This afternoon sees the funeral of George Jenkins, sometime Daily Mirror features chief sub and deputy features editor, who became a great pioneer for what was called, in the 1970s, "new technology" (ie, computers).
George, born in Burnley, was regarded as something of "a professional northerner" at the Mirror. More importantly, he was a professional journalist who, though steeped in the hot metal craft, was enough of a visionary to see the online future. Most of his colleagues remained confirmed sceptics.
There are warm tributes on the gentlemenranters site to George - who died, aged 80, a week ago, at his home in Chingford, Essex - from former colleagues Don Walker and Mike Hellicar.
There is also a tribute in the paper where, at 16, he started his career, the Lancashire Telegraph. The paper says he "rose to become an executive director of Mirror Group Newspapers in London, working alongside the infamous tycoon Robert Maxwell."
I didn't know that. I thought his promotion to technical editor occurred in the pre-Maxwell era. But my memory is clearly fading.
