Former Inverness Courier owner Stuart Lindsay – more tributes to the man who revolutionised the Highlands’ local newspaper industry and helped convict William MacDowell, the killer of Renee and Andrew MacRae
Fond tributes have poured in for Stuart Lindsay, the former Inverness Courier owner and renowned Highland news reporter, who died last month at 80 and will be laid to rest at the city’s crematorium tomorrow.
READ THE MAIN OBITUARY: ‘An exemplary journalist… a crucial witness’ – ex-Courier owner helped nail Renee and Andrew MacRae’s killer
Among those leading the tributes was former colleague David Love, a great admirer of a man he views as a major influence on his successful career. David’s words are followed by the recollections of several other industry peers.
David Love, freelance journalist:
"Stuart was my boss when I moved from the Highland News to the P&J.
“He looked an intimidating giant of a man with a deep, sometimes gruff yet soft spoken voice, but you were aware instantly he knew what he was talking about, and you listened.
“I did, and he guided me in my early years, even when he joined the Glasgow Herald. He always cared for journalists in times of trouble or those starting out on the path, and when he took over the Inverness Courier he maintained those virtues.
“But he didn't just write news. As Glover Blacklaw – his two middle names – he was a rugby correspondent.
“After retirement he made the news as a crucial witness in William MacDowell's trial and his evidence helped convict the callous killer of Renee and Andrew Macrae.
“A friend for decades, I will miss his good counsel and dry wit.”
Ewen MacAskill, ex-Guardian defence and intelligence correspondent who helped prepare ‘Wikileaks’ publication of disclosures from Edward Snowden of the American National Security Agency (NSA).
“Stuart and his wife Janet were exceptionally kind to me as a trainee reporter on the Herald. I spent months in that lovely branch office, a pokey space rented from Inverness Courier looking out on the river and the mountains.
“He was generous with ideas, full of encouragement, with lots of stories at the time at height of the oil boom.
“After work, we invariably went for a couple of beers and invariably back to his home for dinner. He was a terrific reporter, so often dismissive of the obvious line, looking for – and finding – the story behind the story.
“I could see Courier editor, Eveline Barron, was a big admirer and it was no surprise to me that she eventually asked him to take over ownership/editorship.”
Paul Cowan, former Inverness Courier chief reporter, Shetland Times news man and author of books including How the Scots Created Canada and Scottish Military Disasters:
“Stuart was very good to me and I learned a lot from him. Not that I realised at the time just how much I was learning from watching him in action.
“He was a class act and a first rate journalist. How lucky I was to start my reporting career in Inverness? The town was the base for the Highlands and Islands reporters from all the main Scottish media outlets.
“How many weekly reporters get to compete on a daily basis against so many good operators? And learn so much from those very folk? Overall, I got a lucky start. And one of the biggest strokes of luck was knowing Stuart.”
Caroline McMorran, Northern Times reporter, ex-Inverness Courier columnist and reporter.
“I first met Stuart when I joined the Inverness Courier in the 1980s and he was working for the Glasgow Herald in an office on the top floor of the Bank Street building.
“I was a young reporter, just starting out, while Stuart was a highly-respected veteran who had covered the Highlands and Islands for years.
“He was an excellent mentor, very generous with his time and I benefited greatly from his vast experience and knowledge of local issues.
“When he bought the Inverness Courier from Evelyn Barron, I had moved further north and was at home with young children, but he gave me the opportunity to write a monthly column – A Letter from Sutherland.
“I will always be grateful for that because it allowed me to keep a toe in journalism.
“I visited Stuart recently and he was the same as always - full of stories and, recalling people and places and times gone by.”
Murray Ritchie, former Scottish political editor of The Herald.
“I was so sorry to learn of the death of Stuart Lindsay, one of the few remaining Herald old brigade. He was our Highland correspondent for many years (although he was a Borderer) – a wonderful raconteur, and a guy I could never beat at golf.
“He was great company and a fine journalist. Condolences to Janet and his boys including Matthew, sports reporter with the Herald. He was a lovely man I have nothing but happy memories of.
Ninian Reid, retired journalist, broadcaster and author.
“I was very sorry to learn of this sad news. One way or another, I've known Stuart for about 60 years, from when he was a young reporter in Inverness and I was with the Scottish Daily Express in the Highlands.
“I was fascinated to see him pop up in the fairly recent Renee MacRae/Andrew MacRae murder trial. Stuart was a crucial witness in helping secure a conviction and, more importantly, he was a crucial servant to Highland news gathering.
“A big loss for us all but in particular for his family.”
Duncan Ross, former Inverness Courier chief report, ex-Press and Journal.
“I first knew Stuart when he was the Highlands and Islands correspondent of the Glasgow Herald, as it then was. His office was a room in the Inverness Courier building, right next door to its redoubtable editor Miss Eveline Barron.
“The Courier, under the Barron family, was a much loved local institution, but it was stuck in a time warp and hadn’t really changed in a century or more. There were still classified adverts on the front page, with birth, death and marriage notices given pride of place. Any news content was relegated to the centre pages and photographs were rare.
“Challenged once about her editorial priorities, Miss Barron’s trenchant response was: ‘Advertisements ARE news.’
The Courier office in those days had only one telephone line, shared between all the departments in the building.
“My late father, Ian Ross, was the Courier’s last chief reporter of the Barron era. I remember he often had to wait until the advertising department had finished with the phone line before he could make his calls.
“When Stuart acquired the Courier and started to drag it belatedly into the present day, it therefore came as something of a shock to its loyal readership and not everyone approved.
“Front page news and pictures – even a front page pocket cartoon for a while – came as quite a shock to the system. But most people realised there was no future for the Courier the way it was, and welcomed the transformation.
“And the introduction of the latest Apple Mac computers was a joy for the team of experienced journalists he had started to recruit. I’m very happy to say I was one of them, and I will always be grateful to Stuart for offering me that job at a time when I urgently needed one.
“I think Miss Barron anointed Stuart as her chosen successor at least partly because she wanted the paper to remain in private family ownership, rather than be swallowed up by one of the several local newspaper chains that had been stalking her as she approached retirement.
“Although Stuart gave it his best shot, financial realities eventually dictated a sale to Scottish Provincial Press.
“But it was Stuart who took the Courier by the scruff of the neck and hauled it into the 20th century, ensuring there was a viable local newspaper to pass on.”