Graham Turner was born into a working-class family in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1932. He was educated at King’s School, Macclesfield, and Christ Church, Oxford, where, once he had got used to mixing with people from very different social backgrounds, he obtained a First in Modern History in 1953. He then spent a year in the United States on a Smith-Mundt Scholarship to Stanford University.
On returning to the UK, he had to take up National Service, which in his case meant going to Singapore as an education officer in the RAF. There he had what he describes as probably the most significant encounter of his life – with one Jim Benson, a fellow officer. Benson challenged Turner to ‘listen to God’, which he did with undisguised scepticism. But the resulting thoughts, to put right various things that had never troubled him previously, proved to be a turning point. Apart from one period of relapse, ‘when things inevitably went wrong’, Turner has stuck to daily times of quiet listening ever since.
From 1958 he was a journalist with The Scotsman and then The Sunday Times, joining the BBC in 1963 and becoming their first Economics Correspondent in 1965. As there were only two TV channels in the UK at the time, he was a familiar face on news broadcasts in many sitting rooms across the country, not least because it was a time of considerable industrial unrest.
However, he always felt that print journalism was his true vocation – especially after hearing ‘a voice’ while he was watching a film in the cinema. ‘I want you to be a journalist,’ he heard so clearly that he turned round to see who had spoken to him. Since 1970 he has operated on a freelance basis for various national newspapers and the BBC - appearing in particular on The Money Programme - and has written books and a variety of feature articles. ln 1972 he won the John Player Award for Management Journalism.
Jean, his wife of 52 years and mother of his three children, died in 2014. He married Veronica, and they lived close to Salisbury Cathedral. He died on 3 June 2024
His last book, That other voice (Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 2017), explores how God communicates with individuals. In one chapter he outlines his own spiritual journey.
His hobbies included walking and music.
