He then moved to England and worked at branch offices of the Newcastle Journal on Tyneside. Then he was with the Sunderland Echo from 1961 to December 1964 and continued to do well.
He always wanted back to Scotland and gained a post at Edinburgh office of the Glasgow Herald (now The Herald} He reported the local authorities Edinburgh Council and Lothian Regional Council with the Herald and covered the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 31 years from 1966 to 1996.

Chris was not political but in the late 1960s he became an office-bearer of Edinburgh and District branch of the National Union of Journalists. He was branch secretary for 32 years from 1971 to 2003. He called regular meetings, arranged business, and dealt with membership applications. From the 1990s he was also branch treasurer. He attended 31 conferences of the NUJ and spoke often on matters of branch organisation. For distinguished service he was made a Member of Honour of the NUJ in 1994.

He was interested in history and studied in particular American history. With the Herald he wrote several articles on Abraham Lincoln. He had studied several biographies of the President and his one visit to the United States in 1976 was to visit Lincoln’s home and burial place at Springfield, Illinois. In retirement he researched the literary history of Edinburgh and had his work published in History Scotland magazine. Another interest was the game of draughts. He researched its history and he wrote on how this game of skill was developed by Scots players and analysts in the 19th and early 20th centuries.