Endell Laird, a former editor of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, has died at the age of 81. During his tenure at the Record, in the 1980s and 90s, the paper regularly sold more than 750,000 copies a day.*
In a tribute published by his former newspaper, it says Laird “was known for his winning formula of hard-hitting news, campaigning journalism and attractive promotions, making the paper a must-read”.
Laird started on the Dundee Courier and then moved to the Scottish Daily Express. He was working there on the subs’ desk in January 1971 when news broke of a crush among the crowd watching the Rangers-Celtic game at Ibrox Park.
It quickly became clear that it was a major tragedy (in which 66 people died, and more than 200 more were injured).
Former Record columnist, Tom Brown, recalled that although Laird was not even an executive, it was he who “made the decision to stop the presses, strip the paper and produce a disaster special”.
Very shortly afterwards, Laird was recruited by the Record’s sister title, the Sunday Mail, which he edited from 1971 until he was given the Record editorship in 1988.
His bad luck was to edit the Record during the ownership of Robert Maxwell, and he found himself defending the group against the proprietor’s maverick decision-making.
I often witnessed Laird trying to explain as tactfully as possible to the bombastic Maxwell that he should leave the Glasgow operation well alone.
When Maxwell died in November 1991, Laird attended the funeral in Jerusalem and, according to the Record’s former managing editor, Malcolm Speed, “Endell was a standout” because “he wore his tartan bunnet” to the ceremony.
Laird, who became editor-in-chief on both the Record and Mail, finally retired in 1994. He is survived by his wife, June, two daughters and a son.
*The latest ABC sales figures show the Record’s daily sale as 191,000.
Source: Daily Record
