Called Albert, he adopted the name Larry from the lamb in Toytown, a BBC Children's Hour radio series.
[2][3] He was northern editor of the Daily Mail in Manchester from 1968 until he was recruited by Rupert Murdoch to take over The Sun (recently bought from IPC).
Lamb pioneered the paper's populist style, established the Page 3 feature, which he later regretted,[4] and saw circulation dramatically increase.
He was Deputy Chairman of News Group from 1979 but was transferred to the Western Mail in Australia in 1981, and edited The Australian in 1982, where he was nicknamed "Sir Loin" by staff members.
In 1985, during his time as editor of the Daily Express, Lamb declared that the unconditional release of Nelson Mandela, imprisoned ANC leader in apartheid South Africa, would be "a crass error".