What a star writer

How lucky am I to have the quality of Maureen Messent to call upon in a crisis?

She is now formally retired, although still 'retained' to write a page of comment per week for the Birmingham Mail, published each Friday.

But today I needed her special efforts to mark the passing of one of Birmingham's great leaders, Sir Richard Knowles. And so at 7am I called her at home, getting her out of bed, to break the news of the death of Comrade Dick (the way he always spoke) and to ask her for 450 words of decent prose.

An hour later, yes, an hour later, it was on my screen, colourful, interesting and as succinct as ever, making today's coverage of Sir Richard's death really shine.

Maureen painted a picture that elegantly recalled everything from Sir Richard's gravelly voice to the gentle way he looked after his first wife in her latter years of illness. From his soft side witnessed tending to a lame horse to his hard side verbally kicking the teeth out of opponents in the council's debating chamber. After reading Maureen's piece, you could vividly picture this great man.

Not many people who work for us can accomplish such rousing journalism in so short a time.

We are lucky to have access to her much-envied skills.

You can read Maureen's piece here: http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2008/02/18/personal-memories-of-sir-richard-knowles-97319-20489691/