The death of former Derby journalist Mike Kernahan has produced a string of tributes from one-time protégés who have gone on, through his help, to become big names in the world of television, radio and newspapers – as the Derby Evening Telegraph’s Pat Parkin reports.

Journalists who went on to become big names in television, newspapers and radio have been paying tribute to their old boss, Mike Kernahan, who has died in Cheshire, aged 75.

In the 1950s and ’60s, he was news editor at Raymonds News Agency in Derby, supplying news, film and pictures all around the world.

Young men like Sky TV’s Trevor East, ITN News editor-in-chief David Mannion, ITV reporter, the late Terry Lloyd and the BBC’s Phil King were junior members of the staff.

All say they have him to thank for helping them pursue successful careers.

Mike worked for Raymonds for 20 years before moving to Manchester with his wife, Barbara, and their three children, Nicholas, Adrian and Melanie.

There he ran a government video training centre, writing and producing film. and was among the first to introduce top stars of the time, like John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett and Peggy Mount, into his promotional training.

He later set up his own video company, writing scripts and organising film crews, and ran it from Majorca where he and Barbara went to live for 25 years.

He also wrote plays. His most successful, The Square Peg, was broadcast on Radio Four’s Afternoon Theatre slot with Derek Nimmo in the leading role.

Derby-born Trevor East, former deputy managing director of Sky Sports, recalls his old boss as “an excellent journalist and a great wordsmith”.

“We were kids at the time, mad as a hatter, but he had enormous patience and taught us all we know. On my first job out on my own, I rang into the office with some quotes from a miners’ meeting. I hadn’t a clue what it was all about, or how to write it.

“He listened, then dictated back to me 150 words from the top of his head and I had my story. It was in the quality papers next morning. It was a skill we all had to learn, but he was the best. He will be sadly missed.”

Terry Lloyd, the award-winning, Derby-born ITN reporter who was killed while covering the Iraq War, always said his successful career was thanks to Kernahan who taught and encouraged him when he started out. Derbeian Phil King trained at Raymonds before becoming a sports broadcaster for the BBC and ITV, and later setting up his own business.

“Mike inspired so many of us. Nothing was too much trouble and he was very patient. We all have him to thank for what happened to us,” he said.

Sports writer Mike Carey, of Darley Abbey, said: “Mike was both a nice bloke and a talented reporter. The two don’t often go together. He could look back on a long line of young people who, thanks to him, went on to big things.”

John Twells, who with the late Klaus Jacoby, owned Raymonds, said: “Mike Kernahan was our first appointment after we went into partnership and it proved to be one of the best decisions we ever made. He brought on so many young staff who went on to outstanding careers.”

Former Raymonds chief photographer Les Parkin says he has Mike Kernahan to thank for saving his life.

When one of the Great Train Robbers, Tom Wisbey, escaped onto the roof of Leicester jail in 1966, he was sent up in a helicopter with his camera to get exclusive pictures. “Suddenly there were armed police everywhere and they had their guns trained on us because, apparently, they thought we might be trying to pluck the prisoner to freedom.

“Cool as a cucumber, Mike, who was on the ground covering the story, got to a public phone box, as you did in those days, and told the police: ‘Don’t shoot. He’s one of ours’.

“I was always eternally grateful to him for his quick thinking and swift action.”