In loving memory of Dugal Nisbet-Smith who sadly passed away on 13th November 2025, aged 90 years.
Dugal Nisbet-Smith CBE, who died on November 13th aged 90, was a journalist and newspaper manager who lived an extraordinarily colourful life. In later years he could be found in the Suffolk farmhouse he shared with his wife, surrounded by newspapers and blaring 24-hour news channels, completely absorbed in the politics and conflicts of a world he could no longer explore.
Born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, he was a mischievous and inquisitive child with a passion for rugby, like many Kiwis of his generation. A natural storyteller, he excelled academically but decided against university, choosing instead to become a cub reporter on the Southland Daily News. His ambitions, however, were wider than the small South Island community. At 21, he boarded a ship for London and headed straight for Fleet Street.
He began on the Daily Express, initially covering crime before moving into features, where he once spent an evening consoling the Hollywood actress Patricia Neal, who believed she had been cursed by a witch. His sharp writing and drive carried him quickly through the ranks, but ever restless, he moved his family to the Caribbean. Still in his mid-twenties, he became assistant editor and managing director of the Barbados Advocate.
Combative and fearless, he made enemies easily, using newspapers across the West Indies and West Africa to challenge the powerful and the corrupt. He believed deeply in the role of the Fourth Estate to expose wrongdoing, a conviction that often put him at odds with leaders in the many countries where he worked. Returning to the UK, he ran the Scottish Daily Record for eight years before securing the plum job of Managing Director of Times Newspapers. His overhaul of working practices contributed to the infamous year-long strike that ultimately opened the door to Rupert Murdoch’s takeover.
Nicknamed “The Hawk” by the Evening Standard, he soon flew from his Australian boss to become publishing adviser to the late Aga Khan, marvelling at his new employer’s habit of changing his jewel-encrusted Rolex several times a day for hygiene reasons. His career then settled into a long and influential period as Director of the Newspaper Society, the trade body for Britain’s papers, during which he repeatedly clashed with Margaret Thatcher—always in defence of a profession he loved.
The family still marvel at how he also found time to paint, sculpt, and faithfully watch All Blacks games on Sky, even in the dead of night. He leaves behind his cytopathologist wife, Ann, three children, six grandchildren, one great grandson and a treasure chest of memories and stories cherished by the many friends who adored him.
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