Stuart Campbell was born in Bradford in 1938 and spent the first 13 years of his life at Apperley Bridge overlooking Esholt treatment works, where his father was Chief Research Chemist until moving to Paisley in Scotland in 1952. Stuart transferred from Bradford’s Hanson Grammar School to the John Nielson Institute in Paisley, where he developed an interest in journalism. National Service loomed, however, so he signed on for three years in the Royal Engineers to learn cartographical photography, spending two years on active service in Singapore, producing maps for the Malayan Emergency.
He cut his journalistic teeth on a Scottish weekly before moving via the Home Counties, Midlands and the North East into morning and evening journalism. Here he joined the small band of pioneers recruited to run Radio Durham, one of the BBC’s eight experimental local radio stations. As News Editor he subsequently helped to establish BBC Radio Carlisle before becoming Programme Organiser at BBC Radio Leeds. After taking early retirement from the BBC, he spent the next 14 years in career consultancy, latterly launching his own company.
Stuart is married to Myra, who spent much of her working life as a P.A. at Leeds Permanent Building Society and in the NHS. They share a love of the Yorkshire Dales, theatre and modern literature. They have a daughter and three sons.
