Mild-mannered journalist was a newsroom legend
TRIBUTES TO CHRIS THROUP WHO HAS DIED, AGED 81
FAMILY and friends have paid tribute to a “newsroom legend” who never shied away from an important story.
Chris Throup had a fine career as a journalist, working at the Nottingham Evening Post before moving to the BBC, where he worked as a reporter, producer and news editor for Radio Nottingham for many years.
He died peacefully at his home in Wilford on April 20, after a battle with cancer.
Mr Throup’s family said the 81-yearold was known for his “dry wit” and had a love for travelling.
His son Stephen Throup, 55, who lives in Lancashire and works in the aerospace industry, said his dad had a “cheeky and wicked sense of humour.”
“He travelled extensively in north and south America and he loved the Middle East,” said Stephen. “He travelled to Syria and Jordan extensively. When the Arab Spring came that curtailed that.”
Mr Throup’s journalism career began when he joined the Stroud News and Journal as a junior reporter in 1957.
He progressed to the Nottingham Evening News and then to the Evening Post, joining as a reporter and going on to work as a sub-editor between 1964 and 1971.
Most of his career was spent at the BBC, with Mr Throup spending seven years from 1971 as a reporter and producer at Radio Nottingham, two of which were as presenter and producer of phone-in and current affairs programmes. He was also news editor between 1978 and 1994.
Stephen, dad to daughters Lauren and Rebecca, aged 25 and 23, said: “Anyone that listened to Radio Nottingham back in the 70s and 80s will have heard his deep, distinctive voice.”
His former colleagues described him as “a great guy to work for”.
BBC presenter John Holmes said: “Chris was a newsroom legend. His pioneering work helped to set up a newsroom I was proud to be associated with.
“Chris had an experienced eye when recognising strong stories, setting them up for broadcast, and never shying away from them.”
John Hess, former BBC East Midlands political editor and Radio Nottingham reporter, said: “Chris was a great guy to work for - a brilliant news editor and a fantastic mentor. He had a very sharp journalist brain.
“My abiding image of Chris will be of him playing Backgammon in The Peacock on Mansfield Road, with a pint of Home Ales.”
Former Radio Nottingham presenter Jeff Owen, 57, said: “Chris has been a dear friend for almost 40 years. I first met him with trepidation when I joined BBC Radio Nottingham as a student at the age of 18.
“I expected a news editor to be some sort of shouting fierce ogre, hurling typewriters and abuse - but nothing could have been further from the truth.
“Chris was one of the kindest, most gentle, considerate, mild-mannered people you could ever wish to meet.”
Mr Owen, who also lives in Wilford, said Mr Throup “always had time for people”.
Mr Throup took early retirement in 1994. leaving the BBC to look after his wife, Barbara, who sadly died of cancer the following year at the age of 54.
He went on to lecture in broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University, leaving there in the early 2000s.
But Mr Throup became ill in 2015 and he was found to have had double pneumonia and multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
Carole Fleming, former head of department for NTU’S Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism, said: “Many of his former students now work in the BBC and other broadcast organisations thanks to his patient tutoring - a fitting legacy for someone who loved his profession.”
Mr Throup leaves behind three sisters, a brother, his two children and his grandchildren.
Anyone wishing to make a donation in his memory are asked by the family to support the charities Myeloma UK and Love Russia.