Revel will be hugely missed by all his family and friends. He lived his life loving to write and was a great journalist from his early days with the Yorkshire Evening Post through to the Daily Mirror and then the Sunday Mirror, where he was first foreign editor, before rising to Mirror Group managing editor. 

After fully retiring from the UK and becoming a full-time Gozitan resident, Revel wrote a lot online, with regular articles in the Times of Malta and The Malta Independent, as well as articles for his website Gentlemen Ranters.

He also wrote fiction and factual books which he published himself and published books for his fellow retired journalist pals. It all kept him so busy and it was this busy that he loved, and why we can now refer to Revel as Dr Anthony Revel Barker, PhD FHRS, after completing his thesis on the life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson − who was his childhood hero after reading Treasure Island − within 18 months. What an achievement at 79 years of age, and a fine accolade for his writing. 

A memorial service for Revel Barker will be held at Our Lady of Loreto parish church in Għajnsielem, followed by a drink at Gleneagles Bar in Mġarr, Gozo, tomorrow, Saturday, September 28, at 4.30 pm. There will also be a memorial service in St Brides Church, Fleet Street, London, later this year.