Robert Armstrong, who has died from a brain tumour aged 76, was a Guardian sports writer, specialising in football, rugby and tennis, his own game. As he would sometimes emphasise, Robert came from a tough background. Robert’s path to a wider world came via a scholarship to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, for which he remained grateful. With a studious appetite for books and natural curiosity (Robert particularly enjoyed conversations with children) the side of his trade he most relished was interviewing sportsmen and women, not all of them talkative. Labour being a no-hoper in rural Dorset, he stood unsuccessfully for the county council as a Lib Dem.

Source: The Guardian January 14, 2020 16:41 UTC