This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/may/14/wl-webb-obituary
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| WL Webb obituary | WL Webb obituary |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| The death at the age of 90 of the Guardian’s former literary editor, WL Webb, severs one of its last remaining links with the writers and editors who brought the Manchester Guardian to London in the 1960s. More than most of them, Bill was a Manchester man: though he was born outside the city, both his grandfathers were Mancunians, engaged in the cotton trade; he was schooled there; and the culture of Manchester shaped him. | The death at the age of 90 of the Guardian’s former literary editor, WL Webb, severs one of its last remaining links with the writers and editors who brought the Manchester Guardian to London in the 1960s. More than most of them, Bill was a Manchester man: though he was born outside the city, both his grandfathers were Mancunians, engaged in the cotton trade; he was schooled there; and the culture of Manchester shaped him. |
| Bill built two reputations at the Guardian. The first, from 1959, was as its literary editor through three decades; the second, from the mid-1960s on, as a dedicated and perceptive explorer of the new forces in eastern Europe that would come to shake and finally banish its apparently entrenched regimes. | Bill built two reputations at the Guardian. The first, from 1959, was as its literary editor through three decades; the second, from the mid-1960s on, as a dedicated and perceptive explorer of the new forces in eastern Europe that would come to shake and finally banish its apparently entrenched regimes. |
| Though editors occasionally intervened, the books pages he produced were very much in his own image. Above all, they reflected his passion for politics, particularly the politics of the left and of the peace movement. Several of the celebrated reviewers he chose and valued most highly – Raymond Williams, EP Thompson, Eric Hobsbawm – came from that world. The Lancastrian radical AJP Taylor was another whom he revered and printed often. Yet by no means all his top recruits were predominantly political. Early on he picked up the novelist William Golding, and later there were others whom Bill had talent-spotted: Angela Carter, JG Ballard and, perhaps the most prized of all, Salman Rushdie. | Though editors occasionally intervened, the books pages he produced were very much in his own image. Above all, they reflected his passion for politics, particularly the politics of the left and of the peace movement. Several of the celebrated reviewers he chose and valued most highly – Raymond Williams, EP Thompson, Eric Hobsbawm – came from that world. The Lancastrian radical AJP Taylor was another whom he revered and printed often. Yet by no means all his top recruits were predominantly political. Early on he picked up the novelist William Golding, and later there were others whom Bill had talent-spotted: Angela Carter, JG Ballard and, perhaps the most prized of all, Salman Rushdie. |
| His long reign at the Guardian made Bill an eminent figure in the publishing world. He was one of the influences behind the creation of the Booker prize, chairing its first panel. In 1993, he was one of three judges deputed to choose the Booker of Bookers, an award which to his great pleasure went to Rushdie. He was the inventor of the Guardian fiction prize in 1965; as he freely confessed at the time, the prize money was peanuts, but it did have prestige. He also for many years edited the newspaper’s annual anthology, the Bedside Guardian. | His long reign at the Guardian made Bill an eminent figure in the publishing world. He was one of the influences behind the creation of the Booker prize, chairing its first panel. In 1993, he was one of three judges deputed to choose the Booker of Bookers, an award which to his great pleasure went to Rushdie. He was the inventor of the Guardian fiction prize in 1965; as he freely confessed at the time, the prize money was peanuts, but it did have prestige. He also for many years edited the newspaper’s annual anthology, the Bedside Guardian. |
| The second territory he surveyed, starting with a visit to the then Czechoslovakia in 1966, ostensibly to write about travel, was the new eastern Europe, as it began to break free from crushing communist domination. He understood and conveyed this particularly well because he had come to know so many of the writers and artists involved in the process. In a collection of essays organised by his daughter Kate to mark his 80th birthday, his colleague Jonathan Steele saluted that achievement. In Prague in 1968, Steele recalled, the communist leaders of the most hardline regime in eastern Europe had elected a new leader. Something genuine was on the move, “and by great good fortune the Guardian had the perfect person to cover it”. | The second territory he surveyed, starting with a visit to the then Czechoslovakia in 1966, ostensibly to write about travel, was the new eastern Europe, as it began to break free from crushing communist domination. He understood and conveyed this particularly well because he had come to know so many of the writers and artists involved in the process. In a collection of essays organised by his daughter Kate to mark his 80th birthday, his colleague Jonathan Steele saluted that achievement. In Prague in 1968, Steele recalled, the communist leaders of the most hardline regime in eastern Europe had elected a new leader. Something genuine was on the move, “and by great good fortune the Guardian had the perfect person to cover it”. |
| Bill’s pieces from Prague were “pure magic, a combination of observation, reflection, historical context, and evocation of atmosphere which had no equal … more than any other correspondent in the British media he brought the reform movement alive and made us aware of what it meant for Czechs and Slovaks and could mean for Europe as a whole.” Likewise thereafter in Budapest, Warsaw and Berlin. | |
| Bill had joined the Guardian in 1955, the year he turned 27. He was born in New Mills, Derbyshire, 15 miles from Manchester, to Janet (nee Pollard), a piano teacher, and Gordon Webb, an ambulance driver. His was a musical family and through the influence of one of his grandfathers, a regular attender at choral evensong, he won a place in Manchester Cathedral choir. In wartime its boys were dispersed to local grammar schools – Bill went to Sale. | Bill had joined the Guardian in 1955, the year he turned 27. He was born in New Mills, Derbyshire, 15 miles from Manchester, to Janet (nee Pollard), a piano teacher, and Gordon Webb, an ambulance driver. His was a musical family and through the influence of one of his grandfathers, a regular attender at choral evensong, he won a place in Manchester Cathedral choir. In wartime its boys were dispersed to local grammar schools – Bill went to Sale. |
| Then there was military service, much of it spent as a sergeant in the Education Corps attached to a regiment of the Household Brigade. That introduced him to war-ravaged Germany, creating one of his lasting interests. He might thereafter have gone on to Cambridge, but a chance conversation changed his destination to Trinity College Dublin, where he read modern literature, English and German, while devoting lavish slices of time to writing songs, singing in choirs and conducting them, but for which he might have got a rather better degree. | Then there was military service, much of it spent as a sergeant in the Education Corps attached to a regiment of the Household Brigade. That introduced him to war-ravaged Germany, creating one of his lasting interests. He might thereafter have gone on to Cambridge, but a chance conversation changed his destination to Trinity College Dublin, where he read modern literature, English and German, while devoting lavish slices of time to writing songs, singing in choirs and conducting them, but for which he might have got a rather better degree. |
| When he left Trinity it seemed possible that he would make his life in music rather than journalism. But his first regular employment was as assistant editor of an Irish country newspaper, the Limerick Weekly Echo. The Manchester Guardian, the paper his family took, was always his likely destination, and here his time in Ireland was crucial. | When he left Trinity it seemed possible that he would make his life in music rather than journalism. But his first regular employment was as assistant editor of an Irish country newspaper, the Limerick Weekly Echo. The Manchester Guardian, the paper his family took, was always his likely destination, and here his time in Ireland was crucial. |
| In 1955 the deputy editor, Paddy Monkhouse, felt the paper ought to take on someone with an Irish connection. Bill arrived on cue and was given a trial job. He had found his natural habitat. Generations of his predecessors would have recognised him as – their highest accolade – a true MG man. He even maintained to the end the old Manchester Guardian tradition of preferring to be known by initials rather than forenames. CP Scott; AP Wadsworth; CE Montague; and now, throughout his service, Bill was always WL Webb. | In 1955 the deputy editor, Paddy Monkhouse, felt the paper ought to take on someone with an Irish connection. Bill arrived on cue and was given a trial job. He had found his natural habitat. Generations of his predecessors would have recognised him as – their highest accolade – a true MG man. He even maintained to the end the old Manchester Guardian tradition of preferring to be known by initials rather than forenames. CP Scott; AP Wadsworth; CE Montague; and now, throughout his service, Bill was always WL Webb. |
| He began as a reporter, in an era on which the paper would later look back as a golden age. Its most admired stylist was Norman Shrapnel, later the most famous of parliamentary sketchwriters. Michael Frayn, Neal Ascherson, Richard West, Michael Parkinson, WJ Weatherby and Peter Eckersley all worked in what was known as “the Room”. He became involved in coverage of the arts – the paper was on its way to developing its first specialised arts page – and books, as stand-in on occasion for the then literary editor, Anthony Hartley, whose departure in 1959 enabled Bill to get his hands on the books page. | He began as a reporter, in an era on which the paper would later look back as a golden age. Its most admired stylist was Norman Shrapnel, later the most famous of parliamentary sketchwriters. Michael Frayn, Neal Ascherson, Richard West, Michael Parkinson, WJ Weatherby and Peter Eckersley all worked in what was known as “the Room”. He became involved in coverage of the arts – the paper was on its way to developing its first specialised arts page – and books, as stand-in on occasion for the then literary editor, Anthony Hartley, whose departure in 1959 enabled Bill to get his hands on the books page. |
| He finally left the paper in 1991 to take up a Guardian research fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford | He finally left the paper in 1991 to take up a Guardian research fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford |
| From here on, he would be doing the job that he wanted to do, in the way that he wanted to do it. But newspapers change, and even in Alastair Hetherington’s day as editor there were memos from time to time complaining that the reviews were not lively enough – which Bill took to mean: cut back on the leftwing politics. His adherence to the traditions and spirit of the Manchester Guardian brought him even more into collision with the new modernising, popularising editor who took over in 1975. | From here on, he would be doing the job that he wanted to do, in the way that he wanted to do it. But newspapers change, and even in Alastair Hetherington’s day as editor there were memos from time to time complaining that the reviews were not lively enough – which Bill took to mean: cut back on the leftwing politics. His adherence to the traditions and spirit of the Manchester Guardian brought him even more into collision with the new modernising, popularising editor who took over in 1975. |
| Peter Preston felt that the need to broaden the paper’s audience was being hampered by some of its old allegiances. He pressed Bill to use illustrations, which to Bill was a misuse of precious space: for years his devotion to the supremacy of the word over mere presentation was such that when a strong book review exceeded the space available, he would simply reduce the closing paragraphs to a smaller type size. And some of the popular writers the new editor wanted to see in the paper were never likely to find a place in Bill’s hymnbook. | Peter Preston felt that the need to broaden the paper’s audience was being hampered by some of its old allegiances. He pressed Bill to use illustrations, which to Bill was a misuse of precious space: for years his devotion to the supremacy of the word over mere presentation was such that when a strong book review exceeded the space available, he would simply reduce the closing paragraphs to a smaller type size. And some of the popular writers the new editor wanted to see in the paper were never likely to find a place in Bill’s hymnbook. |
| By the end of the 80s the sense was emerging that the books page ought to move on. Though Bill’s reassignment brought protests from writers including William Trevor, Tariq Ali and Doris Lessing, as well as Rushdie, an alternative posting was found for him, as joint obituaries editor. Until then, the Guardian’s obituaries had commanded little respect and attention. Too much was improvised. There would frequently be panics when some eminent figure died and there was nothing ready on file. Along with Christopher Driver, a former features editor, Bill was installed to enhance the coverage. Theirs was not an easy working relationship, particularly since both liked to devote their time to other compelling interests, especially Bill’s in travelling away to chart the birth of the new eastern Europe. | By the end of the 80s the sense was emerging that the books page ought to move on. Though Bill’s reassignment brought protests from writers including William Trevor, Tariq Ali and Doris Lessing, as well as Rushdie, an alternative posting was found for him, as joint obituaries editor. Until then, the Guardian’s obituaries had commanded little respect and attention. Too much was improvised. There would frequently be panics when some eminent figure died and there was nothing ready on file. Along with Christopher Driver, a former features editor, Bill was installed to enhance the coverage. Theirs was not an easy working relationship, particularly since both liked to devote their time to other compelling interests, especially Bill’s in travelling away to chart the birth of the new eastern Europe. |
| He finally left the paper in 1991 to take up a Guardian research fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford. Now he could also find time for his multiple other interests, including sailing and a return to choral singing with the Esterhazy choir. He organised cheerful reunions for old colleagues in the Gay Hussar restaurant in Soho. | |
| He still wrote for the Guardian now and then, sometimes reviewing books, but quite often contributing sharp and acerbic letters to the editor which reflected his lifelong commitments to the politics of the left and above all to campaigns for peace and nuclear disarmament. | He still wrote for the Guardian now and then, sometimes reviewing books, but quite often contributing sharp and acerbic letters to the editor which reflected his lifelong commitments to the politics of the left and above all to campaigns for peace and nuclear disarmament. |
| And then, in 2011, in the year he turned 83, there was a characteristic flourish that took him all the way to Yemen, where he collaborated with his grandson Tom Finn to produce a vivid jointly bylined report: an enterprise that happily combined three of his greatest loyalties – to his family, to his old newspaper and to the great tradition of his beloved Manchester Guardian, of telling things how they are. | |
| In 1954 he married Shelagh Harrison, whom he had first met at Trinity College. She survives him, as do their daughters, Sarah, Kate and Joanna, and grandchildren, Tom, James and Henry, and his sister, Jill. His son, Will, died in 1988. | In 1954 he married Shelagh Harrison, whom he had first met at Trinity College. She survives him, as do their daughters, Sarah, Kate and Joanna, and grandchildren, Tom, James and Henry, and his sister, Jill. His son, Will, died in 1988. |
| • William Leslie Webb, journalist, born 22 August 1928; died 9 May 2019 | • William Leslie Webb, journalist, born 22 August 1928; died 9 May 2019 |
| Newspapers | Newspapers |
| Politics books | Politics books |
| Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia |
| Manchester | Manchester |
| obituaries | obituaries |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |
Previous version
1
Next version