Allan the golf nut

Not many colleagues knew Allan Reditt was a golf nut - so much so he carved out a few holes in a field near his home in the Dordogne. Alas, arthritis in the hands curtailed any lofty ambitions. It all started in 1971 when he was correspondent in Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian Open loomed. He professed to know nothing about golf, so I was despatched from the Asian Desk in Singapore to cover the tournament. He walked the Royal Selangor Club course with me the first two rounds and was hooked.

Allan was a showman, a storyteller, an exuberant personality with an irreverent wit. Yet behind his genial disposition was a seasoned professional at his best on big stories. This came to the fore on the Middle East desk in Bahrain and later Nicosia in the late 1980s. His presence in the newsroom meant it was usually noisy but never dull. Characters like Allan don't come around often enough. ■