RIP – Colin Inman
[Monk – comment 8, below, has sent me this PDF: colin]
I have heard that Colin Inman, the FT’s crossword editor for more than 40 years, died on May 14. He was 87.
Funeral details:Wealden Crematorium at 1pm on the 3rd of June: https://www.wealdencrematorium.co.uk. All are welcome to join family and friends afterwards at Colin’s house, Kirkstone, Mayfield Lane, Wadhurst, TN5 6HXIf you would like to express your condolences to the family, please write to his son Otto at ottoinman@gmail.com.The obituary is now online and will be in Saturday’s FT.Next Saturday, the FT will republish Rob Jacques’ puzzle dedicated to Colin. It first ran on his retirement.
Colin had a long and varied career at the FT, writing its House Style guide, the newspaper’s bible which is used today. He became crossword editor in 1979 when he inherited three compilers. He grew that number to more than 30, commissioning and editing more than 13,000 puzzles, as well as establishing the FT’s Polymath general knowledge puzzle, until his retirement in 2022.He will be remembered fondly as a great mentor to many at the FT and for his wry humour and gentle nature.
Colin was a great walker, loved attending classical music, opera and theatre and was an avid book collector. He was also a loyal supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion FC.
He leaves two sons, Otto and Carl, daughter in law Rachel, granddaughter Olivia, and grandsons Tate and Jasper. He outlived his wife of more than 50 years, Ellen, who died in 2022.
Quite the career. RIP 🙏
Colin handed me my first pro job as a compiler. Unlike some people (!) he also had the great good sense to support one of the South Coast clubs that don’t cheat.
Colin Inman, a really nice guy who had a great life. RIP.
I had the pleasure of meeting Colin several years ago and would agree about the wry humour and gentle nature
My condolences to his family and friends. RIP Colin
Thanks for all the puzzles, Colin.
RIP 🙏
What a loss to the crossword world. Colin was the first crossword editor of a national newspaper to publish my puzzles. His gentle approach to editing and his friendly demeanour towards his compilers distinguished him,
especially when compared with one I worked under much later on. I shall miss him.When I do an FT crossword I will think of Colin Inman RIP
RIP Colin, and my condolences to his family. Colin was a gentle yet firm editor who smoothly guided less-experienced incarnations of many of today’s well-known setters, all of whom will no doubt greatly miss him. Roger Blitz wrote this tribute to Colin after his retirement, and I have a PDF (I can’t find it online) of the concomitant FT setters’ tributes to him. Perhaps @KenMac can post it in this thread if I email it to him?
I did not know Colin or even know of him so thanks for the introduction . What struck me was the FT having three setters in 1979 , now they have a whole stable of quality setters with a great range of variety , no doubt thanks to Colin . RIP .
RIP Colin. I enjoyed working under his editorship very much and had the pleasure of meeting him at his retirement do. Lovely chap. Condolences to his family.
Very sad, my condolences to his family and friends. For ever grateful to him for taking me on to the FT setters’ team in 2010. A superb person to deal with. Gurney’s Sunderland finally joined his Brighton in the Premier League this season, and my last email contact with him was in March when the teams met in the northeast following several other emails earlier in the season.
Colin gave me one of my wishes, which is to be a setter in a quality broadsheet. His moderation was firm and fair and I still remember fondly our exchanges over a breakfast item. Soldiers engaged them at the crack of dawn (4-6,4) RIP Colin
I am sorry to hear this news. I have in my possession a crossword book derived from some of the FT’s finest, and the foreword was written by Colin. That was how I got to know about him first many years ago. I hope his passing was peaceful, and am in no doubt that many around crosswordland have benefited from his presence and work.
Mahesh / Turbolegs