Telegraph marks the death of its guardian of editorial standards

Maureen Laker was the guardian of high editorial standards during more than 20 years as The Telegraph’s social editor, her former paper reported this morning as it noted her death last month at the age of 81.

‘While other departments accepted the increasingly fluid standards of the public, Maureen Laker believed that the Court and Social column existed to defend against such trends and demanded that names and titles were ‘properly’described.

‘Together with her three assistants she was responsible for the Court Circular, the official notices, and the daily list of birthdays, as well as for checking that the marriage announcements were correctly taken down and published.”