Back in 1989 I got a call asking why I had not applied for the editorship of The Northern Echo. I replied that I thought there were people ahead of me and that, perhaps, I was too young. I was encouraged to reconsider and was interviewed by Westminster Press’s editorial director Nick Herbert at the Viking Hotel in York. Three weeks later a letter arrived offering me the job and I remember sitting on my bed and staring at it in disbelief. What followed was a genuine life-changing experience. Nick took a gamble on me, as he did with many other young editors. In the 70s and 80s he was responsible for huge changes in the regional newspaper industry. He appointed young and often untested editors to shake-up the industry, he was a pioneer, bringing in new technology, and he was a huge champion of editorial integrity. He was also a thoroughly nice man. I had run-ins with judges, politicians, advertisers planning to boycott the paper, and was twice threatened with prison, and he never failed to offer wise counsel and support. He was certainly one of the good guys and I owe him a great deal. Nick died, aged 88, just before Christmas and there are tributes on InPublishing here, in his old paper the Cambridge News here and on Hold The Front Page.
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