Yorkshire Post’s forthright and fearless Bernard Dineen dies

Fierce, fearless and often funny, in a 50-year career at the newspaper he held several senior editorial posts, as well as making countless public appearances in his role as chairman of the Yorkshire Post’s Literary Luncheons.

The Leeds-born son of a policeman, he was initially recruited as a sub-editor, having already distinguished himself as a tank commander in the Royal Armoured Corps.

He took part in the D-Day landings and later served with the 9th Gurkhas in post-partition India.

After joining the Yorkshire Post in 1960, he went on to become Features Editor and later Literary and Business Editor before beginning a regular Monday column, the extraordinary political characters of the 1970s providing the perfect fodder for his acerbic style of writing.

Governments came and went, but his readiness to castigate any political figure he considered to be leading Britain in the wrong direction never wavered, his no-nonsense approach remaining popular with readers right up until his final column in 2010.

Yet those who attended the Yorkshire Post Literary Luncheons he chaired saw a very different Bernard Dineen, one who could also be an urbane, witty and congenial host.

Jeremy Clifford, Editor of the Yorkshire Post, said: “Bernard was a hugely talented journalist whose genius lay in his instinctive grasp of the fact that the key demand of any writer on the opinion pages is the ability to spark debate.

“His forthright views, always supported by intelligent reasoning, struck a chord with readers and his was one of the foremost voices of the newspaper for nearly four decades.

“He will be much missed by all who knew him and admired his work.”

See tomorrow’s Yorkshire Post for a full obituary.

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