Charles Wilson, the former editor of The Times who fired Boris Johnson, has died at the age of 87.
The former journalist and newspaper executive died on Wednesday night at The London Clinic following complications from blood cancer.
Wilson was born in Glasgow and after his National Service he worked for the News Chronicle and the Daily Mail, where he was deputy news editor, sports editor and northern editor, before editing the Glasgow Evening Times, The Glasgow Herald and the Scottish Sunday Standard at its launch.
He served as deputy editor of the Times from 1982 to 1985 before becoming editor between 1985 and 1990.
Before taking up the editorship he had a brief but successful stint in the US editing Rupert Murdoch’s newly-acquired Chicago Sun-Times and, on his return to London, helped to launch The London Post as editorial director.
He also edited The Independent briefly in 1995 and 1996.
Wilson also spent time as managing director of the Mirror Group in the 1990s and as editor-in-chief of The Sporting Life.
And he was a board member of regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation at its launch in 2014.
He had a lifelong interest in horse racing and was a member of the Jockey Club and an owner and breeder at his home in Leicestershire.
In its obituary, The Times said: “Known for his fiery outbursts in the newsroom, Wilson was one of the outstanding editors of his generation and steered the paper through the Wapping dispute.”
It said his aim was to create a “more popular, hard-hitting paper with an appeal to women readers” to successfully rival The Daily Telegraph.
It was under Wilson’s editorship that Boris Johnson was fired for fabricating a quote – one of only three people sacked under his leadership despite a “reputation for harshness”.
Wilson was from a working-class background and started in Fleet Street as a copy boy. A Press Gazette blog in 2013 described him as “one of the great characters of late 20th and early 21st century journalism – a man with a silver tongue in a foul mouth” but warned that his career may have taken a different trajectory as the journalism trade has evolved into a profession for graduates.
Former sports editor Tom Clarke was among those paying tribute.
He said: “Charlie was a special hero for me. He hired me for The Times and later for The Sporting Life.
“I regarded him as a great editor, transforming The Times from the paper of record into the paper of record and news. He was the first sports editor to become an editor.”
Friend and colleague Charles Garside said: “Charlie Wilson played a pivotal role in the pre and post-Wapping history of newspapers.
“He had a simply amazing career for a young man who began life in the streets of the east end of Glasgow.
“A former marine boxing champion, he was a tough taskmaster who loved journalism and newspapers.
“And he had more than a ringside seat for so many great events. He worked closely with Rupert Murdoch through the Wapping battles and for Maxwell when the Mirror tycoon disappeared from the Lady Ghislaine.”
Wilson is survived by his wife of 21 years, Rachel, his three children, Emma, Luke and Lily, and seven grandchildren.
He was previously married to broadcaster and TV presenter Anne Robinson, who he met in the Mail newsroom, and journalist Sally O’Sullivan.
There will be a private family funeral followed by a memorial service at St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street on a date to be announced.
Picture: Stephen Markeson/The Times
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