THREE’S COMPANY: David Allsop (left) out to lunch at The Ivy in Kent with Arnie Wilson and Frank ‘Scoop’ Baldwin

By FRANK ‘SCOOP’ BALDWIN

Former colleagues from several different walks of journalism joined the large crowd of mourners who gathered at St Paul’s Church in Grove Park, Chiswick, west London, to bid farewell to former Daily Express Saturday Magazine deputy editor David Allsop, who died at the age of 70 after battling an illness for the last two years.

David and I first met around 35 years ago when we were both involved in the world of ski writing, alongside our newspaper work, and as a result became close friends.

It was always a pleasure and hugely entertaining spending time with David, or ‘Del-boy’, as he was affectionately known, because he was such good company.

We enjoyed numerous ski press trips together, hacked our way around many golf courses — where he would always at some point loudly proclaim ‘I hate f***ing golf’ — and I was lucky enough to be invited to stay with him and his lovely wife Julie many times when they lived in London’s Blackheath, followed by Ealham, and then Littlestone, in Kent.

After university in Scotland, David looked destined to become a barrister, but he decided law wasn’t for him. He became a journalist and was eventually employed by the Daily Express in the 1990s.

His love of skiing – David and Julie’s wedding took place on an American ski slope – led to him to becoming an established ski writer and he regularly contributed to the Skier & Snowboarder magazine, which I owned.

David, whose brother-in-law was the late Johnny Briggs, Coronation Street’s Mike Baldwin, also wrote ‘The Bluffers Guide to Skiing’. Plus, a little-known nugget, he almost became editor of the Ski Club of Great Britain’s Ski & Board magazine but instead accepted an invitation to work in the features dept of Saga Magazine when it had a circulation of more than 320,000. In later life he positioned himself as a freelance editor/writer, and numerous publishers continued to benefit from his intelligence, charm, and humour.

I could go on all day relating funny and interesting stories about ‘Del-boy’ but I would end up going on for too long, so I’ll just leave you with these two ski experiences.

David and I were on the last day of our press trip to Mont Tremblant in March 2009 when our Canadian hosts suddenly announced we should pack and leave a little earlier than planned as they had a special treat for us. We were whisked us away in a luxury limo to Montreal to have a tour of the hotel and room where former Beatle John Lennon and Yoko held one of their ‘bed-in’ protests.

It was all very surreal, until we eventually saw the evening TV news just before our flight home and discovered actress Natasha Richardson had died on her way to hospital after a fall on a beginner slope in Mont Tremblant that day.

Our hosts had obviously decided they didn’t want two former Fleet Street journos – David and I – on the scene while this story was breaking and so hastily arranged for our departure. It did not stop us later co-writing a piece which raised questions on whether her fame had actually hindered rather than helped getting emergency treatment.

However, one of my funniest memories of David skiing is when we were both on a Franz Klammer press trip in Austria. While out on the slopes, the Winter Olympic ski racing legend would occasionally ‘let go’ and bomb to the bottom of a slope where he would wait for the rest of the group.

On one run, David, who was a very good skier himself, decided he would try and keep up with Franz. Some parents and their two young children were enjoying a picnic sat around a blanket off to the side of the piste. They were very surprised when a slightly out of control British journalist lost his bearings, skied through the middle of their family picnic, and scattered nibbles and drinks into the surrounding snow.

David did manage to shout a heartfelt ‘sooorreeee’ as he disappeared into the distance!

Oh ‘Del-boy’, I’m going to miss you…

EILEEN LEAHY relates some personal recollections from her days working with David Allsop on the Daily Express Saturday magazine.

“The first time I met the dashing David Allsop (never to be confused with a similar sounding surname — as he would always remind us — owned by one Kirsty Allsopp) was on my 29th birthday.

“It was 6 January 2000, and I'd just been given the promotion of my journalistic career by being made Junior Commissioning Editor on the Daily Express's Saturday magazine which David co-edited with his friend and colleague Sally Templeton-Ferrari.

“From the start, I knew I was in reverential and inspiring company working with Sally and David. Sally and I had worked together for a long time beforehand, and I knew that if she had appointed David as her deputy, he must be a class act.

“David wasn't just a good journalist, he also had one of those rare things on Fleet Street, a heart - as well as a great way with words. He and Sally were incredibly sympathetic and supportive when my father died unexpectedly on 12 April 2000, not long after I had started working with them.

“Working alongside a coterie of 'new young journos' (myself included) David never looked down on any of us. The others included Verity Smith and Emma Babbington - both now legends in their own right - and he helped us all with his expert guidance.

“David quietly mentored and helped us carve out our own paths and voices in journalism. He was such a talented writer himself and had an inherent knowledge of what worked - and when.

“Shortly after he took the deputy editor's chair on Saturday Magazine, at Blackfriars Bridge HQ, he introduced the idea of a Literary Lunch weekly column. A writer would be commissioned to join two diners at a legendary restaurant and immortalise their experiences. David also managed to poach Mary and Giles Killen (who went on to Gogglebox fame) from the Daily Telegraph to write a weekly column - a clever and nuanced approach to upping/improving the Daily Express's fodder.

“David’s appearance meant he was often mistaken for actor Neil Pearson as he bore a very strong resemblance to the actor and his Drop the Dead Donkey character Dave Charnley.

“The first commission David gave me was covering a clowns' service at a church in Hackney. My first thoughts were... 'Errr what? How on earth am I going to make this one accessible?' But David guided this little Catholic girl on how to embrace the nuances of how to write about religion/culture and everything else in between...

“And that then fed into all of my career - and then some...

“PS: We also had so many good nights too!”