Terry and the rioters

Terry Williams was a specialist sports writer, but he was also a highly competent Reuters all rounder, a first class reporter and editor for whatever was the news of the day. 

I saw him for the first and last times in Paris. First in 1968 when we were covering France's uprising by students and workers against President de Gaulle. It was one of those overwhelming news stories when a whole bureau got involved, staffers and families. That's when my wife and I also first met Terry's wife, Yolande (Yo), a stalwart of the news team's home supporters.

After occasional reunions over the years, we four met again in Paris in 2018 for what turned out to be the last time. It was the 50th anniversary celebration by Reuters veterans of “the events” of 1968. The Reuter Society invited survivors to share memories at a dinner at Le Procope, a legendary Latin Quarter restaurant that had been at the heart of the riots.

Terry gave a very funny account of covering the demonstrators and evading the heavy-handed CRS riot police by diving in and out of various Left Bank metro stations. His frontline role, marching beside the demonstrators, earned him a photo in Newsweek at the time.

Marie-Hélène and I are deeply saddened by Terry's death and the knowledge that we shall never meet again as a foursome with Yo, in Paris or in the remote heights of Lozere. RIP. ■