John Duncan

John Duncan, who has died aged 71, was a distinguished journalist with The Herald, playing a pivotal role 
in the editing and design of the 
newspaper from 1970 to 1995.

As a Glasgow University graduate, he worked briefly for The Herald in the mid-1960s before moving south to hone his journalistic skills with The 
Guardian in London in the era of another Scot, Alastair Hetherington. Then, despite a tempting offer to join the editorial staff of the Financial Times, he returned to live in his native Stirling and to work again with The Herald (still bearing Glasgow in its masthead at that time).

In 1981, as night editor, he was crucial to the paper's gaining a high-prestige Newspaper Design Award, the 
unanimous first choice of the judges. They described The Herald as "a 
newspaper of real quality, very professionally laid out, and well disciplined in its typography". At the presentation in London, The Herald's editor Arnold Kemp paid tribute to the work of John Duncan and his team.

The following year a picture of a beaming John was on The Herald front page, clasping another award, highly commending the design of the paper's news pages. The judges commented on the "panache" with which the front-page lead was presented and said they "were delighted to make an award to so professional a paper".

These were exciting times for The Herald. In 1983 the paper's bicentenary was marked with a message of congratulations from the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, and visits from the Queen and the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

While a huge celebratory party took place in Glasgow City Chambers on the anniversary night, John and his sub-editing staff were hard at work in the newspaper offices in Albion Street, producing the bicentenary edition. It was a memorable issue, now a 
treasured collectors' item.

John Duncan's dual strengths of design flair and ability to edit with ruthless economy and accuracy lay at least partly in his educational background. His academic career started at Stirling High School (one memorable sixth-form prank had him sitting perilously on a gargoyle on the roof of the old building, taking a second salute as the rector reviewed the OTC in the quadrangle below – for which he was demoted temporarily to the fourth form).

He contemplated studying law at St Andrews, but chose instead to do an honours degree in history at Glasgow University, where he studied under two notable professors, the American-history specialist Esmond Wright and the economic historian Sydney Checkland. He also discovered at Gilmorehill an unexpected aptitude for moral philosophy.

As a news journalist, John Duncan had of course a deep interest in politics and current affairs, and was a voracious reader of political memoirs. He worked quietly, though could erupt when faced with incompetence. One former colleague describes his editing skills as "peerless"; another as "brilliant".

On the human front yet another colleague, now a leading London journalist, recalls how "John was always kind and unfailingly patient" with him as a starter reporter. He was at his best on high-stress General Election and Budget nights, and had an uncanny instinct for predicting the outcome of the former.

On the night of the Lockerbie 
disaster, he and his team, abandoning the office Christmas party, worked tirelessly through the small hours to interpret the tragic events for readers, as the scale of the horror was gradually revealed.

When, in the late 1980s, The Herald, in common with the rest of the British press, had to embrace new computer technology, he was one of a select team who toured the United States, from Fort Lauderdale and Baltimore to San Francisco, evaluating the various state-of-the-art systems for The Herald. His preferred option, Atex, was the one adopted by the paper.

Away from professional concerns John's great passion was sport – cricket and golf in particular. As a guileful fast bowler, he played briefly for Stirling County as a teenager. He had an enduring enthusiasm for Test Matches; visits to Lords were particularly relished.

His namesake grandfather, a patriarchal figure in old photographs, had been one of Scotland's early professional golfers. Based in Stirling, he was a club-maker and course-designer, and a well-kent figure in the royal burgh. John's father David, an Independent Provost of Stirling in the 1950s, was a scratch player in his youth, and passed on his enthusiasm to his son.

John was a legendary long hitter (though not always in quite the intended direction) and for many years had a low, single-figure handicap. He competed in Stirling Golf Club trophies with considerable success, though never winning the John Duncan Trophy, named after his grandfather.

In course of time, he, too, enjoyed passing on his love of golf to his son, another David. Family holidays were spent in Spain or Portugal where father and son battled for supremacy on picturesque courses flanked with pine and mimosa. He also went on excursions with golfing friends to Iberia, where the group would compete for the Juan Duncan Trophy. In 2008 he fulfilled a life-long ambition by attending the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, in the company of his son. He was a faithful visitor to Open Championships (except those held in Sandwich).

A tall, slim man, who inherited his physique from his Dublin mother's side of the family, John had a typically Scottish dry wit and reserve, and was not given to talking readily about feelings or inner thoughts. He was perhaps most at ease with friends in club or pub when not at work. His reticence hid a kindness and generosity of spirit which showed itself in quiet ways, whether financial or helping a dyslexic schoolboy with his homework.

He will be greatly missed by his wife, and obituarist, fellow journalist Lesley, his son David, his sisters Patricia and Margaret, his wider family, and a large circle of friends.