Right place, right time

A resourceful journalist, Adam Kellett-Long was often in the right place at the right time. He was in East Germany when the Berlin Wall went up in 1961 and he broke the news to the world. He was also in Peking, Moscow, Johannesburg and Bonn at key moments in history.

I can recall only one occasion when the timing went slightly wrong. After joining management as an assistant manager for Europe, he went to Madrid to negotiate a new contract with the Spanish news agency EFE but got off a taxi on the wrong side and stepped into a puddle. No amount of buffing could remove the water stains from his shoes. He felt very conscious about them at meetings with his impeccably dressed Spanish hosts.

In 1979 at the height of labour union troubles in Britain, Reuters decided to set up a data centre in Geneva which could also serve as an alternative headquarters. Adam was sent to Geneva for 18 months to oversee the construction of the centre.

Michael Nelson, Reuters general manager at the time, says: “When the Geneva building was finished we left it empty but flew out to Geneva representatives of the unions on a number of occasions. We gave them a tour of the building and took them for a good lunch on Lake Geneva when we told them that if we could not get what we wanted in London, we would move to Geneva. The strategy worked and we did not have to move.” ■