John William Bryant (25 April 1944 – 30 April 2020) was a British journalist with interests in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

s. He was the editor of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' from 2005 to 2007, and also served as editor of '' The European'', editor of '' The Sunday Correspondent'', deputy editor of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and executive editor of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. He helped establish the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

, with

Chris Brasher Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, Olympic champion, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon. Early life and education Born in Georgetown, British Gui ...

Early and personal life

Bryant was born on 25 April 1944 and grew up in the village of Haselbury Plunknett in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. He attended Sexey's School in

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a small market town, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, north-west of Gillingham ...

. He studied law at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

where he was an

Oxford Blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge universities in Eng ...

. Bryant was described as a reluctant interviewee, and quietly spoken, by those around him. He resided in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

Athletics career

Bryant was a county running champion and since then entered coaching – he coached, among others, Olympic athlete

Zola Budd Zola Budd (also known as Zola Pieterse; born 26 May 1966) is a South African Middle-distance running, middle-distance and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain ...

, accompanying her to the 1984 Olympics. In the 1950s, he was closely involved with major players in achieving the four-minute mile, and developed a relationship with

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub- 4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

. After forming a friendship with the track and field athlete

, Bryant played a part in developing the modern-day

. He completed his 24th

in April 2016, and thanked his team at a reception held near

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

at the end of the run. By the end of his life he had participated in 29 London Marathons in total. Bryant was a long-time captain of the world's oldest cross-country running club, the Thames Hare and Hounds.

Journalism career

Bryant began his journalism career at the ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by National World, whic ...

''. He was executive editor of the ''

'' in the 1980s, and consultant editor and features editor, before joining ''

'' as their managing editor in 1986, where he wrote a regular column on sport. He was promoted to deputy editor, a role he returned to after editing ''The'' ''Sunday Correspondent'' and ''The European''. On 18 November 2005,

Martin Newland Martin Newland (born 26 October 1961) is a British journalist, a former Editor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' who now consults on media and communications, most recently in the Middle East. He was an advisor to Abu Dhabi Media and before that was Ex ...

resigned as editor of ''

'', and the

Telegraph Media Group Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG; previously the Telegraph Group) owns ''The Daily Telegraph'' and '' The Sunday Telegraph'' and is a subsidiary of Press Holdings. David and Frederick Barclay acquired the group on 30 July 2004 from Hollinger I ...

immediately hired Bryant. Despite overseeing the paper's move to new offices in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, his tenure as editor came with an era of unexpected turbulence, where journalists were at the forefront of a number of redundancies and resignations, including 54 editorial redundancies at ''The Telegraph'' in 2006. At the same time, it was reported that Bryant was in a 'power struggle' with the then ''Sunday Telegraph'' editor Sarah Sands. It was announced that Bryant was leaving ''The Telegraph'' in late 2006, and he said he had had "a great time" among the paper's journalists and writers. In October 2006, William Lewis took over Bryant's role unofficially until Bryant's official leaving the editorship the following year. Since his leaving ''The Daily Telegraph'', Bryant wrote a number of books and articles with sporting and marathon backgrounds, including a piece in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' about

's four-minute mile in 1954. He became chair of the Press Association Trust in 2008.

Death

Bryant died on 30 April 2020, aged 76, at his home in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, following a "long illness". He was survived by his wife, two sons and six grandchildren.

Bibliography

* ''3:59.4'', Penguin Books, 2005, * ''The London Marathon'', Penguin Books, 2006,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, John 1943 births 2020 deaths 20th-century British journalists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century British journalists 21st-century English male writers Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford British male cross country runners Daily Mail journalists The Daily Telegraph people English male cross country runners English male journalists English sportswriters People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham People educated at Sexey's School People from South Somerset (district) Writers from Somerset Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands Journalists from Birmingham, West Midlands