DAVID EMERY: A TRUE GENT AND BEST IN THE BUSINESS

DAVID Emery was a brilliant writer and unflappable who brought editor a sense of serenity to the most chaotic of professions.

- Chris Dunlavy

Problem? What problem? When David was around, there was no deadline too tight. No story that couldn't be salvaged. No issue that couldn't be resolved over a long lunch and a friendly chat.

He'd field the calls from irate managers, angry readers and litigious lawyers. Make them disappear with a succinct email or jovial phone call. And if any errant journalist tried to apologise, he'd dismissively wave them away.

To David, mistakes were an occupational hazard, not a cause for recrimination. Just don't do it again, he'd laugh. And you didn't. He had your back, and you. didn't want to let him down.

It is one of the many reasons his staff respected him, but far from the only one. His years on Fleet Street predated many of us, but we knew where he’d been and what he’d done.

David’s knowledge of sport was peerless, and on the rare occasions he brought his hands clattering down on a keyboard, his skill as a writer effortlessly blew all of his staff out of the water.