Sir Raymond Stanley Tindle (8 October 1926 – 16 April 2022) was a British newspaper and radio entrepreneur. He founded the Tindle Group of regional newspapers and radio stations.

Early life

After leaving school he went on to enlist in the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, an infantry regiment in the British Army. He saw service in the Far East between 1944 and 1947, rising to the rank of captain. After wartime service he bought his first newspaper, the '' Tooting & Balham Gazette'' with his £250 () demob payment.

Career

Tindle continued acquiring newspapers over the decades that followed, operating them as local titles. At its peak, the Tindle Group owned more than 220 publications. Tindle Newspapers Ltd now owns local papers and radio stations covering large parts of Wales, Surrey, Hampshire, Essex, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Ireland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. Tindle attributed a great deal of the company's success to the fact it had always remained debt free. In the 1970s, Tindle was an early investor in

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

. In 1998, he sold back his shares in the company to buy Island FM in Guernsey, the first local station to form part of the Tindle Radio group. He retired as chairman of the ''Surrey Advertiser'' in 1977 after 35 years and also as a director for 18 years on the main board of ''The Guardian & Manchester Evening News''. He was chairman for ten years of the ''Belfast News Letter'', the UK's oldest provincial daily. Tindle was elected president of the Newspaper Society – the industry's highest honour – in 1971, and was its honorary treasurer for 14 years. He completed 50 years of involvement with the Newspaper Society in 2002. He was the founder chairman of the Weekly Newspaper Bureau and also a past president of the Wessex Newspaper Association, of the Greater London Newspaper Association and of the Young Newspaperman's Association. He was a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, and a member of the Guild of Editors. Tindle became Master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers in 1985 after some 20 years of service on several committees and of the Court. In 2017, Tindle stepped down as chairman of the company at the age of 90. He was succeeded by his son Owen, but remained the group's president until his death on 16 April 2022 at the age of 95.

Awards

He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 1987 Birthday Honours and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

for services to the newspaper industry. Tindle was an Honorary Fellow of the Surrey Institute of Art & Design which became the

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

, a Doctor of Letters at the

University of Buckingham The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university#United Kingdom, private university in Buckingham, England, and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (U ...

and was admitted to the Degree of Doctor at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tindle, Ray 1926 births 2022 deaths Devonshire Regiment officers People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English businesspeople Knights Bachelor British newspaper publishers (people) British radio people Businesspeople awarded knighthoods British Army personnel of World War II