Dave Betts - blessed relief at the end of a crackling phone line

Working with Dave Betts on the old World Desk was both instructive and a pleasure. Coming back from an overseas posting he was always helpful and professional - plus a great guy to be with in mother Moon’s at the end of a shift. As one of those hapless correspondents wrestling with crocodile clips, weird foreign telephone junction boxes and those awful Sony tape recorders, having Dave at the other end of a crackling phone line was a blessed relief. My favourite Betts story? He came to Hong Kong on a training mission, got to his hotel, dumped his bag, ran outside and commanded the taxi driver “Take me to the FCC!”, which he did - all of 200 yards. The great man then compounded things by brandishing a note to the driver with the exhortation “Keep the change!”. Only in the safety of the FCC bar was it discovered that our leader had mistaken the HK$10 bill for the HK$1,000 bill. They were cunningly the same colour. RIP, Dave. ■