News came through here in the office this morning of the death of Frank Curran. He sat where I sit now - in the editor's chair in the Derry Journal. Although the paper's been going since 1772, it has had relatively few editors - just eight since 1882.
Frank joined the Derry Journal in 1942 at the age of 19. His interest in politics in this part of Ireland must have developed at an early age, as he produced an influential booklet called 'Ireland's Fascist City' in 1946, a 49 page publication from the Derry Journal which carried a foreword by then-Nationalist MP and later Nationalist Party leader, Eddie McAteer. (I see a copy went up for sale at an auction in Dublin last year - would be a nice one to have).
According to the Journal's 230th anniversary supplement of 31st May, 2002, Frank took over as editor on the retirement of Tom Cassidy in 1977, and remained in the job until Pat McArt succeeded him in 1982. He was in charge when I joined the paper in 1980, although I was working in the Letterkenny office and mostly had contact with him by phone.
Reading his articles on politics in the North was an education, particularly for a Donegal man. He was still a presence in the Journal office on Buncrana Road when I went to work there later in the 1980s. I always thought he was a tremendous sports writer, with a rare talent for bringing the reader to the thick of the action, even if it was a sporting occasion from decades past.
When his responsibilities meant that he wasn't getting out to sports fixtures as much, he kept reporters on their toes on the big occasions by doing his own assessment, 'As I saw it on tv', which always threatened to be more atmospheric than the account from pitch or ring side.
A great series which I've remembered down the years was 'Golden Moments of NW Sport'. Perhaps we'll retrieve some of those from the archives in the memory of a great journalist. political commentator and sportswriter. RIP
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11452533
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