Hunter S Thompson in Aspen, Colorado in 1981. Photograph: AP
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his journalistic credentials, the media has gone to town on the death late on Sunday night of novelist, gun collector and Nixon nemesis Hunter S Thompson.
While the story was reported widely across the web and broadcast media yesterday, the timing of his death meant that the news didn't make it into the UK papers until this morning – at which point they more than made up lost time.
Personal testimonials were the favoured approach: in the Times, Marianne MacDonald recalls Thompson's "humanity and kindness" on "our long night in Aspen"; the Independent scores with a lengthy retrospective from Thompson's longtime collaborator and friend, Ralph Steadman; and the Guardian carries a rather shorter interview with Steadman alongside a Jon Ronson article on the value of Thompson's work.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the New York Times's coverage ran to pages, the LA Times went for local reminiscences and photo galleries and publications as diverse as the American Politics Journal and Investors' Business Daily joined the rush to jump on the Thompson bandwagon. HST: gonzo, but not forgotten.
• Sarah Crown is editor of Guardian Unlimited Books
