Good Guy Warren

Warren, wearing the cap, with colleagues as the newspaper was 'put to bed'
at 2am on the night Barack Obama was elected US president in 2008

If you were to ask me how long ago this picture was taken, I'd say a year or two. Actually, it is seven years. It was a very late night on 5 November 2008, and the team at the newspaper were still working on putting the next day's edition together so that it could include the news of Barack Obama's election as the new US president.

Sat at his desk and wearing a baseball cap, as he always did, is Warren. He was the link man who transferred the completed newspaper pages from the newsroom to the print room where they would be loaded onto printing press plates to create thousands of copies of the newspaper. The process was all done electronically. However, Warren's job entailed far more than this crucial go-between step.

Last night was his final shift. He has now retired having worked at the newspaper since 1966 - an entire lifetime career at the same place of work.

For the best part of the last eight years I worked closely with Warren to produce the final pages each night, and for most of the past few years we sat side by side. He was an incredible work colleague, being reliable, calm, knowledgeable, methodical and precise. He would work until everything that needed to be done had been, even when it entailed continuing into the small hours of the morning (observe the tired eyes on the picture above).

You always felt comfortably reassured by his presence. I'm going to miss his observations on life and the news, and our conversations about music and films.

Beyond being a great work colleague, he was also a true friend willing to help out - and he did on a number of occasions when my scooter bike conked out in heavy rains and he would give me a lift to collect it after the rain had stopped. Once or twice he provided a lift home when I was without my bike and had missed the last bus due to the lateness of the hour.

Time flies by so quickly. One minute you are just getting to know someone and before you know it you've shared an intertwined daily work life for the best part of a decade.

Warren is a rarity in these times, having spent his whole working life with the same company. He is going to be a hard act to follow. And just as I miss Good Guy Eddie, I'm going to miss Good Guy Warren. It has been a joy and privilege to have worked so closely with him for so many years. I wish him well in his well deserved retirement.