Tony Winning, pinball wizard and prince of a boss

A pinball wizard has left us, flipped his flipper to a mighty score, rattling the machine till the great tilt lit up.

Tony was a prince of a boss, taught me great reporting and writing tricks and gave me my wings as a trainee in Paris in 1978.

He shared his infectious sense of fun in the newsroom, over splendid lunches at the Brouillet Bros restaurant or an after-work beer at Smelly’s - the corner bar on rue Reaumur where he engaged in daily battle with the pinball machine.

Meeting up with Tony at Reuters Dinosaurs lunches in Paris in recent years was always a delight. A generous, gentle man. RIP ■