Newspaper adviser to the Aga Khan who cover many memorable stories

NUMEROUS news organisations carried obituaries recording Robbie's death. On Teletext he was described as a 'giant of journalism' and 'one of Scotland's most versatile journalists'. Below is the obituary that appeared in The Times newspaper on 7th April, 2003.

THE newspaper career of Willie Robertson spanned some 54 years and included an assistant editorship of The Times and an appointment as personal newspaper adviser to the Aga Khan.

William Swanson Robertson was born in Edinburgh and grew up in the village of Stow, in the Scottish Borders.

He joined the Edinburgh Evening News in 1947 after leaving George Heriot's School, and entered London journalism five years later.

It was Robertson's ability to write compelling headlines and his intuitive feeling for page design and typography that brought him to the attention of a succession of Fleet Street editors. During his spell at the Evening Standard, where he served as assistant chief sub-editor, he was responsible for handling the John Profumo affair and the Kennedy assassination.

While there he created the memorable front page that used the headline 'Going, Going, Gone' above the story of the death of Donald Campbell, who was attempting to break the world water speed record. This headline brought Robertson a personal note of thanks from his editor – and a cheque for £500 from Lord Beaverbrook.

In 1970 he began as an industrial writer at The Times, became chief sub-editor of the business news section in 1973 and served as night editor from 1975 until 1981. He was responsible for handling copy submitted by some of the best-known economics writers of the day and for the entire production of the section – which at the time had more pages than any other part of the newspaper. In those days sub-editors worked with pens, scissors and pots of paste and Robertson, quick and animated and working with a terrier-like energy, scribbled his page layouts with a free hand.

His sub-editors understood what was required. On Rupert Murdoch's takeover of The Times in 1981, Charles Douglas-Home, deputy editor of The Times (and later Editor), approached Robertson on behalf of the Aga Khan, owner of The Nation, the largest group of newspapers in East Africa, and persuaded him to become editorial director and executive editor of the group based in Nairobi. His remit was to steer the editorial content of the newspapers along a path acceptable to a one-party state.

During this time Robertson managed to secure the release of three senior journalists who had been detained for writing political material.

On his return to Britain in 1984 Robertson was appointed adviser to Jim Bailey, founder of Drum magazine, one of the leading publishers in Africa.

In 1994 Robertson returned to Scotland, where, rather than retire, he edited the Carrick Gazette series of newspapers and the Stornoway Gazette. Ill-health finally forced him into semi-retirement in 2001, but he refused to remain idle, launching various internet projects.

He is survived by a former wife Anne and their nine children.

Willie Robertson, journalist, was born on October 21, 1930. He died on March 17, 2003, aged 72.

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