I was not yet 16, and had not even been a year on the staff of the Times of Malta, when one day I was asked to substitute "temporarily" a member of the staff of The Sunday Times of Malta. That "temporary" move turned out to be a decidedly permanent one and, to this day, nearly 40 years later, I am still at The Sunday Times.

That day in December, 1963, was when I got to know George Sammut. Is-Sur Gorg, as he was fondly known by most of the employees at Allied Malta Newspapers, had been its editor for ten years. Manuel Gauci, now retired in Canada, was assistant editor.

The move to the "Sunday" turned out to be an education for me. George, with his Jesuit upbringing and background, had an impressive cultural baggage. His passion was reading, and he "devoured" good books at a prodigious rate. Inevitably, some of that cultural baggage and wide knowledge began to rub off on me. And he was a stickler for getting it right - whether it was the proofreading or, more importantly, the facts.

Even though The Sunday Times at the time was nowhere near its present-day proportions (the paper averaged 32 pages), George had managed to attract a number of very prestigious writers, all experts in their respective fields: E.R. Leopardi, Maurice Agius Vadalà, Guido Lanfranco, Harry B. Formosa, his brother Edward Sammut, Guzè Cassar Pullicino, Eric Brockman...

Their writings contributed in no small way to the enrichment of Melitensia, to bringing out the incredible wealth of these islands' heritage - be it historical, scientific, cultural, religious, architectural, musical, folkloristic. It is a tradition which has continued under George's successors, notably Tony Montanaro and myself, modestly speaking, to this day.

As an impressionable young man, I was amazed at how many contacts George had - not only socially, thanks also to his charming and highly intelligent wife Lola, but also professionally.

Of course, a journalist without good contacts is no journalist at all. One of the great advantages of journalism, as I already discovered when I started working with George, was the number of people, many of them quite important, you get to know.

Being on George's staff was a constant education, especially in the politically turbulent Sixties, with the raging politico-religious dispute, Malta gearing itself up for independence, the social upheaval, the achievement of independence, and the gradual but inexorable changeover from an economy based on military spending to one based on tourism and industry.

So one can imagine my shock when, one Saturday morning in May, 1965, barely a year and a half after I had joined The Sunday Times, I learned that George, then aged 45, had suffered a heart attack. He was to return to work six months later - but not as editor.

Even then, obviously, the editorship was a heavy strain. Some think that editing a Sunday newspaper is almost a lark, since it involves only one "late" night. But already then, with much fewer pages, it was quite a responsibility - after all. George prided himself on editing a quality newspaper; quality does not come without effort - and quality is what he gave his readers.

George returned later in 1965 as editorial adviser, but he still continued to write "Roamer's Column", which he had started in the late Fifties. His witty and occasionally barbed comments "roamed" from one topic to another, but the content was rather less "political" than it has since become (obviously reflecting the changed times). They were exciting times, nevertheless, with the changes decreed by Vatican II (George's religious background came especially useful then), the Vietnam war, women's lib - they were the Swinging Sixties, after all!

I still sought George for advice, especially as my responsibilities started to increase, first under Manuel (who took over for a few months before going first into the hotel business and then went to work abroad in publishing), and then under Anthony Montanaro, who had spent eight years as editor of Il-Berqa.

George, much more relaxed now, was as always a veritable fountain of knowledge, but also a delightful source of jokes, which he often shared with me and with the late Robbie Decesare, then sports editor. Meanwhile, "Roamer" was becoming more "political" in content, especially following the election of Dom Mintoff in 1971 after 13 years out of power.

Mintoff certainly provided fodder - not only for local journalists, but for foreign newspapers and news organisations too. George, after all, was also Malta correspondent for the London Times and the BBC, and unpredictable Dom kept him quite busy on that front too.

Unfortunately, the crisis Malta faced with the departure of British forces in the 1971-72 deadlock over the future of the military base, also meant the departure of George Sammut from Allied Newspapers after 26 years. To say that he was deeply missed is an understatement, especially since his brief as a member of the board of directors included industrial relations.

The farewell dinner I took it on myself to organise in his honour was, inevitably, an emotional affair. But we all knew that we could continue to count on George as a true friend. As indeed he was until the Good Lord called him one day in June, 1984.

George's memory, however, remains alive. Which is why the George Sammut Memorial Lecture is such a commendable and fitting initiative.

Laurence Grech has been editor of The Sunday Times since March, 1991.