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Top reporter: Stewart Valdar, with notebook in hand, interviews William
Alford, the man from the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works by
Nelson’s feet in 1968 |
Journalist and ‘foot soldier of the revolution’
DESPITE
leaving school at 15, Stewart Valdar, who died at the age of 90 on June
5, could truly be termed a man of letters. He fulfilled a distinguished
career in journalism, pursued his genealogical interests for some 50
years, was a dedicated diarist for most of his life, and was a
passionate campaigner and revolutionary, even in his later years.
The
second of seven children, Stewart began his working life as a
draughtsman in a variety of jobs ranging from the design of light
fittings to work on Wellington bombers during World War II.
During the 1950s he changed tack and followed in the footsteps of his
journalist father, Lionel Valdar, by joining and later becoming editor
of two newspapers in north London, the Hampstead News and the
Marylebone Record.
He also worked as a freelance reporter for national newspapers, being
paid by the number of lines printed (“lineage”). During this time he
became known as “Valdar of Hampstead”. He then progressed onto the
nationals, as a sub editor at the Daily Herald and the Sunday Times.
This was followed in 1962 by a brief period in public relations with
the Lesley Frewin Organisation.
In 1964 Stewart returned to journalism when he joined the UK Press
Gazette shortly after his brother Colin, previously one of the
country’s youngest Fleet Street editors, became owner.
During his 23 years at UKPG he introduced several highly successful
innovations, including the News Contacts Directory and the series of
News Briefings (between four and six pages of information on specific
organisations or events) – all aimed at supporting the role of
journalists. It was during this time that he met his third wife, Jean
de Lemos, the artist and illustrator, with whom he later had a son.
Stewart Valdar was not just a man of the pen. He took part in
archaeological digs around the country, was a leading light in
Hampstead Local History Society, an active member of a folk singing
club and an accomplished artist, with fine examples of his still life
and nude studies adorning many walls today.
Probably the most dramatic example of his action-man status was when he
climbed to the top of Nelson’s Column in 1968 using 16 10-foot ladders
lashed to its length (long before today’s safety rules applied) – the
only journalist who took advantage of the opportunity provided by the
rare cleaning of the monument.
Stewart Valdar was a lifelong socialist. During the late 1930s and
1940s he was an active member of the Young Communist League and became
a shop steward while working in Birmingham and London.
During this time he met through the YCL his first wife, Joan Scott,
with whom he had a son, and in 1946 married another YCL activist Pamela
Keeling, later to become Pamela Moore, with whom he had four children.
She died recently.
After the denouncement of Stalin he, like many other idealistic
socialists in the UK, moved away from communism and towards socialism,
later joining the Labour Party. However, he continued to campaign
passionately against imperialism in its old and new forms: military
aggression (Stewart was a regular member of Ban the Bomb marches), and
racism on a global front, as well as injustices on a local scale.
He combined his journalistic skills and campaigning passion through his
home-produced Stewart’s News Round, circulated monthly for some 13
years to a dedicated readership of more than 50 family, friends and
colleagues, including two MPs.
As he explained, Stewart never sought political high office, preferring
instead to be “a foot soldier of the revolution”.
Stewart Valdar is survived by his wife Jean, four children, four grandchildren and five great- grandchildren.
Andy Valdar |
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