Nicholas Osborne Tomalin (30 October 1931 – 17 October 1973) was an English journalist and writer.

Tomalin was the son of Miles Tomalin, a Communist poet and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. He studied English literature at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a student he was President of the Cambridge Union and editor of the prestigious undergraduate Granta magazine. He graduated in 1954 and began work as a foreign correspondent for various London newspapers. He married fellow Cambridge graduate Claire Delavenay ( Claire Tomalin) in 1955 ^[1] and they had three daughters and two sons. ^[2] In spite of numerous affairs on his part, ^[3] they remained together until his death.

He later co-wrote a book with Ron Hall about amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst's failed attempt to circumnavigate the world and subsequent suicide. His article " The General Goes Zapping Charlie Cong" was included in Tom Wolfe's 1973 anthology The New Journalism, which was a collection of non-fiction pieces emblematic of a new movement of reporting aimed at revolutionising the field.

Tomalin's articles often began with bombastic statements on their subject matter. The best known of these is: "The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are ratlike cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability". ^[4]

Tomalin was killed in the Golan Heights by a Syrian wire-guided missile on 17 October 1973 while reporting on the Arab–Israeli War. ^[5]

In November 2005, the journalism trade publication Press Gazette named Tomalin among its top 40 "journalists of the modern era". ^[6]

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