As one of the first female diplomatic correspondents in the British media, Hella Pick, who has died aged 96, was at the centre of the Guardian’s coverage of superpower summitry in the final decades of the cold war. Tall and elegant, she was a commanding presence at press conferences with world leaders, and also had a rare ability – based on her careful and intelligent reporting – to win the confidence of powerful politicians and get privileged access for interviews and background briefings.
Willy Brandt, as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1970s, became her friend, as did Mieczyslaw Rakowski, the last prime minister of Poland in the communist era. She was also trusted by Eduard Shevardnadze, who served as Soviet foreign minister at the height of Mikhail Gorbachev’s nuclear arms reductions and detente with the west.
