Jack Hardiman Scott

Jack (known as Peter) Hardiman Scott (born 2 April 1920 in King's Lynn, died 15 September 1999 in Boxford, Suffolk) was a distinguished British journalist and broadcaster. He was the BBC's first Political Editor from 1970 to 1975.^[1][2]

After working on various provincial newspapers, he joined the BBC in 1950 as assistant news editor in Birmingham. In 1954 he became a BBC home news reporter in London before being appointed to the new post of Political Correspondent in 1960 (Political Editor from 1970) which he held until 1975. He then spent five years as Chief Assistant to the Director-General of the BBC before retiring in 1980 to his cottage in Suffolk.

He was also the author of several detective thrillers and books of verse, including When the Words are Gone in the Phoenix Living Poets series,^[3] and was the president of the Suffolk Poetry Society from 1979 until his death. In the early 1980s he made substantial progress with a novel in which a left wing government was overthrown by an "establishment" coup, but, after discussion with his publisher, abandoned this because of the striking similarities to Chris Mullin's A Very British Coup (1982).^[4]

He married twice and was survived by his second wife, Sue. He had two sons from his first marriage.

References

1. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-hardiman-scott-1120648.html
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/1999/sep/24/guardianobituaries1
3. Scott, Hardiman (1972) When the Words are Gone Chatto & Windus
4. Chris Mullin, diary, 9 February 1999: see Mullin (2011) A Walk-On Part: Diaries 1994-1999. Scott recounted this story himself when Mullin attended a meeting of the Suffolk Book League in Ipswich.