Geoffrey D. Lloyd

Who was Geoffrey D. Lloyd?

Geoffrey D. "Geoff" Lloyd was a Welsh journalist, who was editor of Welsh local newspaper the Llanelli Star from 1965 until his death. He guided the Star into the modern era, developing the appeal of the Star for twenty-one years before he died in 1986. He was appointed editor by Charles Braham, a former editor, who described him as "an extremely hard working and conscientious journalist who played a spectacular role in re-shaping the Star."

Lloyd was born in Swansea, and educated in Bishop Gore Grammar School, later attending the University of Wales College, Cardiff. He set up and edited the Mumbles and Gower Weekly News before joining the Star as a journalist and sub-editor in 1957. The pinnacle of his career was his appointment as President of the Guild of British Newspaper Editors in 1986.

In 1984, Lloyd oversaw the Star's move to new premises, the conversion from hot metal composition to photo composition, and the transfer to a new type of printing. On the 75th anniversary of the Star, the newspaper began to be printed off the Five-Unit Webb-offset at the Western Telegraph, Haverfordwest. The Star's copy, news and advertising were sent through the keyboard of six computer terminals. The varitype photo-setting plant then translated the computer's codes and commands into type of the ordered width, size and font, and then produced it as a continuous strip of bromide paper ready for pasting on grid sheets representing each page. These were then photographed; the negatives were turned into plate, which were then attached to the press.