Abbie Trayler-Smith is a lovely person, a terrific photographer and a treasured former colleague.
She took these pictures of Bill Deedes in 2005 during his Ashford-to-Hannover odyssey, via the Normandy beaches and the route he had taken as a soldier in 1945.
Having met Bill in Paris, and enjoyed a light Saturday lunch in his company, I waved him on his way with a heartfelt bon voyage and was never to see him again. He was already 92 and in ailing health; he died last Friday.
These pictures, which should not be reproduced without Abbie's consent (see earlier link to her work), commemorate a very good man who epitomised all that was to be admired in the Daily Telegraph, whatever you made of its politics, and I publish them in his honour.
They also appear as a mark of respect for several other former workmates, each possessing the excellence that distinguished a great newspaper and whose abrupt departure today would have caused Bill much distress.
They will all soon learn that there is life beyond the sack.
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