John Sheard

Posted: October 2nd, 2021

JOHN SHEARD, a former Sunday Mirror journalist, and long-running columnist on the Craven Herald, died on September 5 [2021], aged 82.

John spent 20 years in and out of Fleet Street, covered the troubles in Northern Ireland, delved into the police investigation in the Yorkshire Ripper murders, and campaigned to save ancient York from the hideous attentions of the 1960s town planners. As a reporter for the Nottingham Evening Post, he covered Grantham when Margaret Thatcher was first standing for Parliament – and had a row with Alderman Roberts, her father  – “the most boring man I have ever had to report”.

John then freelanced, first in the Home Counties – which he hated – and in York, which he loved. From York, John joined the Sunday Mirror to go to Ireland to write features for a new, all-colour edition being pioneered in Belfast. Instead, he ended up covering the Troubles.

In recent years John had problems with his balance but that did not stop him from continuing a habit picked up from his Fleet Street years – a daily lunchtime pint where he loved to natter with old friends and acquaintances.

You can read a longer tribute here: Former Fleet Street journalist and Herald columnist John Sheard dies aged 82 | Craven Herald

With thanks to former Herald editor Ian Lockwood.