Fleet Street legend Sir Harold Evans dies aged 92
● Ex-newspaper editor hailed for his investigation into drug thalidomide
Tributes have poured in from campaigners, journalists and politicians following the death of Fleet Street legend Sir Harold Evans aged 92.
The former editor of the Sunday Times was described as a “witty, charming, fiercely intelligent” man and a “true champion” of social justice.
Leading the tributes were victims of the thalidomide drug-scandal, which Sir Harold helped to expose, first while editing the Northern Echo then later at the Sunday Times.
Glen Harrison, at ha lidomi de survivor and deputy chairman of the campaign group Thalidomide UK, described the journalist as a “true warrior, a true champion for our cause”.
Sir Harold, who was latterly editor-at-large for the Reuters news agency, died of congestive heart failure in New York, according to his wife, Tina Brown.
Born into a working-class family in Manchester in 1928, Harold Evans began his career at a weekly newspaper in Ashton-under-lyne aged 16. He rose through the industry with roles including assistant editor of the Manchester Evening News and, after a stint in the US, editor of the Northern Echo in Darlington.
Peter Barron, Northern Echo editor from 1999 to 2016, said of Sir Harold: “I was editor half a century later and thepeople of County Durham, North Yorkshire and Darlington still revered him.
“If I went to give a talk in the community, Harold Evans always came up, atWomen’s Institutes, Townswom-en’s Guilds and Rotary Clubs, somebody always had a memory of him. He made a lasting impression on the people of the North East.
“He changed the world; he believed in campaigning journalism and he also understood the importance of getting out and listening to people.”
Sir Harold, who was knighted in 2004, became editor of the Sunday Times in the late 1960s and editor of the Times soon after Rupert Murdoch bought the paper in 1981. He left around a year later after clashing with Mr Murdoch over editorial independence.
Sir Harold was renowned for his promotion of investigative journalism.
His most famous investigation involved thalidomide, a drug prescribed to expectant mothers for morning sickness, which caused many thousands across the world to give birth to children with missing limbs, deformed hearts, blindness and other problems.
Sir Harold fought off a legal attempt by UK manufacturer Distillers – a major Sunday Times advertiser at the time – to stop the paper revealing that the drug’s developers had not gone through proper testing procedures. He also forced the firm to increase the compensation received by victims.
On his investigations, Sir Harold once said: “I tried to do – all I hoped to do – was to shed a little light. And if that light grew weeds, we’d have to try and pull them up.”