A tribute to Adrian Curtis, one of our own

He brought experience, wit and wisdom to the newsroom, and we are fortunate to have counted Adrian Curtis as a friend and colleague.

The Cambridge Independent was left devastated following his sudden death at the age of 63.

Adrian was taken to hospital for emergency surgery on December 8 relating to a pre-existing condition, but died in the evening. His funeral was held on December 30.

He is survived by his wife Christine, with whom he recently celebrated his 30th wedding anniversary, their son Samuel, and Leigh and Sarah from his first marriage.

Christine told the Cambridge Independent: “My husband was a man of true integrity and kindness, my soul mate and best friend to our son, Samuel.”

Leigh, who writes on Notts County for the Nottingham Post, said: “He was my friend, my mentor and my hero.”

Adrian had worked for the Cambridge Independent since its launch in 2016, working primarily on news but occasionally helping out with football reporting – something for which he was renowned in the industry.

Adrian began his career at the Scunthorpe Star before switching to write about one of his passions, fishing, with the Angling Times.

He moved on to football writing in the 1990s at Match and Shoot, holding positions including features editor and deputy editor, developing contacts with big names in the sport. He earned a reputation for breaking big stories as he moved on to work for a leading sports reporting agency, Hayters Teamwork, and for the Mail on Sunday, before joining the Evening Standard in the 1990s to cover Tottenham Hotspur.

It was the club he had supported since he was a boy but he didn’t let that cloud his judgment in reporting.

In 2004, he moved to covering Chelsea for the Press Association and then, six years later, began his own publishing company, which specialised in writing about the railways – another subject for which he had a great passion.

Prior to joining the Cambridge Independent, Adrian had a spell on the Lincolnshire Echo, where he worked alongside his son Leigh.

When he arrived for interview at our offices in Milton, Adrian swiftly made an impression. He had a humble, down-to-earth manner, yet when probed had stories to tell of covering Champions League finals in what had been an impressive career to date.

We knew he would be an asset to the newsroom straight away, and swiftly offered him the job.

We know Adrian was proud to have ended his career with the Cambridge Independent, helping it on its way to winning five Weekly Newspaper of the Year titles in five years.

He passed on the stories of his career to young people on a careers day at Long Road Sixth Form, helped report on Wintercomfort’s efforts to aid the homeless in the city, and willingly dusted off his football reporting skills to help cover Cambridge United when our sports editor, Mark Taylor, was away.

Mark said: “Adrian was a great source of knowledge, advice and guidance. It was such an eye-opener to listen to his stories of covering the game at the highest level.”

Gerry Cox, former chairman of the Football Writers’ Association, knew Adrian – or Dippa, as friends called him – for more than 30 years.

In a tribute published by the FWA, he said: “When I first met Dippa, I had no idea what lay under the bonnet. His lugubrious manner, hangdog face and grunted greeting disguised a razor-sharp wit, brilliant mind and most importantly, such a fun-loving and friendly demeanour that me, and dozens of others, were in his debt forever.

“He was an old school hack in appearance, lacking only the trenchcoat and trilby of caricature, and he was old-fashioned in the way he went about his work, which was exactly why he was so good at it.

“I quickly learned why he had a contacts book that was the envy of so many of our peers – he’d built rock-solid relationships with some of the biggest names in football by sticking to the fundamental journalistic principles of trust, honesty and integrity.

“Those virtues, learned on local papers and then in magazine and agency work, enabled him to break back page leads for national newspapers time and time again, though he rarely got full credit, choosing to pass them on to his favoured protégés, some of whom went on to have fine careers.

“But none of them – and few of us – can claim to have quite as varied a career as Dippa.”

Adrian was indeed a great character, with a dry wit and lively sense of humour, which made him hugely popular with all at the Cambridge Independent and Iliffe Media.

We will miss him greatly.