Chris Giles, former sports editor for The Argus. Picture: Frank le Duc
Former Brighton Argus sports editor Chris Giles, known as Gilesy, has died aged 64 after a battle with cancer.
Giles spent 25 years at the Sussex daily, most of it as sports editor, and played an “integral part” in his local club Brighton and Hove Albion’s rise to Premier League status.
Giles, born in 1961 around Oxford, graduated with a degree in politics and history before completing a periodical journalism course at City University – now City St George’s, University of London.
He then became a sports reporter on the Middlesex and West London Weekender, covering Brentford, and interviewed the Olympic sprinter Linford Christie.
Giles moved to the West Sussex County Times in Horsham in 1985 and assumed the role of sports editor at the Argus five years later.
He remained at the Argus until 2015.
Former Argus editor Simon Bradshaw said it was “very sad news” and “shocking”, adding: “He was a lovely guy and an excellent colleague.”
On the Albion fan website, North Stand Chat, one contributor said: “Chris was indirectly an integral part of the Albion’s amazing journey back to the top table.
“Alongside Simon Bradshaw… we have a lot to thank these two visionaries for because… they, alongside local radio, did so much before social media to influence the local decision-makers that we needed help and local government support.”
Another contributor said Giles had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Sussex sport and “he was astoundingly encouraging on a personal level”.
Giles was described as a “proper editor and [it was] some achievement keeping that desk ticking when it was exponentially stretched”.
Giles’ widow Christine said he never had any ambition to work in Fleet Street, adding: “Chris was totally passionate about sport. Working at the Argus was a dream job.
“He was proud to lead a talented group of journalists and often talked of the satisfaction he got from the success of the Sports Argus.”
When Giles left the Argus, he became a note-taker for a Brighton University psychology student who needed support throughout her degree – and then for a Paralympian.
Christine said: “He went to all the lectures for three years but didn’t get a degree himself.”
He became unwell last November and a tumour was found. His treatment seemed successful at first, but he spent the following six weeks in hospital in Brighton and was given care in his final three weeks at St Barnabas House hospice in Worthing.
A donation page for St Barnabas House in Worthing has been created in memory of Giles.
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