John Olding

Copy editing isn’t a glamorous job, and the people who ensure stories are sound, thorough and clean don’t get the same recognition as the writers whose work they perfect. That was the case with John Olding, celebrated as ‘ the best editor The Sun ever had’ upon his death at 65 in 2007. “He looked like Ernest Hemingway and he barked all of his orders at us, and he just kept us so in line, because we were so fearful of him,” said reporter Kim Bolan. “But he was the best editor I ever had, in terms of his news judgment.”