Glasgow journalist; Born May, 1936; Died May 26, 2007. Bill Cadger, a well-kent face in Glasgow journalism and trade unionism for almost 50 years, has died aged 70.

An exasperated editor of the Evening Times once described him as "that insubordinate (expletive deleted) barrack-room lawyer". The Cadge, as he was affectionately known to friends and colleagues, took the comment as a badge of honour.

He started work as a copyboy on the Daily Record before National Service in the Army interrupted his career.

The next two years were spent as a signaller in Egypt and then on Cyprus during the Eoka emergency, where he attained the status of lance-corporal.

He returned to Glasgow for a new start with the Evening News and, when it closed, moved to the sports desk of the Sunday Express and then the Evening Citizen. When the Express stable axed its Albion Street offices, the next port of call was the Scottish Daily News.

Cadge, a principled trade unionist, selflessly invested his own redundancy money and spent many weary days travelling Britain on fund-raising tours to keep the ill-fated workers' venture afloat. Sadly, it was not to be.

The Evening Times was his final paper, where he toiled as copy-taster - performing editorial triage on incoming wire stories - and covering professional cycling, one of the other loves of his life.

This halcyon period saw him on assignment to the world championships in Austria, the Tour de France and leading tournaments in Spain and Ireland.

And, for once, to the great relief of those around him, the paper on which Cadge was employed did not fold.

Hillwalking was another of his passions, and he and a few of us from The Herald and the Evening Times tramped many hundreds of miles through Scotland's hills during the course of 25 years. It also earned Bill something of a deserved reputation as a midge-magnet.

He loved the hills, and the lore of the hills, and immersed himself in details of routes and the intricacies of the latest equipment.

He could quote entire passages from famous climbers' writings verbatim. His knowledge of the hills was encyclopaedic, but almost entirely theoretical.

His map-reading skills were also legendary. He always managed to misjudge the distance covered and he had the endearing knack of readjusting the natural contours - including entire mountains - to fit in with his notion of where he was, usually between five and 10 miles from the actual location.

Those who walked with him quickly learned to say nothing and carry their own maps. But no three-day or four-day hike would have been quite so enjoyable without his presence.

Cadge spent most of his adult life as an official of the National Union of Journalists. It was a cause he believed in to the core and a corner he fought without regard for the adverse effect on his promotion prospects. He will be missed.

He is survived by his wife Isobel, sons Graham and Alan, daughter Lesley, and grandchildren Fraser, Lynsey, William, Oliver, Robert and Iona. Ian Bruce