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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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