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Other lives : Editor of the Cape Herald in the 1970s whose determination to hire non-white reporters brought him into conflict with the South African authorities
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Media — Emily Oliver
My father, Tony Richmond, who has died aged 82, was a journalist, amateur naturalist, winemaker, Scottish country dancer and committed Christian. While studying English, political theory and government at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1960s, he became profoundly affected by apartheid and the injustices it imposed. He joined marches and protests, set up a multiracial church youth group, and mixed with freedom fighters and activists.
Born in Durban to Arnold Richmond, a civil engineer, and his wife, Moyra (nee Shaw), a librarian, Tony went to Michaelhouse school in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). After graduating from Wits in 1964, he enrolled as a cub reporter for the Star newspaper in Johannesburg. Eager to see the world, he studied for three months at Perugia University and hitchhiked across Europe.
On the ship home he met Lyn Moseley, a bank clerk, who became his wife in 1970. Their married life began in London that year, where Tony worked as the Star’s foreign correspondent.
Back in South Africa in 1972, he endured a turbulent period reporting on riots and arrests as Soweto correspondent for the Star, before moving to Cape Town as editor of the Cape Herald in 1973. There he hired non-white reporters who were frequently banned from events and detained without charge. Tony spent countless hours in police stations arguing with authorities to secure their release. He confronted the prime minister, John Vorster, directly about the exclusion of Cape Herald journalists from press conferences, successfully opening the door for non-white reporters to obtain parliamentary press passes. But censorship tightened, a restrictive press code was introduced, and the dangers of honest reporting escalated.
In 1978, Tony and Lyn emigrated to England with their two young children, and settled in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Tony worked for the Oxford Times and later the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (now USPG), a charity he had encountered years earlier in Soweto.
He joined the civil service in 1990 as editor of publications at the Building Research Establishment, and moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1994 as information officer and then head of the London Correspondents’ Service. Here he could draw on his creative and professional acumen to showcase Britain to the world. He earned himself a loyal following of international journalists, many of whom remained friends long after his retirement in 2002.
His diagnosis of Parkinson’s in 2020 coincided with the Covid pandemic and, soon after, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected him deeply; but he faced these burdens with characteristic curiosity and compassion. As an enthusiastic volunteer for Host Abingdon , which supports refugees and asylum seekers, he found his final years enriched with new friendships. Endlessly observant and warm, Tony had a knack for making people feel special and valued.
He is survived by Lyn, his children, Tam and me, and his grandchildren, Joel, Isaiah and Mary.
Born in Durban to Arnold Richmond, a civil engineer, and his wife, Moyra (nee Shaw), a librarian, Tony went to Michaelhouse school in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). After graduating from Wits in 1964, he enrolled as a cub reporter for the Star newspaper in Johannesburg. Eager to see the world, he studied for three months at Perugia University and hitchhiked across Europe.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Emily Oliver. Published 4 Sept 2026, 04:54 pm.
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