David Goddard - King of Topspin

I had the great privilege to work with Dave when we were sent to Bucharest in 1990 for the first multi-party elections after the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu. With no Reuters office in Romania at the time, we worked from a smoke-filled room at the Hotel Intercontinental, where I remember Dave surviving on Bulgarian salad ordered from room service with only rare forays into the world outside. Having Dave on hand to edit and file copy (and write his magnificent wraps) was a huge relief to everyone there to report. Dave would look at the raw copy and loudly proclaim it to be in need of some “topspin". Then he would quickly work his magic, teasing out nuggets of news and colour to craft crisp leads and telling sentences. Farewell, Dave, the King of Topspin. ■