Larry Lamb, editor who made Sun into a success
By Matt Born

FLEET Street paid tribute yesterday to Sir Larry Lamb, the founding editor of the tabloid Sun and creator of the Page Three Girl, who has died, aged 70.

 Rupert Murdoch, for whom Sir Larry edited the Sun for 12 years, described him as "an inspiration" and the man who "helped reinvent popular journalism". He said: "Larry Lamb towered above the editors of his generation. 

"He had an unerring instinct for the political and popular taste of the day. His inspiration lives on within its pages." Sir Larry was appointed editor in 1969, shortly after Mr Murdoch bought it. His efforts to reinvent it were beset by teething problems.

 "It was visually crude, sloppily presented and virtually uncorrected," he recalled in his book, Sunrise - The Remarkable Rise and Rise of the Best-Selling Soaraway Sun. "But even then, somewhere beneath the blanket of despair, I had a gut feeling there could be a merit in its very crudeness."

 Fleet Street viewed the new upstart with contempt. But Sir Larry's editorial mix of sex, sport and sensationalism, coupled with serious political reporting, proved a potent cocktail. 

Within 100 days of his taking over, the circulation had increased from 650,000 to 1.5 million. By 1976, it had overtaken the Daily Mirror, and has remained the market leader since. Sir Larry also invented the Page Three Girl, a legacy with which he was never comfortable.

 He was knighted in 1980 but left the Sun the following year, returning to Fleet Street in the mid-Eighties for a three-year reign as editor of the Daily Express. 

Kelvin MacKenzie, who replaced Sir Larry in 1981, said: "He took a failing broadsheet more than 30 years ago and turned it into the journalistic and commercial giant of today. There is no doubt that he will take his place in history as Britain's number one tabloid journalist."

 Baroness Thatcher said: "He was a great editor and a huge influence on the world of British newspapers. He gave me great advice and support." Sir Larry, who had been in poor health after a heart attack in Australia eight years ago, died on Thursday. He leaves a wife, Joan, two sons and a daughter.