obituaries


commitment to fighting inequality and exploitation. He also possessed an acute ability to spot a big story in the small print around apparently more important issues.


The courage and doggedness he


showed in his work were the qualities he also displayed as a centre half or goalkeeper, which led to his park football team-mates dubbing him “Iron Man Walsh”. Robust in the tackle, he was always genuinely apologetic to opponents as he picked them up. Football – or rather the Arsenal – was one of his passions, along with John Coltrane, Raymond Chandler and black and white films, usually with subtitles. Kind and self-deprecating, Mike was


Mike Walsh


Award-winning TV Eye and World in Action reporter and campaigner Mike Walsh has died aged 77. Among his many memorable investigations were the first exposure of notorious landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten and the first documentary about Alzheimer’s disease. He also shone a light on fraud in Europe, in particular the fraud epidemic along the common border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. Mike was raised in Brighton and


West London, where he went to Sheen Grammar School. A member of the ration book generation of very bright grammar school kids, he was the first member of his family to go to university.


After reading history at Hull, he started his career as a journalist in 1965 at Municipal Engineering, where he met his wife Kim. An active Labour Party member in the 1960s and 1970s, he joined left-wing weekly Tribune in 1969, where he established a reputation as an outstanding reporter and commentator on national and international politics. Then TV called. He worked first at


TV Eye and Union World and then for World in Action for 12 years as a writer and reporter. Mike’s work was fuelled by a profound sense of fairness and decency coupled with a strong


a very funny man with a contagious giggle. He had a reputation at World in Action as a calming and benign influence in tense studios and editing rooms. He was also great value over a pint. Mike and his wife Kim lived for


nearly 50 years together in their Notting Hill flat. Their mutual devotion was never more evident than in Kim’s selfless care for Mike during his final, pernicious illness. A lasting memory of their partnership in so many things can be found in the Pembridge Square gardens, which they played such a large hand in transforming to their award-winning beauty. He is survived by Kim, his step-


daughter Dani and her two daughters. Bill Randall


Don Cockburn


Don Cockburn, who died in Dublin last month aged 87, was the authoritative voice of RTÉ news for 30 years. Don was known for his modesty and low-


key lifestyle, the very antithesis of the celebrity journalist. He cycled to work and was a staunch proponent of recycling and the green lifestyle before the term was invented. Don joined RTÉ as a part-time Raidió Éireann announcer in 1958, before becoming a full-time employee in 1972. Initially a member of Equity, he joined the NUJ in 1981 as his role evolved within the newsroom. He regularly attended union functions following his retirement in 1992. Don looked upon himself as an accidental


journalist. He read commerce at Trinity College, Dublin and studied Russian and Spanish with a view to becoming a diplomat. At his funeral, Don’s son John revealed that, on finding a stack of Russian magazines in their grandfather’s house, his grandchildren had speculated that their famous and deeply religious grandfather might have been a spy! It was only by a twist of fate that he landed his


job at Raidió Éireann. The part-time continuity announcer went on to adorn the profession of journalism. His, erudition, integrity and professional commitment were recognised by his colleagues and he set the gold standard to which they aspired. Don loved the relative anonymity of radio and


never sought the limelight, believing that the personality of a newsreader should not distract from the news, but he adapted to television and became a national institution.


Séamus Dooley


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