John Earle

Another great one gone [Obituary: John Earle]. I got to know John Earle after he yanked me out of the London newsroom from time to time in the late fifties to join the team reporting East-West summit conferences, with Moscow still at its mightiest and the Western powers much concerned about it. A handsome man with film-star looks, John had done more than his share in World War Two, parachuting into enemy territory in the Balkans (but characteristically never mentioning it). He would always head the Reuter team at those summits, supported by Mohsin Ali, a walking encyclopaedia of post-war diplomacy, and the unflappable Ronnie Cooper, our expert filing editor. As a new recruit, I was asked to write background features and colour, and this wasn’t difficult. A few years later, when I was languishing in London after daring to take a year’s sabbatical, John took me on his staff in Rome, with free rein to provide human-angles. But I was soon yanked off this enjoyable beat to help cover the Six Day Israeli-Arab war, and was sorry to hear later that he’d quit the firm, opting for a more congenial life in southern Europe. Over the decades I never saw him again, though in recent years we exchanged a few letters and phone conversations about books we were writing. One of Reuters’ most impressive post-war chief diplomatic correspondents. And a nice chap. ■