Jim Flannery, bright as a sunbeam

Jim Flannery was the Reuters-AAP correspondent in Jakarta in 1958 when I joined Reuters as a graduate trainee in Singapore. Wearing a colourful batik shirt, sun glasses and a big smile he would appear in the Reuters Singapore office like a sunbeam. He visited Singapore for frequent breaks because Indonesia in the 1950s was very much a hardship post. Foreign correspondents used to say “Go to Jakarta” instead of “Go to hell.” 

Seven years later I joined London Bureau and found Jim doing the solo overnight shift, coming in with a bag of books on Mandarin, a language he studied for much of his life.

After a succesful stint as a London correspondent, including covering Churchill's burial, and as a senior desker, Jim became World Desk overnight editor for many years.  

When the overnight news editing operation moved to Hong Kong a decade later, Jim worked day shifts as a chief sub and editor-in-charge.  He took the change of status with typical good humour.  “All the people I meet nowadays are on their way down,” he once said.  Anne McKane, a  former UK chief political correspondent, promptly replied: “If all the people you meet are on their way down you must be on your way up.”

Rest in peace, pengyou. ■