91Èȱ¬

If there'd been blogs about 40 years ago Patrick Hannan's would have been an ought-to-read. Even better, it would have been a must-read.

91Èȱ¬ Wales' "Political and Industrial Correspondent" as he was known back then - before proving over thirteen years that there really was enough politics to keep a correspondent fully occupied - had a great lightness of touch to go with his depth of knowledge. It was a good combination. It made his searching questions and scrutiny acceptable to the politicians and union leaders who faced it and made politics palatable, inviting even for the audience he wanted to reach.

I've just been back through the archives. It's fantastic stuff. The graphics are dreadful, the passion and the commitment brilliant. While Wales was going through four decades of huge political upheaval - miners striking, Neil Kinnock taking on his own party at ferocious conferences, the "crushing defeat" of the referendum result catching broadcasters unawares, Pat Hannan was always there, getting straight to the point, interpreting, making sense of it all.

And that was the point for him. He wanted "the constitutional question" and everything that went with it to mean something to people. He wanted implications to be spelled out so that people would come up with answers for themselves - the best kind after all.

On Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz he and Peter Stead - and I've just caught sight of a young Mr Stead tearing a strip off Neil Kinnock - were given a licence to show off. Patrick couldn't help himself sometimes. Just the slightest prod and he'd reel off the train of thought that had led the Wales team to obscure solutions and to victory five times in ten years. An answer to which 'twins' was the key was his proudest from the last series. "Do you know what Betsan, I don't know where it came from but ..." They invariably got there.

Patrick died on Saturday. I - we - will miss him.

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