Post by Chips on Jun 20, 2006 10:59:09 GMT 9.5
Newspaper great Des Colquhoun dies
REX JORY
20jun06
ONE of Adelaide's outstanding journalists, Des Colquhoun, died quietly in his sleep early yesterday, aged 75.
Desmond Fox Colquhoun, a former editor in chief and general manager of The Advertiser, is best remembered as a daily columnist with The Advertiser until his retirement in March, 1988.
A survey once found that because of his incisive and at times quirky page one observations about diverse elements of the lives of South Australians, Des was the state's best-known person.
When he wrote his final column Des said: "I left at age 57 because I was scared I wouldn't grow up before I grew old."
He had been in poor health in recent years, suffering a series of heart attacks and strokes. But even when his wife of 51 years, Meg, died six months ago, Des retained his wicked sense of mischief.
When I last chatted to him at his Glenside flat two weeks ago he said: "I'm pretty well for a bloke who has crammed 120 years of living in 75 years."
Des was born on March 16, 1931, the son of Mr and Mrs C.R. Colquhoun, of Tusmore.
On May 31, 1948, at the age of 17, he started as a copy boy at The Advertiser on a salary of $2 a week.
Within seven months he had started his four-year-cadetship which he completed in 1953.
The Advertiser sent him to Melbourne in 1959 and then in 1962 to London and New York for the Herald and Weekly Times bureau.
During that time he covered events in Europe and the Middle East including a Cyprus story in which he was shot at, the Profumo scandal and the Common Market talks in Brussels.
He returned to Adelaide in 1966 and after a short time of writing feature articles became The Advertiser editorial manager.
He was then day editor, night editor and, in 1970, editor-in-chief. In 1977, he became chairman of directors of Australian Associated Press. In 1979 he became general manager of the newspaper division of Advertiser Newspapers Ltd.
He resigned suddenly from the position in July, 1980, after undergoing heart surgery. He handed in the keys to his office car and rang Meg asking: "What bus do I catch to come home?"
The following year he returned to The Advertiser as a front-page columnist. He continued to write the column for several years. In 1983, he received the Order of Australia medal for services to the media. In November, 1988, he received three Adelaide Art Directors Club awards for commercials he had written and last month was inducted into SA journalism's Hall of Fame.
At his retirement in 1988, former Advertiser editor-in-chief and long-time colleague, Don Riddell described Colquhoun as a "constant light in a dark world".
"Other people can write, other people are tolerant," he said, "but there is only one Colquhoun who can write 1500 columns on the front page of the paper and still have people smiling. He doesn't write down to us, or up to us, or even at us. He talks to us. In best Advertiser style, he is unique."
Des is survived by a daughter Merey and son Lachlan, daughter-in-law Alison, son-in-law Kurt and grandchildren, Jack and Queenie.
His funeral is expected to be next week.
REX JORY
20jun06
ONE of Adelaide's outstanding journalists, Des Colquhoun, died quietly in his sleep early yesterday, aged 75.
Desmond Fox Colquhoun, a former editor in chief and general manager of The Advertiser, is best remembered as a daily columnist with The Advertiser until his retirement in March, 1988.
A survey once found that because of his incisive and at times quirky page one observations about diverse elements of the lives of South Australians, Des was the state's best-known person.
When he wrote his final column Des said: "I left at age 57 because I was scared I wouldn't grow up before I grew old."
He had been in poor health in recent years, suffering a series of heart attacks and strokes. But even when his wife of 51 years, Meg, died six months ago, Des retained his wicked sense of mischief.
When I last chatted to him at his Glenside flat two weeks ago he said: "I'm pretty well for a bloke who has crammed 120 years of living in 75 years."
Des was born on March 16, 1931, the son of Mr and Mrs C.R. Colquhoun, of Tusmore.
On May 31, 1948, at the age of 17, he started as a copy boy at The Advertiser on a salary of $2 a week.
Within seven months he had started his four-year-cadetship which he completed in 1953.
The Advertiser sent him to Melbourne in 1959 and then in 1962 to London and New York for the Herald and Weekly Times bureau.
During that time he covered events in Europe and the Middle East including a Cyprus story in which he was shot at, the Profumo scandal and the Common Market talks in Brussels.
He returned to Adelaide in 1966 and after a short time of writing feature articles became The Advertiser editorial manager.
He was then day editor, night editor and, in 1970, editor-in-chief. In 1977, he became chairman of directors of Australian Associated Press. In 1979 he became general manager of the newspaper division of Advertiser Newspapers Ltd.
He resigned suddenly from the position in July, 1980, after undergoing heart surgery. He handed in the keys to his office car and rang Meg asking: "What bus do I catch to come home?"
The following year he returned to The Advertiser as a front-page columnist. He continued to write the column for several years. In 1983, he received the Order of Australia medal for services to the media. In November, 1988, he received three Adelaide Art Directors Club awards for commercials he had written and last month was inducted into SA journalism's Hall of Fame.
At his retirement in 1988, former Advertiser editor-in-chief and long-time colleague, Don Riddell described Colquhoun as a "constant light in a dark world".
"Other people can write, other people are tolerant," he said, "but there is only one Colquhoun who can write 1500 columns on the front page of the paper and still have people smiling. He doesn't write down to us, or up to us, or even at us. He talks to us. In best Advertiser style, he is unique."
Des is survived by a daughter Merey and son Lachlan, daughter-in-law Alison, son-in-law Kurt and grandchildren, Jack and Queenie.
His funeral is expected to be next week.