Angus MacSwan retires after more than 40 years

Angus, who was recruited by Chief News Editor Ian Macdowall in Hong Kong in 1984, said in a farewell message: “It’s been a good ride, but it’s time to tie the reins to the hitching post and head into the saloon”.

He added: “Reuters has a great role to play in the world and it’s been a privilege to have been a part of that. I've had some adventures but more importantly had the opportunity to report and write about the lives of people across the world, which is the real point of the whole thing.

“I'm always amazed by the dignity, courage, fortitude and generosity that ordinary people show in the hardest of circumstances. I hope that as a correspondent I was able to contribute in some way by telling the stories they shared, and as an editor, was able to help other Reuters correspondents to do so.”

His long career included firefighting trips around the globe and postings to El Salvador’s civil war, Thailand, the Middle East and Africa desk in Cyprus, bureau chief in Miami, Brazil news editor and latterly the London desk. He also covered several football World Cups and an Olympics.  

He was given a farewell present of a case of vintage rioja wine at a party attended by around 40 present and past colleagues at the legendary watering hole of El Vino’s in Fleet Street.

Frances Kerry laced her farewell speech with frequent joking references to Angus’s hatred of cliché, including describing him in his prime as a “raven-haired correspondent”.

In his farewell email Angus said his most memorable story was covering the victory of Nelson Mandela in the 1994 election that ended apartheid. “For a happy moment it seemed the world might be becoming a better place. That was a tad optimistic, it seems.”

He said his worst experience was the murder of Reuters photographer Roberto Navas by the Salvadoran army on March 18, 1989. “An event that haunts me to this day.”

He named his favourite datelines as Bimini, Babylon, Mandalay and Kirkcaldy, “just because they sound so evocative”.

He added: “I'd like to pay particular tribute to all the local Reuters reporters, photographers and TV folk without whom we would be lost. They have to chronicle their own countries' suffering, and often have to live with the consequences when the foreign hacks leave and "the story" moves on. Great men and women all.” 

Angus thanked Macdowall, who he said set high standards for all Reuters journalists, and also Graham Stewart and Stephen Jukes who sent him to cover Africa and the Americas.

“Above all I should mention my dear wife Keiko, who went to war-torn Central America as a young bride, set up homes in seven different countries, raised a family, and fed and watered many colleagues in fine style. She has been a constant support and it's been a journey we shared together.”

He ended with advice for young journalists from Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing: "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." ■