Derek Edward Gerard Lord was born in Ealing, London, on 12 July 1927, and grew up in Kenton, Harrow and educated at Merchant Taylors' School. After leaving school he got a job at Hulton Press, working on the Picture Post and The Leader.
He did his National Service in the Royal Engineers in Egypt and Greece, before returning to The Leader until it was cancelled in 1950. After that he was transferred, along with The Leader's paper ration, to the new comic, the Eagle, as an editorial assistant. He was part of the team that developed Girl, Swift and Robin.
When Hultons were taken over by Odhams Press in 1959, Lord became editor of the Eagle under editor-in-chief Clifford Makins. A staunch trade unionist, he tried, unsuccessfully, to halt the takeover of Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, and resigned shortly afterwards, unable to accept the level of editorial interference.
After editorial positions at the Reader's Digest and Hamlyn, he went freelance in 1969. He produced 200 titles as a sub-editor at Wolfe Publishing and compiled In The Country for New English Library. He retired in 1987, but continued to promote a new educational comic, to be called Eureka, which never found a publisher. He died on 23 September 2004 following an operation for a perforated bowel.
References[]
- Steve Holland, Obituary: Derek Lord, The Guardian, 30 September 2004