The legendary Bill Deedes, who died on 17 August, 2007 aged 94, was the only person to hold both a national newspaper editorship and a seat in the British Cabinet.

In a journalistic career lasting 76 years, the distinguished "Grand Old Man of Fleet Street" gained a reputation as a true gentleman, respected for his wisdom and humility.

He will be remembered for his undying devotion to the Daily Telegraph which he edited for 12 years. Even in his 80s he would spend Sunday mornings in the Telegraph office taking phone calls from donors for the paper’s charity appeals.

No one could sum up Lord Deedes’ full life better than himself. He ended his acclaimed 1997 autobiography, ‘Dear Bill’ with the words: "I believe there is a future life, but I do not let that discourage me from trying to get the most out of this one."

William Francis Deedes was born on 1 June, 1913 and brought up at Saltwood Castle, Kent. The castle had to be sold when his father lost money in the 1929 Wall Street Crash; financial troubles also forced him to leave Harrow early at the age of 16.

Unable to go to university, Deedes instead pursued a career in journalism, cutting his teeth as a reporter on the Morning Post in 1931. He remained with the paper when the Daily Telegraph took over in 1937. During the Second World War, he earned a Military Cross for his actions as an officer in the Rifle Brigade.

Deedes first ventured into politics in 1950, when he was elected Conservative MP for Ashford, Kent. In 1962 he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in Harold Macmillan's Cabinet, after three years as a junior minister under Churchill. He became Minister of Information, but left the Cabinet after only two years.

He quit Parliament in 1974 to return to journalism as editor of his old paper, the Daily Telegraph, and remained on the paper as a columnist after Max Hasting took over in 1986.

In the same year, he was created a life peer with the title Baron Deedes of Aldington in the County of Kent. But he remained as down to earth as ever, and still preferred to be called ‘Bill’ rather than "Lord Deedes".

Lord Deedes continued his popular Daily Telegraph columns, commenting on social and political issues, right up until his death. He was appointed an ambassador for UNICEF in 1998, using his position to run high-profile anti-landmine campaigns. Even in his 90s, he was travelling to war-torn places like Ethiopia and Sudan.

Lord Deedes published his final article, on the subject of Darfur, on 3 August 2007. Following a short illness, he died at New Hayters, his Kent home of 46 years, on 17 August 2007.

His wife Evelyn Branfort died in May 2004 and he also lost one of his two sons at a young age. He leaves behind his three daughters and remaining son Jeremy, who is a director of the Telegraph Group of companies.

Lord Deedes became a national figure, immortalised in the satirical Private Eye "Dear Bill" letters, written by writers posing as Dennis Thatcher, with whom he was great friends. The same magazine also based its long-running editorial column, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Lord Deedes' characteristic lisp.

There is much speculation that he was the inspiration for the hapless journalist William Boot in Evelyn Waugh’s novel ‘Scoop’. Lord Deedes had reported with the author in Abyssinia in 1936, but denies he was the muse – although he did take 600lb of luggage with him to the war zone, including different riding-boots for winter and summer, and was always immaculate in a pressed, double-breasted pinstripe suit.

All the British party leaders paid tribute to this great man. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain owed him a "huge debt of gratitude": "He started writing as a professional journalist more than 76 years ago and few have served journalism and the British people for so long at such a high level of distinction and with such a popular following.”

The chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, Aidan Barclay, said: "Bill Deedes was a giant among men, a towering figure in journalism, an icon in British politics and a humanitarian to his very core.

"He was part of the fabric of the Telegraph. In his passing we have lost part of ourselves. We will not see his like again. Our thoughts are with his family and his legion of friends."