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Ron 'Nobby' Clarke, a superb all-rounder

Ron was a superb all-rounder who served Reuters editorial well over his 32 years. Unusual to find a desk-oriented journalist who was such a great reporter and writer when unleashed on the US west coast, particularly Hollywood. I first met him in 1960 when we nudged into the old Central Desk in London. Ron was already a leads writer and well respected by his peers. Maybe it was his earlier training at BUP that helped. After his period in Vietnam, described so vividly elsewhere, Ron replaced me in Washington as news editor, general news in 1971. I was rather burnt out after a tough two years that produced some family strains. After a settling-in period as President Nixon and Henry Kissinger tried to end the war, Ron was hit with the Watergate scandal. The volume of transcript material issued to the press was unprecedented - bureau staff had to take sections of it. A few years later in the news-crammed 1970s Ron was editor for North America in New York and old contemporary Ian Macdowall was general news king in London. A bit later (1978) Ron was in Los Angeles in a job he admitted he had long coveted, while Ian was soon to spread his wings in Asia from his base in Hong Kong. Both men lifted the general news file in a big way with their quality reporting. Ron earned scores of media headlines for his stories on O.J. Simpson, Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor, a gal he said he first met on the Thames embankment one night during a BUP work break in the 1950s. She was distraught over a pending divorce from husband No 2 Michael Wilding and Ron offered a sympathetic ear. She remembered the encounter when interviewed years later in LA.

Ron was laid to rest on Tuesday 8 July in a churchyard grave beside his first wife Norah in his home village of Anstey, Hertfordshire. The whole town turned out to say farewell and the old pub opposite Ron and wife Belle's place hummed with chatter, drinks and good finger food. ■