BRITAIN: Tributes have been paid to Daily Mail columnist Lynda Lee-Potter, who died yesterday from a brain tumour.
For 32 years the "Voice of Middle England" aired her forthright views in a weekly column. Lee-Potter, who always declined to reveal her age, joined the Daily Mail in 1967. She had no time for political correctness and was renowned for her bluntness when it came to people in the public eye, particularly women.
She described Martine McCutcheon as looking "like a palmist on Blackpool pier"; accused Charlotte Church of behaving "like a brazen, tarty drunk"; and dismissed Catherine Zeta-Jones's wedding as "a tawdry exercise in greed, excess and manipulation".
Lee-Potter was married to Dr Jeremy Lee-Potter and leaves three children, who have all followed her into journalism.
Her last piece, an interview with TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, was published in May. Hunniford chose to give Lee-Potter the first interview about the death of her daughter Caron Keating. She said yesterday: "It was very emotional for me to hear of Lynda's death because I know the interview about Caron was the last one she did.
"I will remember her as a woman full of passion and compassion."
Lord Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail, said Lee-Potter had made an "incalculable contribution" to the newspaper's success. "She was a remarkable person and represented the very best of journalism."
Editor-in-chief Paul Dacre said: "Lynda's genius was in putting into simple words what millions of ordinary people were thinking - articulating, without talking down to them, not only their dreams but also their anger and frustration."