Tribute to respected journalist and tutor

Frank Warner, a respected journalist and former tutor on NCTJ-accredited courses, has died aged 82.

Frank was best known as a tutor on the NCTJ-accredited journalism training course at Highbury College, Portsmouth, but earlier he taught on the accredited course at Harlow College in Essex.

 Throughout his career Frank acted as an NCTJ examiner and he also taught short journalism training courses for the charity, which were held in Epping and Rugby. Frank retired from teaching at Highbury College in the early 1990s.

As a young man Frank fought four professional boxing bouts before becoming a sports journalist. He became editor of the Llanelli Star and in later life a motoring journalist supplying copy to many regional newspapers. In this role he travelled all over Europe testing the latest models from major car manufacturers.

Bill Wood, a former NCTJ-senior examiner and journalism trainer on the NCTJ-accredited course at Darlington College and the Daily Mirror editorial training scheme, paid tribute to his close friend, Frank Warner.

Bill said: “Frank was an excellent trainer who believed in high standards of journalism. He was a very good teacher and throughout his career he drew on his wide journalism experience. He was a very down-to-earth character, very energetic and was very well liked by the students. His lasting legacy will be the hundreds of journalists he trained to a very high standard.”