Former Sun and Sunday Times journalist Vic Chapple has died at the age of 93.
Vic was the last of a formidable team of reporters who helped take The Sun from being a loss-making broadsheet selling around 800,000 copies to overtaking the Daily Mirror in 1978 with sales approaching four million per day.
Born in March 1932, Vic grew up in Devon where his father worked for the Great Western Railway.
He was educated locally and on leaving school following World War Two, pursued a career in journalism, which was punctuated by two years of National Service in the Royal Airforce.
His arrival in Fleet Street followed what was the traditional apprenticeship of that era, a series of postings on provincial newspapers, including the Bournemouth Evening News, and the now defunct Birmingham Evening Despatch.
A seasoned campaigner by the mid-1960s, he joined the staff of the original broadsheet Sun where his reputation grew.
When the title was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1969 and transformed into a new type of brash and sensational tabloid he stayed on to become one of its most prominent and accomplished reporters.
He was liked and respected in equal measure by colleagues and rivals. Former Daily Express journalist Paddy Clancy said: “He was a gent, witty and a great journalist.”
For more than 30 years he was said to be a dominating presence in one of the most tumultuous newsrooms in Fleet Street’s history.
He combined a tough no-nonsense approach with a capacity for great charm.
Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie said: “Vic was a star. An example of huge talent meeting hard work. The success of the Sun was built on a team of reporters of which Vic was a shining light.”
Another former Sun editor Stuart Higgins said: “Vic was a rare breed of reporter: dogged, generous and unruffled.
“You knew that you were always going to win when Vic was part of your team on a big story because of his experience and unremitting calmness.”
Former colleague George Hollingbery described him admiringly “as the complete reporter”.
Highly intelligent and wonderfully shrewd, Vic was at the forefront of many of the major stories in an age when newspapers dominated UK news media.
He had a ready turn of phrase and dubbed one particularly obstinate Russian leader as “the abominable NO man”.
Vic’s sense of fun and enjoyment at the quirky behaviour of others were ever present.
He noted with a wry amusement how a faith healer summoned to cure an injured England soccer star prepared by dousing her hotel breakfast cereal in neat vodka.
“Needless to say he didn’t make the World Cup,” he laughed.
Among his most respected professional assets were the lightning journalistic reflexes which enabled him to assess the merits of a story with rare speed.
For more than 20 years he served as Saturday night news editor on the Sun’s broadsheet stablemate, The Sunday Times, guiding crucial last-minute coverage as that week’s paper was finalised.
Vic also served with distinction as The Sun’s West Country correspondent.
Married to his Australian wife Erin, a former nurse, for more than 50 years, they had three daughters Tessa, Sarah and Victoria, followed by eight grandchildren.
Vic died on the evening of 29 June at home in Chard, Somerset, surrounded by loving family.
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