Jameson hangs up his pen

His life is the stuff from which legends are made.

A parentless, prospectless street urchin from Hackney who scaled the rickety journalistic ladder to establish himself as one of the country's best-known celebrities.

Now Derek Jameson is set to add another chapter to his life but one which will be a little less turbulent.

Tomorrow he quits the weekly Argus column he has penned for the last two years to plan exotic adventures with third wife Ellen.

The couple, who live on Hove seafront, have decided to escape the rat race after a working life that in Derek's case has spanned more than 60 years.

Derek, 70, says: "I must admit it's quite disturbing that I will be hanging up my pen. But I've been working in one way or another since I was seven so I guess it's time to see what the rest of the world does before I hop the twig.

"I've always had a dream of going to far-flung places with exotic names and I can't think of a better time to do so.

"We plan to visit America and maybe Australia but first we are going to take a year off to give ourselves some breathing space."

One influencing factor came out of the blue, when a holiday brochure provided Derek with a throwback to one of his favourite boyhood poems.

He explained: "It's by John Maresfield and features a beautiful place called Valparaiso, the port of Santiago.

"As a youngster I'd always wondered what it would be like in Valparaiso. And one day this leaflet advertising the place dropped through the letterbox.

"We do genuinely believe that angels have touched our lives. So when this leaflet arrived, Ellen and I looked at each other and said it was a signal from above and time to move on."

Another reason for moving on was the realisation that life was not eternal, something which was brought in to sharp focus with the death of Derek's friend, Desmond Wilcox, husband of broadcaster Esther Rantzen, who died last month aged 69.

Ellen says: "We could both carry on working for longer but when you see things happen to people like Des it does make you think that life is too short."

Derek said he had laid down plans to retire two years ago but they were torpedoed by the "seductive" offer of a weekly column in The Argus.

"It was too irresistible to turn down," says Derek. "Going out and about in Brighton and Hove and stirring things up left, right and centre has been a joy.

"It's also lovely when people approach you in the street after recognising you from the paper.

"But I still find it strange when I walk in to a newsagents and I see my ugly mug staring back at me from the front page."

Now, though, he plans to kick back and relax amid the trappings that success has brought from years of toil.

A gleaming Daimler with personalised number plate sits outside the couple's five-bedroom house, a property which holds the record number of appearances on TV's Through the Keyhole.

The life that the couple share today is far removed from the days when Derek was a 14-year-old messenger boy for news agency Reuters.

"It was considered such a lowly job that we weren't even allowed into the building," says Derek.

"We were forced to work from a shed until we were at least 16."

Yet he soon caught the eye of the editor who made him a trainee reporter at just 16, a feat unheard of in Fleet Street.

There he began an apprenticeship which was to last seven years.

"Fleet Street in those days was the most exciting place in the world. It was the centre of the universe during the war with the Amercians, Poles and the French all over here.

"But they were also pretty hairy days, too. The war correspondents would come back from leave and give us all the off the record stories of Britain at war. We were in awe of them and it was out of this world."

It was from Reuters that he was catapulted on to an illustrious path in journalism which saw him become editor of no fewer than three national newspapers.

But by 1984 he was broke.

He was sacked from the News of the World by its owner, Rupert Murdoch, after becoming embroiled in a disastrous libel action against the BBC.

Derek was left smarting after a Beeb sketch labelled him an "East End boy made bad" but it also left him £75,000 out of pocket after he lost the suit.

"Those were tough times. I was 55, broke and had to start all over again."

Yet ironically it was the BBC who threw Derek a lifeline by handing him and Ellen the Radio 2 programme The Jamesons.

"They said 'Derek, no hard feelings. It wasn't anything personal, it's just we've got the right to defend our programmes'.

"In all fairness, they picked me up, dusted me down and made me a star again.

"Yet now I'm just looking forward to getting away from it all."

Although he is fixing his sights on the next 12 months, it seems he is not oblivious to what lies beyond.

He said: "At the end of it all, I will have my ashes scattered in the River Lea, which runs right through the East End of London, because that's where my heart is and that's where it all began.

"I may go to some of the best places the world has to offer but none will be quite as fine as home."