Bruce Cobb

About two years ago, I was having a pint outside my local, the Waterman's Arms, in Water Lane, Richmond upon Thames, with a friend of mine, Peter, a producer from the BBC.

A young man walked by, and it turned out he knew Peter. They both lived nearby. 

The chap's name was Mike. 

When we got to talking, somehow, surprise surprise, journalism came up. 

I said I used to work for Reuters.

Hey, my dad worked for Reuters, said Mike.

He told me his name was Mike Cobb. 

I said ... "Hey, I used to work with a guy called Bruce Cobb. Any relation?

"Bruce was my dad."

Turns out Mike was the son of Bruce Cobb, to whom I was very close in the baronial years. 

I swear to God: I kissed that kid Mike - he must have been in his 50s - and I literally wept, because I knew his dad had passed on. 

Bruce Cobb was a massive friend of mine, one of the finest subs and human beings I ever met. 

Around the year of nineteen hundred and eighty-two, I was asked by the Baron to go to Bahrain ( I know where it is now - I wasn't so sure then)  to set up a new Middle East desk. My buddy Barry Simpson had already gone out there and told me it was all good - sun, boats, jeeps, no tax and apparently the Baron would pay us ... well, let me just say a preferential rate as far as the local currency was concerned.

I think the deal was Barry would do the business stuff and I would do the war stuff.

And thus it was.

However, up showed a guy called Bruce Cobb. His job? To keep Simpson and me in line. To correct the f-ups we produced on a daily basis - to ensure that Reuters copy was spot-on.

Bruce Cobb was not only one of the finest editors I've ever worked with, but a delightful friend, and I shall never forget him.

That's why I wept when I met his son outside my local pub around two years ago. 

Thereafter, Mike and I did not get close, although he lived perhaps 30 yards from where I do.

He was found dead in his flat there last week. I do not know the reason for his death, and, if I did, I would never mention it here.

To all of you who remember Bruce, or may even be related, my condolences. ■