Dozens of national newspaper journalists – not a few of them on the Guardian – who worked early in their careers for the Oxford Mail and Oxford Times will remember Anthony Price with nostalgic affection.
He was an extremely genial, unflustered and unautocratic figure, his day job as editor of the weekly Oxford Times being not the most demanding in journalism. The two papers had a near monopoly, so most of the stories had already appeared verbatim in the Mail, an evening publication.
But each had a distinct character, the Times being somewhat more staid and upmarket, selling self-consciously to the university dons and professional classes. This was how Tony – small C conservative and customarily wearing his purple and white striped Merton College tie – wanted it to be.
Plotlines for his next novel were never far from his mind: when he learned my brother was a career army officer he enlisted his help tracking down a detail of military regulations that formed the core of his next book. Tony was certainly the nicest, most approachable of editors.
