TTG’s second editor, Colin Collins, who succeeded co-founder Ted Kirkham as editor and oversaw the paper for six years, has passed away.
Collins, who died last week in Tenerife, joined Kirkham and fellow co-founder Leslie Stone on the Ilford Pictorial group titles in the early 1960s as editor of consumer title Holidays Gazette, before moving to TTG in 1962.
During his six-year tenure, TTG grew from an eight-page tabloid to a 56- to 64-page publication, featuring monthly full-colour supplement Travel Counter.
He also edited daily TTG titles at the 1966 and 1967 Abta conventions in Brighton and Bournemouth.
Roger Edwards, who worked under Collins at TTG, and later at Clarksons Holidays and timeshare exchange company Resort Condominiums International, said Collins became “much-respected, often feared critic” of UK travel industry affairs during the 1960s.
His reign coinciding with the package tourism boom; the launch of Operation Stabiliser, which saw Abta retail agents restricted to selling packages organised by operator members; and the 1966 economic crisis.