One of the most recognisable and respected journalists in the North West, David Charters, has died suddenly aged 72.
The much-loved ‘Bard of Birkenhead’ worked in Liverpool media for more than 50 years, starting at the Birkenhead News aged 17. His career saw him working as a renowned reporter, news editor, feature writer and columnist, with a talent for prose and form.
Charters wrote for the now-defunct Liverpool Daily Post, where at various times he served as a staff reporter, night news editor, columnist and feature writer. For the Post’s sister title the Echo, he wrote a popular column which appeared in the paper’s Wirral edition.
Brian Reade, columnist at the Daily Mirror and former colleague of Charters, said he “was undoubtedly one of the most gifted writers to work at the Liverpool Echo. When I first met him more than 30 years ago, on the Daily Post, he seemed a man out of his time. His dress sense, habits, phraseology and outlook were rooted in the past.
“It was his obsession with the black-and-white, post-war Merseyside he was born into, and the way he could turn that world into colour with such wit and originality, that defined his work… The last words of his I read were about the death of singer Trini Lopez last month: ‘Hammer on, wherever you are,’ was his poignant tribute.
“It would be lovely to think that somewhere the Bard of Birkenhead is hammering out his unique brand of lyrical prose. On a vintage Olivetti typewriter, obviously.”
