Derek Jameson
| Derek Jameson | |
|---|---|
Jameson in 2008
|
|
| Born |
29 November 1929 Hackney, London, England |
| Died | 12 September 2012 (aged 82) |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Journalist, and after dinner speaker |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | 3 sons, 1 daughter |
Derek Jameson (29 November 1929 – 12 September 2012) was an English tabloid journalist and broadcaster.
Beginning his career in the media at the lowest possible level in 1944 at Reuters, he worked his way up to become the editor of several British tabloid newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, he was a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 2 for nearly a decade and a half, including an on-air partnership with Ellen, his third wife, and he became a familiar television personality.
He was described, when his profile was at its highest, as "the second most famous man in Britain - after Prince Charles" by Auberon Waugh.
Born in Hackney, London, Jameson was illegitimate and grew up in a private children's home where conditions were poor, with five children sharing the same bed, which was bug-ridden. He never knew with certainty who his father was and discovered at 8 that his supposed elder sister, Elsie, was actually his mother.
As a child, Jameson was evacuated from London to Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, during the Second World War. His formal education included a period at a borstal; his youthful activities had included shoplifting.
His career began in Fleet Street, as a messenger boy at Reuters, and he became a trainee reporter in 1946. That year he became a member of the Communist Party, and acquired the nickname of the "red menace" as a result. This political involvement almost ended this employment at Reuters, but his call-up for national service intervened. By the time his period in the Army ended in 1951, during which he was stationed in Vienna, he had left the Party. Jameson returned to Reuters, where he remained until 1960, eventually becoming chief sub-editor. After a brief period as the editor of the London American, a London weekly with Arthur Christiansen as the publication's consultant, he joined the Daily Express for the first time in 1961.
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