About Charles

"Charles de Lisle, who has died aged 54, worked on The Daily Telegraph for several years as deputy editor of the Peterborough column and then House of Lords correspondent. A popular member of staff, he was known for his gentle charm and meticulous accuracy.”

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That was how Charlie’s obituary in the Telegraph began. Nearly ten years later, his life story now has one more chapter. He has become a benefactor with the launch of the Charles de Lisle Essay Prize.

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Charlie was fond of facts and good with dates, so it seemed to make sense to put together a timeline of his life. We could just do with him being here to check the details.

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1960 Charles is born at St George’s Hospital, London, the first child of Everard de Lisle, an officer in the Royal Horse Guards, and his wife Mary Rose, a future canon of Leicester Cathedral and daughter of Osbert Peake (Viscount Ingleby), who was a cabinet minister under Winston Churchill. After living in Army quarters near Sandhurst, they move to Paddington in London.

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1962 Charles becomes an elder brother when Mary Rose gives birth to a second son, Tim. Everard leaves the Army to train as a stockbroker.

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1968 The brothers get a sister, Rosanna. All three will go on to become journalists.

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1968 Charles goes to boarding school at Sunningdale in Berkshire.

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1972 With some friends, he launches a school newspaper called the Dale Mail. It is printed on the school photocopier, published twice a term and priced at 1p.

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1973 Charles goes on to Eton, where he soon wins a scholarship by doing well in internal exams.

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1977 Everard and Mary Rose leave London to live in Stockerston, a village in Leicestershire with a population of about 30.

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1978 Charles becomes one of the two editors of the Eton College Chronicle, a fortnightly magazine.

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1979 He starts at Worcester College, Oxford, reading History. His intake at Worcester is the first to include any women, about 700 years after a college was first established on the site.

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1981-82 Charles takes his first steps in professional journalism by writing some features for The Cricketer, a monthly magazine edited by the commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

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1982 He sits his finals at Oxford and is surprised to be summoned for a viva (an interview with the examiners) because his marks have put him in contention for a first-class degree. He does some hurried revision but has to settle for a second.

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1982 Charles’s tutor, Harry Pitt, puts him in touch with another former pupil of his, Rupert Murdoch, who gives him an interview in Wapping and a traineeship in Australia. Charles starts as a junior reporter on the business desk of the Adelaide News. Eager to grab other opportunities when they arise, he astonishes his family by standing in on a column called Canine Corner.

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1983 Charles moves to Sydney to work on The Daily Telegraph – a local paper owned by Murdoch, not the British title of the same name. He is soon appointed as the aviation and transport correspondent. He loves Australia and takes up dual citizenship, which allows him to vote in Aussie elections as well as British

ones.

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1987 He moves back to London, where he starts covering politics and cricket as a freelance for The Times and The Daily Telegraph – the British one, not the Sydney paper.

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1988 He joins the Telegraph as a reporter on Peterborough, the paper’s so-called diary – a gentle gossip column that appears five days a week, breaking political and professional stories and acting as a training ground for new recruits.

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1990 He becomes deputy editor of the Peterborough column, writing most of the political stories and doubling as a mentor to younger members of the staff, who call him Marmaduke. In the office, he often wears a bright green V-neck jumper.

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1993 Charles is promoted to a new role as the Telegraph’s House of Lords correspondent. It’s the peak of his journalistic career and he thoroughly enjoys it, getting to know former ministers, finding stories, not having to write every day, but turning up on the front page when the Lords vote against the government.

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1995 He leaves the Telegraph to become head of research – ie, chief ghostwriter – for the former prime minister Sir Edward Heath, who is finally getting round to working on his memoirs, about 20 years after his premiership. Charles's leaving present from the Telegraph is a Matt cartoon, depicting the green V-neck.

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1997 Charles enjoys briefing Heath on his own Cabinet papers to jog his memory, but doesn’t enjoy the infighting among Heath’s team, which takes a toll on his health and happiness. After two years, he quits to return to freelance journalism.

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1998-99 Charles spends the winter in Australia, following the England cricket team. With Christopher Martin-Jenkins, he writes An Australian Summer: The Story of the 1998-99 Ashes Tour (Faber). CMJ covers the cricket while CdL goes behind the scenes, interviewing everyone from the umpires to the travelling

fans. “CMJ has written many tour books,” one critic writes later, “but this is the best by a distance. It is a shame he and Mr de Lisle have never repeated the exercise.”

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2000-01 Charles writes The Grapevine, a weekly column for the Cricket Unlimited website, run by The Guardian and Wisden.

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2001 He leaves London to live in Leicestershire, near his parents.

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2003 Everard de Lisle dies, aged 72, in a road accident. At his memorial service in Leicester Cathedral, Charles gives an address.

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2003 Charles marries Rachel Ableman, a teacher. They set up home in Great Bowden, Leicestershire, before moving to South Hampstead in London.

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2006 Charles becomes a father when Rachel gives birth to a daughter, Charlotte.

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2009 The marriage breaks up as Charles struggles with depression. He remains on good terms with Rachel, moving to a flat round the corner and seeing Charlotte once or twice a week. They make a habit of having a pizza and going to Waterstones to buy a book, usually one of the Mr Men and Little Miss series.

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2010-14 When his mood lifts, Charles contributes to the Londoner’s Diary at the Evening Standard, finding political stories.

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2014 Charles dies suddenly of a gastric haemorrhage, aged 54. He is buried at Stockerston, next to his father.

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2015 A memorial service is held at the Grosvenor Chapel in London. The main address is given by Charles’s friend Johnnie Boden, founder of the fashion brand of the same name.

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2019 Rosanna and Tim set up the Charles de Lisle Trust and start talking to potential partners for a prize in their brother’s name.

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2020-22 Negotiations are rudely interrupted by a global pandemic.

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2024 The Charles de Lisle Essay Prize, funded and conceived by Charles himself, is launched at Oxford University.