This was a sad seven days to look back on. Although he had been ill for some time the death of Ken Reid came as a shock to us all in the world of journalism. The tributes have been huge and from all quarters, he was much loved as a man and respected by his colleagues and the public he dealt with – mainly politicians. He had a career long before television but in recent times it was as Ulster Television’s political editor he will be best remembered.
His Facebook postings were an education, his love of sport, football and especially rugby, music, blues, jazz and all things north and south of that, his musings on topical news and above all the loving photographs taken with his grandchildren Summer and Hugo.
BBC News NI correspondent Mark Simpson wrote: Mr Reid, 69, reported on key moments in the peace process during almost three decades on screen.
In 2017, he revealed he had been diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. He was also diabetic but continued to work until his retirement from UTV in 2021.
A well-known figure in Northern Ireland, he was honoured by Queen’s University earlier this year for his contribution to journalism.
He regularly interviewed Prime Minister Tony Blair before and after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Among his political scoops was breaking the news in 2008 that the then DUP leader Ian Paisley was to step down as first minister and party leader.
Sending love and prayers to Liz and to Ken’s children Gareth, Sara and Sophie. I hope the outpouring of respect and deep affection for this special gentleman will be of comfort to all the family and friends.
This appeared on Ken’s Facebook page a few weeks ago. He fought his illnesses bravely and continued to support the charities he cared about to the very end.
And then came news that ‘Big T’, Downtown’s Trevor Campbell, with an award winning career of over 47 years, had passed away. He was renowned as our top country music specialists and DJ. He had the respect of the biggest stars, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and John Cash were delighted to appear on his programmes.
Downtown Radio said in a statement on Facebook: “We’re incredibly saddened to announce that our friend and colleague Trevor Campbell has passed away at the age of 78.”
Only weeks after his close friend and Downtown colleague Candy Devine died in her home in Brisbane Australia. It has been a sad time within the close knit family of the media.
A LOVE STORY AMONGST THE BRUTALITY OF WAR
Kerry Whelan, the author of See You On The Other Side has devised a neat way of guiding his reader into the story of Davy Gibson a teenager caught up in love and war.
However, first we are introduced to a modern young accountant working in River House in Belfast. Daniel arrives on Monday morning and goes home that evening promoted to audit manager with every chance of ending up as a partner in the firm. Happy days. Then he’s handed the list of clients he’ll be dealing with including, to his surprise, Belfast District Orange Lodge, nevertheless it means he and Siobhan can get a mortgage on a house, he hopes not far from his club, Bredagh Gaelic Athletic.
Two days later he’s waiting in reception of the Grand Lodge surrounded by flags and portraits, one of King William lll crossing the Boyne. It’s a whole new world to the young man who is more used to the religious icons in his home, the Saints and The Virgin Mary. Then he notices a Papal banner in the Boyne portrait. Soon, sitting in the East Belfast Lodge office, he learns about another world when Norman Johnston tells him the story of Joseph Shannon and David Gibson and the Great War.
Uneasy Friendship
This is not a story only of a world war, more of a class war; nor of Catholic verses Protestant, more of a friendship between two young man who go off together to fight in the trenches. It’s an unlikely friendship born on the football pitch when the young Catholic stands in for the Protestant goal keeper and remains as a trusted member of the Edenderry team. The boys bond, meet two girls, Joe’s fancy is Kitty who works for the wealthy linen merchant Sir James Arthur in Ballydrain House and Davy who falls for his daughter Anna, pursues and wins the gracious young woman despite opposition from her family. Their love transcends parental disapproval but they have uneasy adventures with Joe and Kitty, a foursome of mixed religions and social background.
Davy soon becomes important to the reader, his humour and his honesty, traveling up and down the gas works strait by lighter, a water bus carrying goods from Hilden through Stranmillis towards Belfast. His story involves football, illicit contraband and above all serving with his mates in the trenches of Thiepval and the work he is forced into in the field hospitals of Northern France. There his skill with a knife, learned in the butchery trade, won him praise and recognition. Although difficult to read this is a brutal and bloody example of ‘needs must’, it is an important part of the deadliest war in history.
Who Is Kerry Whelan?
The writer of See You On The Other Side obviously knows south Belfast inside and out, his descriptions of living on the banks of the Lagan are intense and colourful, as a boy in the 60s this was his playground. He remembers the real Ballydrain House, the old mansion and the lake that became Malone Golf Club.
This is a nom de plume! The man behind the name is Harry Graham. When we talked he explained. “We’d a Kerry Blue terrier and he came from the Whelan family in Dublin and when the pup misbehaved he was scolded and got his full name, Kerry Whelan. So I thought it a good name for me!”
A former lecturer at Queen’s University Graham’s subject is history and politics, he has a deep appreciation of the First World War and the 36th Ulster Devision at the Somme. This knowledge has provided a vivid backdrop to his story, mostly factual with an understanding of the people who lived and fought not only for their country but for each other. His father was a butcher in Shaftesbury Square so he knows what he’s talking about when he describes amputation and tying veins, His grandfather was a blacksmith so Davy’s father, the down to earth Tom Gibson, is immediately a warm trustworthy character. Anna’s father is every inch aristocracy, a true blue gentleman of means and when concerned about their children, the meeting of Sir James and Tom is both fascinating and funny.
And what of Anna and Kitty? They followed Davy and Joe to France and as nurses were in the thick of action alongside their men and their lives changed for ever. I will say no more except the ending is bittersweet.
Published this month, the book is filled with local interest especially to Belfast readers but the history of The Great War will engage everyone and the characters become part of your life as you read. This is the first of a trilogy and an important first edition.
Published by Malone Books £9.99. Available in bookshops and on Amazon.
WHO WILL GO
PETE WICKS Picture credit BBC
Really I don’t care very much! The dancers I favour on Strictly are handsome Pete Wicks, delightful Jamie Borthwick and the sensational Chris McCausland but I doubt any of them will win the infamous glitter ball. To my mind, apart from humorous Anton, the judges are getting more and more like Spitting Image characters chirping the same old garbage every week. Tess is looking very tense and ‘Claud’ is always good for a laugh. More power to the programme, from a very bad press after last years series, the producers have rescued it and, provided there are no more scandals, it will go from strength to strength and suppose I’ll keep watching it as I peel and plump the last of the apples from the trees at the bottom of the garden. Give me Wolf Hall every time, what a story, what acting, what costumes. Another BBC spectacular.
Keep warm and dry and try not to think of Mr. Putin.