964, as a sub-editor and Letters Page editor before becoming Travel Editor. He wrote features that entertained, advised and appealed to readers and continued to contribute after retiring. He won numerous awards, and was the first popular tabloid journalist to be named English Tourist Board Travel Writer of the Year for the journalist or author "judged to have had the greatest impact on English tourism through articles or features".
News of the World Editor Colin Myler, said: "David was without question the most gifted travel editor of his generation. "His integrity and credibility within the travel industry was incomparable. He knew exactly what readers wanted and always championed their rights.
"On top of that he was one of the nicest people you could ever meet."
Married to Audrey for 47 years, David - who also leaves a son Jason - had the personal touch and earned a reputation as The Piano Man. He loved playing and throughout his travels performed on the same keys as Noel Coward, Liberace, Elvis and Andy Williams.
Last June, David was honoured with the Outstanding Media Contribution award by the Visit USA Association and spokeswoman Kate Burgess-Craddy said: "He will be sorely missed by all in the travel industry. David was a great travel journalist and a great man to work with. "He knew exactly what kind of holidays his readers liked, what would capture their imagination and get them travelling all over the world."
Justin Fleming, President of ABTA, the Travel Association, said: "Our thoughts go out to David's family and friends. He was not only a valued travel journalist but a real partner and supporter of the industry. He will be greatly missed." Stella Clery-Ackland, MD of Cellet Travel services, said: "He was a shining light in the travel industry and beloved by all.
"David was not only a superb writer and editor, but one of life's true gentlemen. He was a credit to the News of the World and an excellent ambassador for British travel writers and journalism as a whole.
"We shall miss his impromptu singing, his propensity to play every piano he came across, his honesty and enthusiasm. He is a hard act to follow." David Gordois's funeral will be at 1pm on Friday 30th May at Woking Crematorium, Hermitage Road, Woking GU21 8TJ.
The family have requested no flowers and any donations be made to : Woking Hospice, 5 Hillview Road, Woking GU22 7HW - Tel 01483 881750.
By Trisha Harbord - News of the World Travel Editor
DINA AKASS
One of Fleet Street's most popular journalists, Dina Akass, née Malik, has died following a long illness.
Akass, 46, made her name during the late 1980s and early 1990s as a news reporter on a number of national tabloids, including the Sun, News of the World, the People, Daily Star and Today.
Paying tribute to Akass, the Daily Mirror editor, Richard Wallace, who worked with her when he was showbiz editor at the Sun, said: "It is no exaggeration to say she was one of the most good-hearted individuals you could ever care to meet and her sunny disposition and sheer joie de vivre were truly life-affirming."
Akass was born in Tripoli to an English mother and Sudanese father. The family left Libya when Muammar Gadafy came to power and Akass arrived in England aged eight, spending the rest of her childhood in Kent.
After school she joined the renowned Fleet Street News Agency. It was during this time that she met her future husband, Bill Akass, who was working for the rival National News Agency.
Akass was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. She gave birth to her second son, Max, the following year - her first son Callum was born in 1994 - and returned to work for the now defunct Mirror magazine The Look, juggling work, motherhood and her illness with humour and determination.
She also freelanced for women's magazines including Bella, Best, TV Quick, Woman's Own.
The Daily Mirror associate editor Peter Willis, who edited The Look, recalled: "Dina had a fantastic spirit. She was genuine, upbeat - even at the onset of her illness - and could get the most unlikely people to talk to her."
Akass's condition deteriorated in recent weeks and she died at Highgate nursing home, close to her home in North London.
Her husband, Bill - a former Mirror reporter and now editorial development director for News Group Newspapers - invites her friends and former colleagues to her funeral at Golders Green crematorium, Hoop Lane, London NW11 at 4pm on Thursday, May 22.
After the service, mourners are invited to gather at the Victoria Stakes pub, Park Road in Crouch End. Flowers and cards may be sent to the funeral directors, William Beckett, at 29 Junction Road, Archway, London N19 5QT.
Donations to the MS Society in memory of Dina are welcome: MS Society, MS National Centre, 372 Edgware Road, London NW2 6ND.
JAMES STANLEY JOHN FRENCH
"I say you chaps. My glass in empty!" - that was our Jim. Larger than life, with a ready wit, enthusiasm in all he did, and dedicated to his family, his friends, his church and last but by no means least, to journalism. I was proud to have Jim as a friend. I knew him from the days when we were both trainee reporters with the old South London Observer in Camberwell. We kept in touch over the years. In those early days Jim, with boundless energy, would take the steps up to our attic two at a time.
So it was with sadness and shock I learned of his death at St George's Hospital, London, following an operation which it was hoped would give him a better quality of life. For some years he had great difficulty in getting around.
Jim married Patricia in 1963 and they moved from Streatham, London to Billingshurst some years ago where they took an active interest in their local St Mary's Church. It was packed to capacity at the Thanksgiving Service on Feb 1st. An address was given by Canon C Pain. Among the tributes was one by Ken Morgan of the National Union of Journalists. He spoke of Jim's dedicated work for the Union, negotiating wages and conditions during difficult times and helping to resolve many welfare problems. In 1990 the NUJ made him a Member of Honour. Ken said: "He was a good friend and great company."
After doing two years National service in the Intelligence Corps Jim, a keen sportsman joined the Daily Mail on the Sports Desk and later mobbed to the Financial Times. He was also a life member of the old Newspaper Press Fund now the Journalists' Charity.
Jim leaves a wife and fourchildren, Angus, Fiona,Toby and Stephen. Donations in his memory are going to the NUJ Members in Need Fund and British Heart Foundation.
Marhita Wearing
JAMES SLATER
Journalists' Charity vice-president Jim Slater, believed to be the last surviving eye-witness of the terrifying Mill Dam race riot which erupted in South Shields in 1930, when Arab seamen battled with baton-wielding police, has died (November 30) at the age of 96.
The riot was a genuine "blood running in the gutter" scenario, with knives, chairs and even cobble stones ripped from the road used as weapons by the seamen. Jim saw one policeman stretchered off face down with a knife sticking in his back. "If they'd taken it out he would probably have died," said Jim, a teenage junior reporter at the time.
The Mill Dam riot had an unexpected re-examination more than 70 years after the event when North-based author Peter Mortimer became fascinated by the story. He decided to use it as the basis of both a book (Cool for Qat) and a stage play (Riot - South Shields 1930). To Mortimer's surprised delight NPF Council member David Leach was able to put him in touch with Jim Slater, who gave him an impressive amount of first-hand information.
"Jim was of enormous help to me in 2004 when I was researching the South Shields Yemeni seamen's riots," said Mortimer.
"I never expected to find an eyewitness, especially one such as Jim who had observed the riots as a junior reporter and could conjure them up in exact, vivid detail. He was wonderfully lucid, sharp and great company."
Jim, who enlisted in the Royal Tank Corps on the outbreak of war and served throughout the war as a sergeant with the Eighth Army, was renowned not only for his sheer professionalism but for his kindness and help to youngsters joining the profession.
He joined the NPF in 1951 and became deeply involved in working for the Fund, joining the Northern District Committee three years later. His dedicated service was recognised when he was appointed a vice-president of the NPF in 1983.
Jim Slater was one of the most respected journalists in the North of England and an active member of Cleadon Methodist Church.
Starting his career as a copyboy at the Shields Gazette when he was 14, he later moved to the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, heading the South Shields office and ultimately working as municipal editor for both the Chronicle and its sister paper, The Journal.
Poacher then turned gamekeeper as Jim was snapped up by Newcastle City Council to become one of the country's first local authority PR officers before retiring in 1976 although Jim kept working right to the end. Only last year the Shields Gazette, the paper on which he started his career, serialized his memoirs of his early days in journalism.
Jim, whose wife Nora died when they were both 90, leaves two sons. Peter is senior partner of quantity surveyors Slater Jackson Associates and Michael a former managing editor of HTV, is director of Quadrant Media Training Ltd.
RAY CHAPMAN
Ray Chapman, for many years a News of the World investigative reporter, has died (on Dec 31). He was 71 and retired from the paper only last September. Determined to quit at the top, the last story he brought in to the News of the World, that month, was a sensational expose of X-Factor judge Sharon Osbourne - a splash and spread which sent circulation through the roof.
It was a story of which any show business reporter in their prime would have been immensely proud. Ray never had any doubts about what he wanted to do in life - to write. He was sending scripts to Hollywood at the age of 16. But his father insisted that he first learn a trade and Ray became a hairdresser. Yet the urge to travel took over and he spent some years doing just that - in Canada as a barber on an Indian Reservation and later at sea with the United States Mecantile Marine.
Back home in the 60s he set up a hairdressing salon, but the determination to get into journalism was still there. One of his first cheques was from Tit Bits, the magazine where many of Fleet Street's stars had their first break. Ray's piece, loosely based on the confessions of a hairdresser, earned him 15 guineas. But it was a start. In 1970 he met Don Arden, the promoter dubbed the Al Capone of Rock and Roll and Sharon Osbourne's father. Their friendship lasted for life. Ray had the gift of making friends with most of the people he came across and consequently had a wide circle of contacts. As a result, he joined the News of the World in 1981 and embarked on a long career of investigative journalism, exposing much of the seamy side of life. One of his first front pages was an expose of a paedophile ring inside the Socialist Worker's Party - a double victory .
But he never lost the urge to be a writer and found time to publish two novels and a number of short stories, one of which appeared in a Christmas edition of the News of the World. When he picked up a novel by Jeffrey Archer he immediately spotted a host of errors and pointed them out to the author, who gracefully accepted the criticisms, and asked Ray to vet his next book. In recent years he suffered a number of health problems but was determined to continue making a contribution to the paper. His experience as an investigative reporter stood him in good stead and he offered his skills to all the paper's journalists - and lawyers.
He leaves a wife, Judi, and Anthony and Rachel from their marriage.
NOEL RICHLEY
Noel Richley MBE, who was treasurer of the Newspaper Press Fund for 26 years , has died aged 96. A former chief news editor of the Press Association, he joined the NPF(now the Journalists' Charity) in 1940, while working for the Daily Herald in Manchester.
In 1947 he moved to PA in London after five years service with the Royal Navy during World War II as a Gunnery Officer. One of his first jobs in journalism was on the Bury Times in Lancashire near his birthplace, Bamford, near Rochdale. He went on to join the Daily Mirror in Manchester and then the Daily Herald. After demobilisation, he returned to the Herald before joining PA following his marriage . He spent five years as naval correspondent before moving on to the news desk and rising to chief news editor until his retirement in 1975. He had a long interest in the work of the Newspaper Press Fund, and was the fund's treasurer until the age of 94. He was honoured with an MBE for his services to the fund.
Former Charity chairman Robert Warren said: "Noel was an exceptionally kind and gentle man. While keeping a firm grip on the npf's finances he was full of compassion and made a lasting contribution to the work of the charity as a member of the council since 1955." He leaves his widow, Ursula (Sue), and one son and two daughters.
Donations to the Journalists' Charity in memory of Noel are welcome.
NICHOLAS LIGHT
Nicholas Light, who has died aged 69, was a journalist of many talents. He worked on national and regional newspapers, in television, as a successful freelance and finally as a senior information officer for Hampshire County Council.
In 1958 He joined the Hampshire Chronicle in Winchester, straight from National Service with the Royal Navy. After two years learning the basics of the job he moved on to the Lancashire Evening Post in Preston. But the call of Winchester persisted and he returned there after another three years to set up as a freelance with Joe Vodika as a partner. Working casual news desk shifts at the Daily Mail his talents were spotted and he was invited to work on ATV's Braden's Beat along with Esther Rantzen and a talented young team
One of the stunts he took part in was to test an infallible course of piano tuition, when, as a committed non pianist, he played a duet with Dudley Moore before an audience of millions. In Winchester the Crown Court complex had expanded and, with his wide network of contacts many of whom had become his friends, he was able to unearth the wide variety of background stories that lay behind the cases that passed through the courts. On one occasion, when the other reporters had left, ignoring the last case on the list, one of incest, Nick stayed. He knew that the accused, newly weds, were in fact a long separated brother and sister who had married in ignorance of their relationship. The headline on the News of the World splash read "Newly weds told never make love again"
So successful was he that Charlie Markus, legendary news editor of the News of the World made him an offer he couldn't refuse and he joined the paper, still based in Winchester but travelling the world, often following his own leads. But the call of television was still there and, in 1981, he joined Southern Television where he worked on the news desk until illness struck.
He fought it with extraordinary courage and was soon back at work as a senior information officer with Hampshire County Council, a role for which he was ideally suited. He retired 10 years ago to the Isle of Wight, where he lived happily with his second wife, Stephanie, by whom he had two children, and their dogs. First wife Mary and daughter Sally also survive him as well his stepdaughter.
ARTHUR GARRETT
It is with sadness that we record the death of one of our residents at the age of 95. Arthur lived in our homes for 17 years - at all three of our sites at some time.
His initial hopes of becoming a journalist were quashed when he was told he was under-qualified so became a printer instead. He still harboured a yearning to write and when he came back from the Middle East where he'd been serving in the war he was told that the standard of his letters he wrote home were such that the editor who had previously refused him a job would now employ him.
A successful career in the regional press followed as he worked his way up to deputy editor of the Hampshire Telegraph weekly series, then deputy editor of the Portsmouth Evening News until 1965.
CHARLES DETTMER
My friend Charles Dettmer died on November 8, 2007, in Pickering House. He had been there only six days after six weeks in Epsom Hospital. He was aged 85, and had suffered five heart attacks and a stroke.
He had stayed remarkably fit and up until he went into hospital was still driving his car.
During the war he served as a staff-sergeant in the Commandos and lost an arm in the Salerno landing in Italy.
He had an interesting career, freelancing in Cambridge and Coventry, then on the staffs of the News Chronicle, Evening Standard, Evening News, Daily Telegraph, The Times and , finally, the Financial Times, where I met him. He retired in about 1987.
Charles was a strong character - a highly competent news sub-editor, who had worked on sport earlier in his career. He certainly did not suffer fools easily.
At his request there was no funeral and he was cremated quietly and privately. Friends will meet for a memorial dinner soon.
by Jim French
CHRISTINE GARBUTT
With sadness we report the death of one of our Council members (trustees), Christine Garbutt. She joined the Council in 1993 and was elected a Vice President in 2004.
From school she started on a local paper in Hayes, Middlesex, but at the age of 18 went to work for the Daily Mirror, an association that was to last for many years.
After a spell in Canada in the early 1960s she returned to write features for the Mirror Group's weekly magazine, Reveille. In 1971 she left the staff to freelance for Reveille and the Daily Mirror where she became one of the first women to write a column on the sports pages and later was to be the right-hand woman to the Mirror's aunt, Marje Proops.
In the 1990s she spent months working undercover in a sex chatlines company and, after she exposed it, her life was threatened.
She left the Daily Mirror in 1997 but continued her long association with Fleet Street by writing articles and through her membership of the Press Golfing Society as well as her longstanding work as a trustee.