Paul Harris obituary

Other lives: War correspondent, publisher, author, and art gallery proprietor

My friend Paul Harris, who has died aged 69 of a brain tumour, was a war correspondent, publisher, author and art gallery proprietor.

His most dangerous pursuit, as a journalist covering conflict zones, came about in the 1990s, when he quite accidentally found himself stranded in the former Yugoslavia as war broke out. He stayed on and started to report on the conflict for Jane’s Defence Information Group, becoming contributing editor of Jane’s Balkan Sentinel and specialist contributor on insurgency and terrorism for Jane’s Intelligence Review.

He won a British Press Award for his reporting from the war in Bosnia and then went on to report from conflicts in Asia and Africa, filing stories from more than 50 countries. He was injured in Kosovo in 1999 and the following year became the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was expelled from that country at the end of 2001 and, desirous of a quieter life, sold his helmet, bullet-proof vest and satellite phone via a memorable small ad. After that he took up an appointment as editor of the English language newspaper the Shanghai Daily.

Born in Bexleyheath, Kent, to Desmond, a customs and excise worker, and his wife, Rita, Paul went to Elgin Academy in Elgin, Scotland, to where his parents had moved, before studying politics and international relations at Aberdeen, graduating in 1970.

He set up a company, Paul Harris Publishing, as an undergraduate, with a string of commercially oriented books, the first of which was his own, When Pirates Ruled the Waves (1968), about the growth of pirate radio, which he wrote when he was 17.

He helped to finance his firm by working for the Dundee-based DC Thomson publishing company, and by the early 80s was bringing to publication books such as Peter Savage’s Lorimer and the Edinburgh Craft Artists, which did much to solidify the Edwardian architect’s reputation in the wider world. As well as publishing, Paul wrote more than 40 books himself – a mix of shameless cash cows, serious works of art criticism and autobiography.

Early in our acquaintance (we first met at a National Union of Journalists meeting in the 90s), he learned of my interest in architecture and invited me to join him for tea at his home, which at the time was Whittingehame House in East Lothian, a neoclassical country house that had been the family seat of Sir Arthur Balfour, and was where the famous Balfour declaration was first drafted in 1917.

Paul and some friends had bought the house in the late 80s when, after decades as a school, it was falling into serious disrepair. At a time when dividing country houses into apartments was unheard of, they renovated the house and split it into a series of lavish flats, into which they installed themselves.

Paul kept his publishing interests going, but latterly also established the Coldingham gallery in Berwickshire, specialising in the sale of Chinese and Vietnamese art.

His first marriage to Carol Smith, in 1982, ended in divorce in 1991. He is survived by his second wife, Yumei Sun (known as Sulee), whom he met in Sri Lanka, and their daughter, Lucy.

Tim Dawson

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Alan Grant obituary
British comic book writer responsible for shaping storylines for characters such as Judge Dredd, Batman and Strontium Dog

David Barnett

31, Jul, 2022 @12:08 PM

Article image
James Davie obituary
Other lives: Journalist who worked on the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Telegraph magazine and the Radio Times

Terry Dodsworth

09, Apr, 2018 @3:32 PM

Article image
Sir Peregrine Worsthorne obituary
Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, author and contrarian columnist who was one of the last high Tory commentators

Stephen Bates

05, Oct, 2020 @1:07 PM

Article image
Richard Wilson obituary
Other lives: Author and journalist who operated in London, Glasgow and Amsterdam

Angela Neustatter

14, Aug, 2022 @3:09 PM

Article image
Richard Garner obituary
Other lives: Long-serving education journalist who worked for the Daily Mirror and Independent

Stephen Bates

12, Feb, 2020 @3:15 PM

Article image
Ian Jack obituary
Brilliant exponent of long-form journalism, Guardian columnist and editor of the Independent on Sunday in the 1990s

John Lloyd

30, Oct, 2022 @3:45 PM

Article image
Deborah Orr obituary
Editor of the Guardian’s Weekend magazine who went on to become a trenchant, witty and much admired columnist

Maggie Brown

21, Oct, 2019 @12:30 PM

Article image
Paul Reizin obituary
Other lives: Journalist and author with a deep affection for the Guardian

Martin Kelner

01, Nov, 2021 @8:34 PM

Article image
John Woodcock obituary
Long-serving cricket correspondent for the Times who also spent six years as editor of Wisden

Matthew Engel

19, Jul, 2021 @12:33 PM

Article image
Howard Green obituary
Other lives: Journalist who was the pioneer editor of the Reading Evening Post

Michael White

18, Mar, 2018 @4:26 PM