Journalist

Born: April 25, 1953;

Died: February 13, 2018

BOB Thomson, who has died of cancer aged 64, was a well-known and popular journalist whose long career spanned the years of greatest change in the newspaper industry in Scotland. At The Herald, The Scotsman, The Edinburgh Evening News and other newspapers he earned and retained the respect of editors and colleagues alike as a sure and safe pair of hands.

He was born Robert Duncan Thomson in Robroyston Hospital in Glasgow to Iain and Margaret Thomson. His father and uncle were both successful in the newspaper industry, though in different branches. Iain worked as a buyer for the Daily Record and then the Mirror in London. Uncle Jimmy Thomson was a leading photographer for The Herald for more than 40 years.

When Bob was 12, the family moved to Rochester in Kent, where he attended Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School for Boys. Initially, he was put down a year at the high-end English grammar school – “the Maths School” considered Scottish education to be inferior to the English system, but he was quickly moved up again, as he showed himself to be at least the equal of, if not better than, his classmates.

He also excelled on the sports field. He was a fine scrum-half and played for the school’s elite first XV as a fourth year (his teammates being mostly in the upper sixth). He was also a good cricketer and often played two matches at the weekend. On Saturdays he would turn out for the school and on Sundays play for the Electricity Board. He even scored a century for the EB while still a junior.

Despite his academic ability, he left school at 16 and immediately joined the Chatham News. Later, he moved to the North East Kent Gazette in Sittingbourne, riding his Lambretta 175 to work in all weathers. Ambitious and keen to prove himself he may have been, but the cub reporter always had to ring home to tell his mother that he had arrived safely. He even admitted one day that a number of his early reports were ghosted by his father.

Keen to return to his roots, he moved to Elgin (his mother came from the area) in the early-1970s and started working for the Northern Scot. Here, he enjoyed partying with his wild northern cousins, who thought nothing of an 80-mile round trip to Aberdeen to buy a carry-out at three in the morning.

From the Northern Scot, he moved south to work for the Dunfermline Press, and in 1978 joined the Edinburgh Evening News, where he soon made his mark as a city council reporter.

Though he was on first-name terms with many of the “cooncillors”, he earned their respect as an honest and diligent reporter. It was at this time that he was given the affectionate nickname, “Scoop”.

In fact, it was while researching a news story in 1980 that “Scoop” Thomson found his own love story –Erica Storey, from Cumbria, who was working as a receptionist in an Edinburgh hotel. They married in 1985 and were rarely apart until his untimely death.

After making his name as a fine reporter, Bob moved from the newsdesk to the subs’ desk, and it was as a sub-editor that he spent the rest of his career, his skills making him much sought after by editors across Scotland, even after he retired.

His keen eye for detail and his insistence that everything was checked for accuracy saved many a reporter’s reputation. His stubbornness may have, on occasion, had chief subs pulling their hair out in frustration, but he was invariably proved right and he rarely missed a deadline.

He was a sub of the old school, but he kept up to speed with the rapid changes in the industry. He was at the forefront of introducing new technology into the newsroom, formatting software to suit the styles of the Scotsman Publications titles and training new members of staff. When plans were drawn up for a new paper, the Scotland on Sunday, Bob was called in to add his expertise before and after the launch. For years afterwards, he often worked six days a week, including a busy Saturday shift for the SoS sports department.

During the 1990s, he was regularly promoted by Evening News editors, eventually becoming assistant editor, but in 1999 he decided to move to The Scotsman as political production editor. In 2000 a new challenge offered itself with the launch of Business a.m. and Bob, along with other Scotsman journalists, joined the new paper. It failed to make much of an impact, however, and Bob returned two years later to The Scotsman – to a collective sigh of relief from the subs at Holyrood.

The next few years was a time of major change in Scottish affairs, with a new Scottish Government and Parliament building leading the way, but the rapid expansion of new media was proving unstoppable, and with falling circulation came staff cuts and reduced budgets, despite the increased workload. Bob worked longer and longer hours, to the detriment of his health, and in 2011 came the devastating news that he had cancer.

Painful chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery were all bravely borne and after a year the cancer was in remission, but it had taken its toll. He went back to work on reduced hours and gradually his health improved. He took early retirement in 2015, but continued to work shifts for many of the top Scottish papers. He often worked for The Scotsman, The Scotland on Sunday and The Herald in the same week.

Sadly, his cancer returned in November 2017. He is survived by his wife Erica, sister Jill and brother Alistair.