Leading Sunday Times journalist who was the first editor of its groundbreaking investigative Insight unitRon Hall, a former top executive of the Sunday Times in its pre-Murdoch golden era, has died aged 79. Hall's distinctions were many: first editor of the paper's successful investigative unit, Insight; dominant force behind its exposures of the Profumo affair, later to evolve into a book, Scandal 63; inventor of the words Rachmanism and Rachmanite following its revelations about Peter Rachman's violence against his tenants; and editor of the Sunday Times magazine.A perpetual pipe-smoker, Hall sometimes would puff silently and sceptically at editorial conferences when a news editor or foreign editor enthused about a possible scoop ahead. The resulting smoke at times would blur an intensely furrowed brow. Then the pipe would briefly leave his mouth and Hall would glance at the newspaper's editor, Harold Evans, before uttering "Huh!" or perhaps "Bullshit!" in a growly voice. He could hone his rebuffs of others as sharply as he could deflect barbs towards himself. Yet he was extremely popular with all staff: curt but clever, reserved but resourceful – "a scholar in scepticism who burned on a slow fuse" – as Evans put it in his autobiography.Even when hosting extravagant parties for friends and colleagues at his home in Hampstead, north London, Hall would be the last one to speak in the language of jaunty persiflage. Instead he preferred the whispers of intrigues and... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]