Mike Shuttleworth-hard working and lots of fun

Mike Shuttleworth was my number 2 in the two-person Zimbabwe bureau shortly after independence. He was a great support - hard working, personable and lots of fun behind a bushy black beard.

We had lots of laughs together.

Mike came to Harare with partner Helen and little daughter Jess.

After a relatively short time he was reassigned to take over the one-person Zambia bureau.

But Reuters preferred a married person for the post, so we sought out a District Commissioner to perform the necessary somewhere in the remote bush. The things we did for Reuters! ■