obituaries


alongside myself and Eddie Barrett, and worked on press, publications and campaigns. Sheffield-born Mike cut his teeth on the Thurrock Gazette in Essex. He feasted on stories of battles over containerisation at the docks, before landing a job on the sports desk at the Morning Star. After a break at Westminster


Mike Pentelow


Mike Pentelow – journalist, author, communist and community activist – has died at the age of 73. “He put the social into socialism,” declared long-time colleague Andrew Murray. Both were part of a busy team of


NUJ members at the Transport and General Workers’ Union from the 1980s for more than 20 years,


College, he returned to the industrial beat at the Star where he succeeded Mick Costello and joined the Industrial Correspondents’ Group. Known as The Group, it included the illustrious Barrie Clement, Paul Routledge, Roy Jones and John Richards. According to friend and


contemporary Peter Kirker, this was the context in which he formed lasting relationships with the awkward squad of left-wing union leaders, including Rodney Bickerstaffe and Ken Cameron. He took inspiration – perhaps in more ways than one – from two hard- drinking, erudite and highly cultured NUM leaders, Lawrence


Daly and Mick McGahey. His switch to the T&G in 1983, forerunner of today’s Unite, led to highly successful and award- winning stints as chief reporter on the T&G Record, with a print run just shy of half a million, and as editor of the Landworker. The latter served the union’s rural, agricultural and allied industry members. They always opened up to him, head inclined, notebook in hand and, as a colleague observed, “an innocent unawareness of anything coming close to politically correct”. In retirement, Mike was instrumental in reviving the socialist Country Standard (established in 1935), which had been seen at numerous rural labour movement rallies such as Tolpuddle, Burston and Burford, where he was ever present.


He became editor of his local


community newspaper, Fitzrovia News, and the International Stand By Me Club Bulletin (proud of his presidency of the club, he cofounded a German beer


cellar, which celebrated the song and sentiments made famous by Ben E King). His reputation as an author was


built on diligent research and a readable style. A Pub Crawl through History: the Ultimate Boozers’ Who’s Who, described hostelries named after commoners (not kings, queens or dukes).


He and photographer Peter Arkell


produced Freedom Pass London, designed to help people using Ken Livingstone’s free travel pass to take pleasant walks around stations at the end of London Underground railway lines. Norfolk Red, a biography of farmworkers’ leader Wilf Page, showed Mike’s deep interest in the struggles of rural trade unionism. As befits a local historian at the hub of community activity, his lavishly produced Characters of Fitzrovia, published by Felix Dennis, was a tour de force. Few would disagree that the book should be updated to include a chapter on Mike himself.


Chris Kaufman


misfortunes – of his beloved Saints (St Johnstone Football Club). A lifelong supporter and a


shareholder, he was thrilled to see his team lift the Scottish Cup for the first time in 2014 in the company of the late Perth freelance photographer Louis Flood. Graham played an integral role in


securing boardroom changes when St Johnstone lurched from crisis to crisis and even considered bankruptcy in the 1980s. In one memorable report, he


Graham Fulton


Long-time Perthshire Advertiser journalist Graham Fulton (pictured above on the right), has died at the age of 87.


An honorary life member of the


NUJ (Perth and District branch), he passed away peacefully at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital with his wife Evelyn by his side after being treated for coronavirus.


21 | theJournalist Born and bred in Perth, Graham


was highly respected over a journalistic career that combined his twin passions of football and theatre with the news and court and council coverage that is the staple of life on a local newspaper. Graham’s career with the twice-weekly paper spanned nearly 50 years. He began as an apprentice monotype operator in the days of hot metal printing before transferring to the editorial staff. For many years, Graham covered the fortunes – and often


observed: “It is a sad tale of ineptitude which is merely serving to drag a once-proud St Johnstone to a situation where it is now one of the least regarded clubs in Scottish league football. The people responsible for that state of affairs must go and go now.”


A one-time member of Perth


Drama Club, Graham also trod the boards with minor roles at Perth Rep. He interviewed stars as diverse as


Eric Morecambe, Rikki Fulton, Patricia Routledge and Sue Holderness, who went on to star in Only Fools and Horses.


After being educated in Perth,


like so many of his generation, Graham saw his career plans go on hold until he returned from national service. In recent years, his home


was Ancaster House care home in Crieff, where he enjoyed reflecting on times past with former colleagues. Graham played an active role in Perth life as a justice of the peace and a member of the High Constables – the top-hatted bodyguard that turns out for royal visits and regular parades. He and Evelyn, who split their time between Perth and Tenerife after retiring, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary two years ago. Sadly, the funeral had to be


restricted to close family members, but friends and former colleagues are planning to bid Graham a proper farewell when the coronavirus restrictions are lifted.


Gordon Bannerman


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25