Colleagues loved ribbing our ‘Fabuloso’

Graham Fulton’s colleague and former PA sports editor Gordon Bannerman paid special tribute to his pal.

He said:“To love-of-his-life Evelyn, he was‘Treasure’.

“To friends and colleagues in an unusually constant editorial team, he was‘Fabby’,‘Fabuloso’– and sometimes even plain‘Graham’.

“He will be sorely missed.

“He may have been a gifted journalist, specialising in his two loves, St Johnstone and the theatre, but Graham was also the subject of affectionate ribbing, inspiring an impressive collection of‘Fultonisms’ in an office where seven of us wrestled over two telephones.

“Some of the more printable ones – On the football beat:‘That groin injury must be a pain in the neck’; stepping tentatively into the farming field:‘How long does it take a bull to conceive?’; on dates pre-Google:‘I can tell you exactly when it was – 1973 or 1974.’

“Graham enjoyed covering productions at the theatres in Perth and Pitlochry, and championed Perth Festival of the Arts. In contrast, the wooden press benches at Muirton, trips following Saints – often in the lower leagues – and the early years of McDiarmid, could be more robust arenas.

“Graham’s courageous campaigning in the PA for a change of the old guard to preserve an ailing St Johnstone should not be underestimated. Feathers were ruffled, friendships strained.

“Seventeen years after retirement allowed the sunworshipper to winter in Tenerife – where the Fulton hospitality was the stuff of legend – Graham enjoyed his reward when he saw his beloved Saints lift the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history.

“In these trying times, his many friends from all walks of life are denied the opportunity to give Evelyn a hug and bid their goodbyes. That is for another day Fabby.”