Mail stalwart Neil Swindells dies aged 85 after career involving coverage of moon landings and JFK’s assassination
- Neil Swindells worked across virtually every editorial department of The Mail
- His 30-year career included roles on foreign desk, features, showbiz and Femail
- He helped to cover major world events including the Kennedy assassination
Daily Mail veteran Neil Swindells has died at the age of 85, his family has said.
Mr Swindells had a 30-year career at the Mail which saw him work across virtually every editorial department, including roles on the foreign desk, features, showbiz, Femail and travel.
Born in 1936, he started work as a junior reporter on the Sudbury Free Press in Suffolk at 15 and then completed two years of national service in the RAF before returning to journalism.
By 25 he was editor of the Basildon Recorder in Essex and then joined the Mail in 1962 as a sub-editor, and won a headline of the year award in 1968.
During his three decades at the Mail he worked on the production back bench and as the newspaper’s deputy foreign editor, deputy features editor, deputy showbiz editor, deputy Femail editor and deputy travel editor, his family said.
Mr Swindells worked across virtually every editorial department during a 30-year career at the Mail (pictured: Northcliffe House, home of The Mail)
He worked under four Mail editors, including Sir David English and Paul Dacre, and helped to cover major world events including the Kennedy assassination and the moon landing.
After leaving the Mail, he became the night production editor on the London Evening Standard, and wrote a biography of the potter William Moorcroft, Behind the Glaze.
Mr Swindells, who had three children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren with his wife Mary, died on January 22 and his funeral will be held on February 16.
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