Terence Lancaster

Terence Roger Lancaster (29 November 1920 – 6 October 2007) was a British journalist, socialist, and the political editor of the Daily Mirror in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life Terence Lancaster was born on 29 November 1920, the only son of Reginald Lancaster, who owned a family firm of printers, and Dorothy (née McMahon) of Salisbury, Wiltshire. During the war he worked as an officer in RAF Intelligence in the Western Desert Campaign, the youngest such officer, and subsequently in Italy and Germany. He had wanted to become air crew, but had failed the medical test. A columnist too, he was soon moved to become the political editor of the Daily Mirror in 1970, after his predecessor John Beavan was elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Ardwick. Lancaster later also became assistant editor. He had a good rapport with prime minister Harold Wilson and his circle, including his press secretary Joe Haines. After Wilson stood down as PM in 1976, Haines was appointed to the paper at his suggestion. Lancaster's friendship with Haines ended thanks to Maxwell's behaviour at the Mirror.

Personal life Lancaster married Brenda Abbott (d. 1998), a schoolteacher, on 19 August 1941; the couple had two sons, Guy and John.

Lancaster died from heart failure and aspiration pneumonia at The London Clinic on 6 October 2007, at the age of 86.