Picture courtesy of Roy Greenslade

A regional press sub-editor who went on to achieve his ambition of working for the Daily Express has died aged 73.

Tributes have been paid to Bill Reynolds, pictured left, who maintained a “life-long optimistic enthusiasm” for sub-editing throughout his career and beyond.

Bill worked on the Barking & Dagenham Advertiser, where he would read aloud Express headlines he regarded as “perfect” to colleagues each day.

He later moved to the Birmingham Mail, before joining the Express sub’s desk in Manchester.

Describing their time at the Advertiser, former colleague Roy Greenslade wrote: “I doubt that I’ve ever met any journalist who exhibited such life-long optimistic enthusiasm for the art of sub-editing as my friend Bill Reynolds. He revelled in it.

“He endlessly wrote and rewrote intros. He laboured over choosing just the right descriptive phrase in each paragraph, continually revisiting every sentence.

“He had picked up a saying from a veteran that he loved to repeat: ‘Every line a gem, every paragraph a pearl.’

“As for the headlines, he was never content until they sparkled too.”

Bill later moved on to Fleet Street, and would spend summers in England on the Express and winters in Australia working for the Perth Daily News.

In an obituary for Media Guardian, Roy added: “Slow to anger, quick to smile, with a seeming ability never to panic, and ever helpful to younger colleagues, he built a wide network of friendships among the subbing fraternity.”

Bill had been suffering from cancer and died on 30 August.

His funeral will be held at Hainault Forest Park cemetery at 12.45pm tomorrow. He is survived by wife Margaret.