Jim Brennan launched the first full-time journalism course in the country, at Harlow, in 1965, and was asked to repeat what was regarded as a successful operation later in Sheffield, at what was to become the renowned Richmond College.

The National Council for the Training of Journalist's training programme had taken a giant step forward with the success in 1964 of its campaign for acceptance in the full time education system, with full Government funding, and it began immediately to set up college courses on a regional basis.

The first was at Harlow, Essex, and Jim Brennan was its first full-time lecturer and course supervisor.

He had worked on three evening papers and at the time of his appointment was assistant editor of the Nottingham Evening Post.

He had been involved with training from the creation of the NCTJ ten years earlier, first as a member of the network of volunteers from the Newspaper Society and National Union of Journalists in running day-release and weekend courses for trainees.

These were arranged by regional committees from the two bodies, and while at Nottingham, Jim was secretary of the East Midlands Committee, working closely with Charles Forrest, editor of the Derby Evening Telegraph, and Frank Hartlet, editor-in-chief of the Nottingham Guardian Journal and Evening Post.

Jim had become a member of the NCTJ's advisory council, being chosen from a short-list of four in interviews at Harlow.

He recalls being interviewed on Radio Four by Jack de Manio (the John Humphreys of his day), there was a paragraph in The Times, and more publicity in UK Press Gazette, the NUJ's Journalist, and elsewhere.

The first Harlow course began in September 1964, with part-time tutors, and Jim was asked to join the staff in November, having served a month’s notice at Nottingham, where he had worked for ten years.

In this the editor-in-chief, who was strong on training, was over-ruled by the company chairman, Tom Forman Hardy, who interviewed Jim himself and insisted that his position (No. 2 on the evening paper and a leader-writer on the morning) warranted three months' notice.

Harlow Town Council agreed with the college to rent him a house, and he moved to Harlow in a snowstorm in January 1965.

Some of the highlights of the early days at Harlow were recalled by Jim last year, when he was a guest at the opening of the new journalism centre there.

Among his former students at the event was a BBC former religious editor and now world correspondent, Mike Wooldridge.

He was disappointed but not surprised by the absence of another prominent old boy, Kelvin Mackenzie, who became famous if not notorious as editor of the Sun.

An open secret at the college was that almost immediately on starting at Harlow, Jim got a job as a casual sub-editor at The Times - full-time during college holidays, and a day or two a week in between - which was never acknowledged officially by the college but counted as a plus by the department, for the valuable experience he was able to bring to his teaching.

He had become a member of the national council and deeply involved in training, and has considered writing a history of the training scheme himself… but must wait until he retires, at 90, in six years' time.

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