John Course, who has died aged 86, was a mainstay of the Guardian during the hardest years of its transition from Manchester to London. His editing skills and talent for nurturing colleagues ensured that the retreat was seldom dispiriting and occasionally glorious. He practised rather than preached the papers values.
His greatest contributions were working with Brian Redhead on the transformation of the feature pages in the 1960s, and later, after the dribble south became a torrent in 1976, preserving the Guardians northern soul on the Grassroots pages. He ran the best regional arts coverage of any national newspaper for 30 years and was a pioneer in appointing and promoting women subeditors. In a freelance capacity, he also worked as an interviewer for BBC radio.
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