My friend John Stapleton taught me to be a better person

My dear friend, the television presenter John Stapleton, was known to millions and admired in equal measure. He and I had many things in common, but I have never encountered anyone in my life who shared, or indeed eclipsed, my passion for punctuality. And by punctuality what I really mean is an interest, bordering on an obsession, in being early.

If John and I made an arrangement to meet at, say, 11am at Euston Station, neither of us would be there any later than 10.15. Was it the fact that we were both journalists, and so were terrified of missing a deadline? Were we catastrophists who factored in unexpected hazards? Either way, we once arrived at a football match before even the turnstiles were open, and were there to watch the pies being delivered.

So to describe John’s death on Sund