My friend and colleague John Wilford, who has died aged 80, was Yorkshire Television’s first news editor when the company began transmission from Leeds in 1968. He rose to take on the role of editor of the regional news programme Calendar and later became head of local programmes.
On the night in 1974 when Brian Clough was sacked by Leeds United after 44 days in the job, John masterminded the live televised confrontation between Clough and Don Revie. It was an electrifying meeting between two football giants.
John recounted with great relish how Revie asked for his fee in cash. Away from prying eyes John escorted him to the nearest gents’ lavatories in the YTV building, Revie undid and dropped his trousers, crammed a crisp wad of notes into a money belt and the interview went ahead.
In 1980 John teamed up with his YTV colleague, John Fairley, to launch a bid to hive off part of the Midlands ITV contract from ATV. He and Fairley resigned to form a consortium bidding for the East Midlands contract. The bid failed but after a period “in the wilderness” John returned to Yorkshire Television as head of corporate affairs.
John was born in Preston, one of five children of Charles Wilford, editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, and Louise (nee Harris), a writer and reviewer for the Post. He went to Balshaws grammar school in Leyland, then Newcastle University at Durham, where he studied economics and co-edited the student newspaper, a job which served as a stepping stone to journalism and employment on the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.
John and I both joined the staff of ATV in Birmingham in 1965. A man with a wicked sense of humour, he was sharp, witty and driven by ambition. John became a doughty on-screen reporter at ATV. He was first choice as Midlands correspondent for ITV’s 1966 World Cup coverage.
Two years into the job, John was summoned to the editor’s office, not an unusual occurrence because he often brushed up against the hierarchy. But this was different. Sir Geoffrey Cox, founding director of YTV, was head hunting for the embryonic station. “Do you have anyone with a northern accent who could become our news editor?” he asked. The ATV Midlands news editor, Bob Gillman, had just the man, he told Cox.
So it was that John, with a barely-discernible northern accent, found himself in a job which would lead him to dizzy heights in the television world, winning Royal Television Society awards along the way including one for his documentary It’s No Joke Living in Barnsley, his 1976 portrait of life in the South Yorkshire town.
He had boundless energy for whatever he became involved in; and carried on with freelance work even after his retirement. A keen cyclist, he completed a charity ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and he was coach for a local boys’ football team. He was also involved as a director and actor in amateur theatre in Leeds and Harrogate.
He is survived by three children, Victoria, David and Elizabeth, from his marriage to Meryll Tomlin, which ended in divorce, and by seven grandchildren and two of his sisters.
