By Ian Bruce
It’s my sad task to report that Russell “Rusty” Steele died peacefully in hospital just after 8pm this evening, with his family by his bedside holding his hands. He’d been there since Saturday. on the last leg of his journey. It was a journey that started on the “boys’ desk” of the Daily Express in Glasgow when that now much-diminished paper was at the height of its power. Aspiring young journos passed through that desk and were assigned to roles which best suited their skills. His contemporaries then were the likes of Adrian Robertson, Roy Petrie and Bob Weir, among others, all of whom went on to greater things. It was a hard school, but anyone who could survive the maelstrom of an Express baptism of fire in Albion Street’s “Black Lubyanka” could survive anything, anywhere. He saw the best of it, at a time when head office in Fleet Street would routinely tap into the Glasgow talent’s capabilities on the biggest stories of the day. Rusty’s skills were in production, as a sub-editor. In his time, he worked on the Express, the Record, the Sunday Mail, the Daily News and, latterly, the Herald. He variously handled news and features and sport, chief-subbing on many desks in many offices. Apart from his eye for a story and the ability to lay out pages, trim the words to column length and come up with eye-catching headlines, he had a special talent for encouraging new arrivals. There are many sports writers around who benefited from his quiet advice, based on a lifetime’s experience in the game. His knack was to pose questions which the young turks would have to answer to themselves. The best of them used his gentle prodding to improve their own copy. He was generous with his time. His knowledge of the game was encyclopaedic, gained in a lifetime of meeting tight and unforgiving deadlines for demanding editors. Life was always a race against the clock. And he loved that trade. He worked hard and played hard. And almost uniquely among journos, he had no enemies. In the cutthroat, hothouse world of Glasgow newspapers, that was something virtually impossible to achieve. In the hard-drinking gaps between editions, he revelled in the banter and comradeship of the pub, especially the Press Bar in Albion Street, which was a second home to many and the anchor point and information exchange centre for at least five generations of scribes, snappers and subs. The Express, along with the Evening Citizen and the Sunday Express, flourished there from the 1930s until closure in the 1970s. The Daily News, Herald, Evening Times, Sunday Standard, Sunday Herald and latterly the Daily Mail carried the torch forward from there into the new century. Rusty’s generation spanned the best of that at its peak and gave back their best in return. It’s hard to believe that Rusty’s smile will never again light up the room at old comrades’ nights out. The Few just keep getting fewer. But apart from the only game in town – journalism – his other great love was his family. They were with him all the way on the last, distressing but ultimately merciful lap. As I raise a glass to Rusty tonight, my thoughts are with them, especially his daughter Adele, who has been a rock for him to lean on and rely upon as illness intruded on the last few years. RIP old friend. We’ll no’ see yer likes again. (pic of Albion Street’s Black Lubyanka and “the Annex” – the incomparable Press Bar, below)
Today, Thursday, the tributes to Rusty Steele were still flowing in.
Anna Smith, crime writer and former chief reporter of the Daily Record, wrote: “So very sad to learn Rusty has died. Such a fine newspaper man and a lovely person who I admired so much when he worked at the Daily Record. Lovely words Ian Bruce . Thoughts are with Rusty’s family.”
Wendy Pelosi said: “How sad, lovely memories of Rusty, a true gentleman. My sincere condolences and love to Adele Steele and the rest of his family.”
Jill Ledgerwood wrote: “Just the loveliest man, always with a twinkle in his eye – whether of kindness or love or mischief or more likely a combination of all three.”
Golf writer Alistair Nicol said: “Great sub, great company. Another of the finest journos I know gone too soon.”
Veteran Gerry Burke said: “Decades of happiest memories of one of the best from earliest days.”
Kara Robertson wrote: “There aren’t really any words, a really wonderful man. His bark was way worse than his bite. I said to Adele the other day I never found him grumpy, always one of my faves. It’s a sad week with the news of Rusty and Ally McLaws, both great men.”
David Steele said: “Another piece of sad news, thank goodness the sun is shining. A great colleague and companion. “
Mike Ritchie added: “A great colleague and the loveliest of guys. Saddened to hear this.”
And Stuart McKinlay wrote: “Sometimes it is hard to define that certain quality we admire, and often envy: He was variously relaxed, incisive, inclusive, and affable in or out of the office; yet always a sleeves-rolled-up professional perfectionist. Those of us who didn’t work immediately with him could still benefit from his example even at a distance: put simply, a proper newspaperman.”
Former Herald diarist Ken Smith summed him up: “Rusty would go out of his way in the Press Bar to give you a word of praise if he approved of a story you had written. Even his concise condemnation of the various managements we had to contend with was delivered more in sorrow than in bitterness as he was simply too humane an individual to ever outrightly condemn anyone in a vicious manner. Such a decent human being.”
Ian,
Very lovely words about an exceptionally lovely man. He went out of his way to help me when I started out in Albion Street, in an era when new technology was a Bic pen. I owed him so much.
By any chance to you have any funeral details?
Cheers,
Jim Cassidy