The obituary notice of David Ian WILSON

Everyone needs a friend like Ian - fun to be with, intelligent, talented, kind and occasionally chaotic (in a good way!). I first met Ian in 1978 in the newsroom of the Bahrain-based Gulf Mirror and he struck me immediately as very much his own man. Ian chose to live some miles from the capital, Manama, in an Arab village a stone-throw from the seashore. He’d already spent his first earnings on an American Pontiac Trans Am which he drove each day into the capital, often picking me up along the way. Days after his dream vehicle was re-sprayed, goats clambered over the pristine paintwork. This was met, not with rage, but with Ian’s typical equanimity.
Most of us tried to save something from our ‘bountiful’ expat salaries, but Ian would happily blow a month’s very hard earned cash on a new hobby or whatever else took his fancy - for example on expensive cine equipment and state-of-the-art recording gear which he used to make a remarkably good film of Mirror colleagues cavorting in the sands and surf at the island kingdom’s southern tip. I’d pay a fortune for a copy of that mislaid footage.
I spent just over a year in Bahrain and my appreciation of the experience was enhanced immeasurably by Ian’s friendship and professionalism.
We lost touch for almost 10 years when I moved to Kenya, but hooked up in London a few times when we both worked there in the late 80’s. I also recall visiting Ian in Edinburgh and being taken to Culloden for a lesson in Scottish history.
After another lull while we ploughed our respective furrows around the world, we reconnected again some 12 years ago. My final meeting with Ian took place in Bexhill on Sea last August when he seemed to accept his fate with a rare stoicism and an optimism which sadly proved misplaced.
For almost half a century Ian has loomed large in my imagination - his courage and good humour at the end adding to the list of attributes which made him unparalleled.
RIP my good friend.

David, familiarly known as Ian, Wilson passed away in Hastings on 4th May at the age of 73 after a long struggle with cancer. He attended Merchiston for three years before leaving in 1969 to finish his education at St Joseph's College, Dumfries and then joined the Dumfries and Galloway Standard as a trainee reporter in 1971 while living near Lockerbie, his home town. He was to remain in, or associated with, journalism for almost his entire working life.

He moved to the Birmingham Post in 1973 and rose to features sub-editor before leaving in 1975 for the Evening News, Edinburgh. In 1977 he emigrated to Manama, Bahrain to join the Gulf Mirror, where he rose to news editor before becoming bureau chief for the Khaleej Times in 1980. After a year he rejoined the Gulf Mirror to manage the weekly magazine Time Out In The Gulf until 1984 when, after marrying, he returned to the Dumfries and Galloway Standard. During the next 10 years, as the industry went digital, Ian moved into bespoke software development and coding, working freelance for the Aberdeen Press and Journal, The Herald, The Observer, The Sunday Times and Scotland on Sunday. This continued until 1997 when he joined the Press Association in London and Yorkshire until 2001 producing news pages for the nationals along with supplements for sporting events such as The Derby and the British Grand Prix.

Further stints at the Metro in London and the Western Daily Press in Bristol followed until 2005 when he concentrated solely on consultancy work in systems and database development for business clients. His final position was back in Bahrain until he retired in 2018 and moved to Bexhill-on-Sea where he pursued his hobby for radio-controlled model airplanes. He is survived by his daughter, brother and sister.