A towering figure in Kent and national media, the journalist and media consultant dictated the column from his hospital bed just hours before his death. He was 75.
Martin Jackson (pictured) was one of KM Group’s longest-serving columnists and in 12 years never missed a deadline for the award-winning monthly title. Though suffering from long term illness, he was determined to maintain that reputation even after being admitted to Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, just before Christmas.
From his hospital bed, he drafted some notes and then dictated more words to daughter Rebekah Jones. She recalls what happened: “I then typed up what I had, and went through it with him line by line on December 27 when he drafted the last paragraph. He was filing and amending his copy for his column just 24 hours before he died on December 28. He was most insistent on that day that it was done. It was so important to him.”
The column, which appears alongside many tributes, was read at his funeral in Hastings on January 14.
Martin was a journalist for almost 60 years and spent 21 years in Fleet Street, working as radio and TV editor for the Daily Express and Daily Mail. He also contributed to The Times, The Independent, the Mail on Sunday and the Evening Standard and edited Broadcast Magazine.
Mr Jackson, who lived in Hawkhurst, Kent, was a founding director of Television South (TVS), the television broadcaster for Kent and the South East in the 1980s.
He was a key figure behind the development of the Maidstone Studios, which continue to play a key role in television and media, and was a member of the Kent County Council advisory board for Kent TV.
Trevor Sturgess, business editor of the KM Group, said. “We are so honoured that Martin thought so much of Kent Business that he was so determined to complete his final column. In typical Jackson style, he recalls an embarrassing encounter with Greek singer Melina Mercouri, a Frank Sinatra exclusive he never wrote, and his scary brush with chat show host Simon Dee. In a poignant, final paragraph, he says goodbye to his readers.
“He was great company and would reel off numerous anecdotes about show business people he had met. Martin was a towering figure in Kent’s media scene, and his knowledge and insights will be greatly missed.”
He leaves a widow Maureen - they had been together for 43 years - three daughters, one grandson and a second on the way.
