Jeffrey Blyth, the Press Gazette's long-serving New York columnist

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/sep/24/dailymail-usa

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Jeffrey Blyth, who reported from New York for the Daily Mail during an era when newspapers could afford the luxury of foreign correspondents, has died aged 87.

Blyth covered some of the biggest stories to take place in or near the United States, such as Fidel Castro's victorious revolution in Cuba, the assassination of President Kennedy, the subsequent shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, the murder of Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy's Chappaquiddick misadventure.

He also covered US affairs from his New York base on behalf of Press Gazette for more than 40 years, as it notes in its excellent tribute (almost all of which follows).

Blyth often found himself at the centre of the action. He famously rode into Havana on Castro's jeep following his ousting of Batista in 1958. He later recalled that Castro only wanted to talk about baseball.

And Blyth was standing just a few paces behind Oswald, Kennedy's assassin, when he was shot by Jack Ruby in the basement garage of the Dallas police headquarters in 1963.

He had some good luck too. The press pack of 1,380 journalists in Monaco to cover the 1956 wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were growing increasingly restless at the lack of access.

So Blyth decided to act as peacemaker and approached the royal chamberlain, ending up by talking to the prince. Result? An exclusive article, "My wedding, by Rainier."

Before his New York posting, he travelled widely to report on the Suez crisis, the Hungarian revolution and the building of the Berlin Wall. And he also covered stories in virtually every country in South America.

Blyth, born in 1926 in South Shields, started as a cub reporter at the age of 16 on the Shields Gazette. Later, he worked in the Newcastle office of the Northern Echo.

During the second world war, he worked in Italy for the British Army newspaper edited by Hugh Cudlipp, Union Jack.

Afterwards, he joined the News Chronicle before being appointed shipping correspondent for the Daily Mail in Southampton and obtained his first big scoop — discovering the car in which the spies Burgess and MacLean had fled London.

In 1957, he became the Mail's chief US correspondent. He departed 15 years later to work as a New York radio correspondent for the BBC and the South African Broadcasting Company.

He also set up a company, Interpress, that filed regular weekly reports on showbusiness, media and travel for various British publications.

He began writing for Press Gazette virtually from its inception in 1966. His delightful, gossipy columns kept journalists in touch with the activities of British colleagues working in the US.

His wife, Myrna, was the editor-in-chief of the Ladies' Home Journal for more than 20 years and the founder of More magazine. She survives him.

<em>Source:</em> Press Gazette

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