Noel Young

Posted: July 8, 2026

NOEL YOUNG, editor of the Sunday Mail at its circulation peak of one million, died on June 27 [2026], aged 86. He was editor from 1988 to 1991, during which time he was the only editor to be able to put the one million sales figure on the Mail’s front page. He later became group managing editor of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd, before leaving to set up his own freelance news agency in Boston, Massachusetts, serving UK and Scottish newspapers. It became a successful PR business, still run by family members. He recently returned to Scotland.

Noel died surrounded by his family who said: ”Noel loved journalism from the day he started until the day he stopped and he was lucky enough to spend most of his life doing the job he loved.” On a personal note, Noel was a considerate boss who treated his staff as friends and colleagues. He was not given full credit for being an outstanding figure in Scottish newspapers during their most successful period. Tuesday lunches under his editorship were legendary – the previous week was reviewed, and the new week started (after a fashion).

The many tributes include this from former colleague David Tattersall: “Noel was frequently underestimated but he understood the key difference between Sunday and Daily newspapers much better than some of the Sunday Mail editors who followed him. “He was gregarious, sociable and a great believer in the now almost forgotten newspaper tradition of a good lunch. When I arrived in Scotland in 1981, he went out of his way to welcome me, unlike his boss at the time.”

Noel’s funeral, which was well attended, was held at Largs Crematorium on July 15. It was the first time that the crematorium experienced a “banging out”. His order of service was an eight-page “Final Edition” (below), which dealt with, among other things, Noel’s book on the pirate Captain William Kidd, whom Noel believed was at the centre of a miscarriage of justice. Plus his campaign with the Sunday Mail to save PS Waverley, the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer. Then the unique coffin arrival (see below).