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| Few Fleet Street journalists could claim to have edited quite as many newspapers as Bob Edwards, who has died aged 86. Beginning with his school newspaper, which he launched, he was successively editor of the leftwing weekly Tribune, then deputy editor of the Sunday Express, editor of the Daily Express, of the Evening Citizen in Glasgow, of the Daily Express a second time, then of the People, and finally of the Sunday Mirror. He endured turbulent relationships with two notoriously tyrannical proprietors, Lord Beaverbrook at the Express and Robert Maxwell at the Mirror, telling the story in his ebullient autobiography, Goodbye Fleet Street (1988). Packed with glorious anecdotes, some funny, others shocking, it remains instructive, with accounts of newspapers routinely paying police officers for information, and sometimes to escape prosecution. | Few Fleet Street journalists could claim to have edited quite as many newspapers as Bob Edwards, who has died aged 86. Beginning with his school newspaper, which he launched, he was successively editor of the leftwing weekly Tribune, then deputy editor of the Sunday Express, editor of the Daily Express, of the Evening Citizen in Glasgow, of the Daily Express a second time, then of the People, and finally of the Sunday Mirror. He endured turbulent relationships with two notoriously tyrannical proprietors, Lord Beaverbrook at the Express and Robert Maxwell at the Mirror, telling the story in his ebullient autobiography, Goodbye Fleet Street (1988). Packed with glorious anecdotes, some funny, others shocking, it remains instructive, with accounts of newspapers routinely paying police officers for information, and sometimes to escape prosecution. |
| Quite why Beaverbrook hounded Bob so relentlessly is a mystery, for he was clearly fond of him in an almost fatherly way. Equally, Bob adored him as some sons adore even a harsh father. Yet the remorseless way in which "the lord" bombarded him with phone calls – sometimes smack in the middle of the morning editorial conference – memos, Dictaphone messages and summonses to accompany him on walks round St James's Park and Hampstead Heath is quite staggering. | Quite why Beaverbrook hounded Bob so relentlessly is a mystery, for he was clearly fond of him in an almost fatherly way. Equally, Bob adored him as some sons adore even a harsh father. Yet the remorseless way in which "the lord" bombarded him with phone calls – sometimes smack in the middle of the morning editorial conference – memos, Dictaphone messages and summonses to accompany him on walks round St James's Park and Hampstead Heath is quite staggering. |
| Beaverbrook's interventions were almost always about news coverage. Although he once told a Royal Commission that he owned newspapers only "to make propaganda", the reality was that he was obsessed by news. | Beaverbrook's interventions were almost always about news coverage. Although he once told a Royal Commission that he owned newspapers only "to make propaganda", the reality was that he was obsessed by news. |
| Yet his persecution of Bob undoubtedly damaged Bob's effectiveness as an editor, for it meant that he had to spend much of his time conducting tiresome inquests into Beaverbrook's complaints. Worse, Beaverbrook even ordered Bob to conduct a "reign of terror" at one point, which Bob obeyed rather half-heartedly. Very few people were actually fired by him. | Yet his persecution of Bob undoubtedly damaged Bob's effectiveness as an editor, for it meant that he had to spend much of his time conducting tiresome inquests into Beaverbrook's complaints. Worse, Beaverbrook even ordered Bob to conduct a "reign of terror" at one point, which Bob obeyed rather half-heartedly. Very few people were actually fired by him. |
| Nonetheless, his two spells as editor of the Express (1961 and 1963-65) were successful. He took the paper to its highest ever circulation, at more than 4.3m, and built on the brilliant formula created by its editor from the 1930s until the 50s, the legendary Arthur Christiansen. In those days it was a broadsheet, and although then described as part of the popular press, it would nowadays compare very favourably with the modern, tabloid-ised version of some of its "serious" rivals. | Nonetheless, his two spells as editor of the Express (1961 and 1963-65) were successful. He took the paper to its highest ever circulation, at more than 4.3m, and built on the brilliant formula created by its editor from the 1930s until the 50s, the legendary Arthur Christiansen. In those days it was a broadsheet, and although then described as part of the popular press, it would nowadays compare very favourably with the modern, tabloid-ised version of some of its "serious" rivals. |
| Its news coverage was remarkable. It had a vast foreign staff (of which I was one). After a major Commons debate, it often devoted two full broadsheet pages to its report, written (or rather, dictated) by the amazing William Barkley. But what set it above the others was the fizz with which the whole confection was presented. | Its news coverage was remarkable. It had a vast foreign staff (of which I was one). After a major Commons debate, it often devoted two full broadsheet pages to its report, written (or rather, dictated) by the amazing William Barkley. But what set it above the others was the fizz with which the whole confection was presented. |
| I recall one example from early on in Bob's time as deputy editor of the Sunday Express (1957-59). When the Russians launched the first sputnik into orbit – a triumph in the space race with America – he remembered that a young woman on the reporters' desk spoke Russian. So he asked her what the Russian word was for fantastic. She said it was fantasticheski. Right, he said, that's our headline. And so, the next day's front page was adorned by the single word FANTASTICHESKI spread across all eight columns, and beneath it the words (in much smaller type): "Believe it or not, that really is the Russian for fantastic." | I recall one example from early on in Bob's time as deputy editor of the Sunday Express (1957-59). When the Russians launched the first sputnik into orbit – a triumph in the space race with America – he remembered that a young woman on the reporters' desk spoke Russian. So he asked her what the Russian word was for fantastic. She said it was fantasticheski. Right, he said, that's our headline. And so, the next day's front page was adorned by the single word FANTASTICHESKI spread across all eight columns, and beneath it the words (in much smaller type): "Believe it or not, that really is the Russian for fantastic." |
| From the Sunday paper, Bob went to the daily as managing editor (1959-61), and when sacked as editor for the second time – both executions were conducted by Max Aitken, Beaverbrook's son, who didn't like Bob – he was rescued by Hugh Cudlipp of the Mirror Group. He took on the editorship of the People (1966-72), which specialised in "exposure" stories. | From the Sunday paper, Bob went to the daily as managing editor (1959-61), and when sacked as editor for the second time – both executions were conducted by Max Aitken, Beaverbrook's son, who didn't like Bob – he was rescued by Hugh Cudlipp of the Mirror Group. He took on the editorship of the People (1966-72), which specialised in "exposure" stories. |
| Bob knew all about the genre, because in his youth he had been a reporter on the paper. Indeed, he almost landed in jail for contempt of court after exposing a fake spiritualist medium, and was only saved when the paper's crime correspondent pushed bundles of fivers into a police officer's hands. | Bob knew all about the genre, because in his youth he had been a reporter on the paper. Indeed, he almost landed in jail for contempt of court after exposing a fake spiritualist medium, and was only saved when the paper's crime correspondent pushed bundles of fivers into a police officer's hands. |
| From Ranelagh school, Bracknell, in Berkshire, Bob had gone to the Reading Mercury and then to Tribune as a reporter, working for the People on Saturdays. He became editor of Tribune (1951-54), and then spent three years as a feature writer on the Evening Standard for Beaverbrook. | From Ranelagh school, Bracknell, in Berkshire, Bob had gone to the Reading Mercury and then to Tribune as a reporter, working for the People on Saturdays. He became editor of Tribune (1951-54), and then spent three years as a feature writer on the Evening Standard for Beaverbrook. |
| After editing the People, Bob went to the Sunday Mirror, a sideways move in the Mirror Group, which in 1984 was taken over by "Cap'n Bob" Maxwell. The two Bobs were in fact already friendly, on the basis that they were both Labour party supporters. But before long it became clear that Maxwell was just as interventionist as Beaverbrook, though only in the cause of promoting himself. | After editing the People, Bob went to the Sunday Mirror, a sideways move in the Mirror Group, which in 1984 was taken over by "Cap'n Bob" Maxwell. The two Bobs were in fact already friendly, on the basis that they were both Labour party supporters. But before long it became clear that Maxwell was just as interventionist as Beaverbrook, though only in the cause of promoting himself. |
| The relationship cooled, Bob was kicked upstairs with the fancy but meaningless title of senior group editor (1984-85), and one day Maxwell told him: "You can stay as long as you like, but when would you like to go?" Bob took the hint, quit as a director of the group, and wrote his book. | The relationship cooled, Bob was kicked upstairs with the fancy but meaningless title of senior group editor (1984-85), and one day Maxwell told him: "You can stay as long as you like, but when would you like to go?" Bob took the hint, quit as a director of the group, and wrote his book. |
| Ever the optimist, Bob concluded it with the assertion that the defeat of restrictive trade union practices and the advance of computerised printing had created a golden future for journalists. He did not foresee the devastation that the online revolution was to wreak on the printed newspapers around which his life had revolved. Even in his early days as editor of Tribune, he ate, drank, slept and dreamed about them. If you invited him to dinner, it was wise to provide some large, clean sheets of paper. If you did not, he would pretty soon be drawing page layouts on the tablecloth. | Ever the optimist, Bob concluded it with the assertion that the defeat of restrictive trade union practices and the advance of computerised printing had created a golden future for journalists. He did not foresee the devastation that the online revolution was to wreak on the printed newspapers around which his life had revolved. Even in his early days as editor of Tribune, he ate, drank, slept and dreamed about them. If you invited him to dinner, it was wise to provide some large, clean sheets of paper. If you did not, he would pretty soon be drawing page layouts on the tablecloth. |
| Bob is survived by his second wife, Brigid Segrave, an accomplished watercolourist, and by the two sons and two daughters of his marriage to Laura Ellwood, which ended in divorce. | Bob is survived by his second wife, Brigid Segrave, an accomplished watercolourist, and by the two sons and two daughters of his marriage to Laura Ellwood, which ended in divorce. |
| • Robert John Edwards, journalist, born 26 October 1925; died 28 May 2012 | • Robert John Edwards, journalist, born 26 October 1925; died 28 May 2012 |
| • This article was amended on 1 June 2012. The People was described as being a tabloid while Edwards was editor, 1966-72: it changed from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1974. This has been corrected. |