A former district reporter who worked for a regional daily for more than 37 years has died at the age of 72.
Jim Guthrie, left, worked for the Birmingham Mail, being known as its “Mr Staffordshire” for his coverage of the county, where he was well-known.
Before joining the Mail in 1968, he worked for the Hartlepool Mail and the Express and Star in Wolverhampton, spending five decades in journalism in total.
Tributes have been paid to Jim after he was found dead at his home near Lichfield.
Birmingham Press Club vice-chairman Fred Bromwich, who worked with Jim for many years at the Birmingham Mail, said: “His patch was Staffordshire, in particular the Lichfield and Tamworth area.
“He was a classic example of a traditional old-school reporter – well-respected by everyone he came into contact with; charming and gentlemanly, but tough enough when it came to unearthing stories that the authorities would prefer not to have appeared in print.
“Jim had a well-deserved reputation as the Mail’s Mr Staffordshire. He earned the trust of everyone – and the Mail could always trust Jim to deliver his copy on time, however short the deadline.
“He was a delight to work with and enjoyed a unique brand of camaraderie with fellow-journalists, both with those on the Mail and those who worked for opposition titles.”
Former Birmingham Post and Mail journalist Ken Jackson, who also worked with Jim on the Hartlepool Mail, described him as the “life and soul” of the Hartlepool title.
He said: “He always seemed to make light of things even when the rest of us were getting a bit serious. He was a district man through and through and knew everybody from the Mayor to the local Darby and Joan club.
“I don’t know of anyone who worked a district like Jim. He was accuracy personified.”
Birmingham Mail business editor Jon Griffin, a former district reporter in Staffordshire, said: “Jim was not from the internet age. He was from an era of police, fire and ambulance calls, council meetings, courts, death-knocks, tip-offs….the very essence of journalism.
“He was a distinguished figure from a golden age of newspapers, when print ruled the roost, and courts and councils were held to account on a daily basis.
“Above all, he was a gentleman, with traditional values, honorable and decent, with a dry sense of fun.”
Jim’s wife, Rosel, died in early 2009 and his funeral will be held on 27 November at 1pm at St Peter’s Church, Yoxall, Staffordshire, followed by cremation at Lichfield Crematorium.
Jon has also paid tribute to Jim in a column, which can be read here.
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I can only echo what Jon Griffin says. I worked alongside Jim when I was reporting for the Tamworth Herald, back in the days when journalists went out on just about every story. Jim was a brilliant writer, and could find a story in anything, but he was always accurate and truthful. He seemed to know everyone in the area, and everything about it – and what he didn’t know his Birmingham Maill colleague, the late John Slater (another old-style reporter) did. Together they were a formidable team, but they were both ‘gentlemen’, who were always courteous, and always willing to help a rival (as long as it didn’t mean giving away away a precious scoop!).
Journalism is the poorer for the passing of men like John and Jim, and the honest values they represented.
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A true gentleman and old school reporter. I worked opposite Jim and John when I was at Lichfield and Stafford offices of the Express and Star. I had only just started as the “opposition” Chief Reporter at Lichfield than I was invited around to Jim and Rosel’s home for dinner to welcome me. Great bloke.
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Very sad news. I worked alongside Jim during my short stint at the Express & Star in Lichfield. I met him on a daily basis and was always impressed (but never deceived) by his cool approach to the job. To me, he was “Gentleman Jim”. RIP
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I was a cub reporter on the Herald from 1986-1990, when Jim and his partner-in-crime, John Slater, were the Mail’s men in Tamworth and Lichfield (two district reporters on one patch – Surely not!). I worked council meetings, mags courts, death knocks, police calls with them – all the things that young reporters at the time needed to learn by going out and doing them.
They were always friendly and always helpful to a novice and brilliant at their jobs. The many young reporters in the Herald office always watched anxiously as the Tamworth and Lichfield edition of the Mail was dropped on the newsdesk at 4pm every afternoon. Seconds later, there would be the dreaded summons and the deputy editor, the late John Bennett, would demand to know why we had missed a good story which Jim or John had dredged from the depths of a council agenda.
Jim was a lovely man and those days when we met at 9.15 every morning to quiz the duty sergeant at Tamworth Police Station were a great grounding in the journalistic art. Sadly, I won’t be able to attend his funeral due to other commitments but I’m sure the Midlands journalistic community will do him proud. The trade is much the worse for the passing of men like John and Jim.
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