Dennis Savage

After retiring from Reuters in 1978 Dennis Savage set himself up as an independent information researcher, an increasingly necessary field of activity in the age of expanding computerised databases and the Internet.

Using his well-honed editorial skills of meticulously checking for details and accurately presenting his findings, Dennis assisted, among others, Donald Read and Michael Nelson with their book projects.

In his preface to “The Power of News: The History of Reuters”, Prof Read wrote: “Another old Reuter hand, Dennis Savage, has provided invaluable indexes and analyses, dug out of the archives with great patience and accuracy.” In his list of acknowledgements in the “War of the Black Heavens: The Battles of Western Broadcasting in the Cold War”, Nelson credited, among many others, Dennis as a researcher in London without whose help the book would not have been possible.

In later years I would sometimes happen to meet Dennis at Richmond station on his way home in Raynes Park after another busy day at the Public Records Office (now the National Archives) in Kew. While visiting Pickering House in Dorking two weeks ago I had intended to call on him there but the nurse said he was too ill to receive visitors. ■