My friend and colleague Tom Maitland, who has died of oesophageal cancer aged 64, was a co-founder and editor of the Hastings & St Leonards News, one of the country's first free local newspapers, a former Labour councillor and a founder of an award-winning language school in France.
Tom was born in London to Frank, a Hansard reporter in the House of Lords, and Pat. Frank was a staunch leftwinger and internationalist who influenced the politics and journalistic aspirations of Tom and his brother, Ken. After moving to Kenardington in Kent, Tom attended Ashford grammar school, and then signed up for a three-year indentured apprenticeship as a reporter on the Kentish Gazette in Canterbury.
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