Diana Drayton - a great lady

I am deeply saddened by the news of Diana Drayton's death. She was a great lady who for many years played an important role, if always discreetly behind the scenes, in the development of Reuters in the years following the Second World War.

Diana was always immaculate in her appearance and charming in her speech. 

I met her shortly after I joined Reuters in 1958 (she was, I think, Tony Cole's secretary), and got to know her better when I returned to work in London in 1976, as we often met at Waterloo and travelled home together by train until our ways parted at Surbiton.

After I succeeded her as Reuter Society Secretary in late 1993, we became firm friends and often travelled together to Society and other meetings until her physical condition prevented her from doing so. She always maintained a keen interest in the Society's affairs, and was in frequent contact with Aleco Joannides until his long illness and death.  It is particularly sad that she will have missed attending (or at least being briefed about) the forthcoming 25th anniversary Society meeting. ■