'The wisest man I have ever known'

George Short was the wisest man he had ever known, says mystery writer Iain Pears, interviewed by Bryan Appleyard in The Sunday Times. 

He met George after his languages got him a job at Reuters and went through the Short school of journalism where he learned his craft. 

"He was the wisest man I have ever known... He could write better drunk than anybody else sober."

He added: "The essence of journalism is communicating what you have to say clearly and not making the reader work. That message carried through to my work."

George trained me too, when we were on the Hendon Times in the early Sixties. I shall ever be thankful for the wit, wisdom and friendship of the redoubtable Devonian. 

A host of Reuters reporters and editors later followed in the wake of this "wisest man”. ■