A FORMER news editor of the Daily Telegraph and regular contributor to the Times Series has died.

Capel Gardens, East Barnet resident Bill Tadd had a distinguished career in local papers and Fleet Street, culminating in him becoming the director of the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIJ).

Even in retirement he continued to keep his hand in with journalism, sending regular reports from Finchley Bowling Club in his capacity as press officer.

He is survived by his wife Hilary Jones, who was also a journalist and accomplished painter.

Known as Taddy to his friends, he started his career at the now defunct Birmingham Gazette and Evening Dispatch, covering the Redditch area on a powerful 750cc motorbike.

Cyril Bainbridge, a former president of the CIJ and close friend, said: “Bill was literally in the fast lane on one unfortunate occasion when he came to grief.

“Anxious to be back in Redditch in time for his early call with his news desk after a weekend visit to London he came off his machine on the early morning icy road.”

He moved to Fleet Street and a job with the Press Association, before landing a reporting role on the Telegraph, where he rose to the news editor job, also writing features on horse racing, for which he had a passion.

However, his spell at the paper ended acrimoniously when he was sacked for refusing to give up a role with the CIJ, eventually winning a seven-year tribunal and libel battle against the title.

Mr Bainbridge added: “That lengthy fight not only showed the Institute as an organisation that protected its members' interests and rights, but highlighted Taddy as a man of principle who was not afraid to put his own future on the line.”

After this he became an editor for a retirement planning magazine, and ran seminars with his wife on the subject, whilst rising through the ranks of the CIJ.

He passed away on May 25 and his funeral will be held at St Marylebone Cemetery, East End Road, East Finchley, this Friday, June 10, at 1pm. All Institute members and Bill's friends and former colleagues will be welcome.