A SHADOW drifted across the far end of the long, dark passageway and Don Bentley stopped, surprised that someone else should have been down there in the printing works at this hour. Bentley strained his eyes to identify the shape in the near darkness, at the far end of the passageway where the light from a single light bulb at its entrance barely penetrated. The shadow moved out of sight and Bentley called out, softly at first as if not wanting to disturb the silence down … [Read more...] about The spirit in the press room
A forger’s tale
The bank note fluttered against the side of the kerb, the breeze tossing it over so it showed the magic figure of “100’’ . The journalists from the night shift of the Chronicle were on their way to their evening break, and Colin Clerk was the first to see the hundred-dollar bill. It was a summer’s night and the crisp new bill stood out in the twilight. Colin looked quickly about him to see if someone might have dropped it, then leapt off the pavement and scooped it up in … [Read more...] about A forger’s tale
An editor with tricks up his sleeve
The editor came into the room waving a brand-new table tennis bat, spongy on one side and hard on the other. His jaunty walk, and his swishing of the bat, said he meant business. “Right, who’s for a thrashing?’’ he shouted, attempting to take off his tweed jacket. As it slid from his shoulders one arm, caught on the bat that was still in his hand. “Bugger,’’ he said, as one of the sub-editors who had been playing rushed forward to help. “Leave it, leave it,’’ the editor … [Read more...] about An editor with tricks up his sleeve
A newspaper lost in time
THE ping-pong ball bounced across the table tennis table, bouncing once on the floor and then sailing through an open window. It could be heard pinging in the cobbled alleyway below, two floors down. “Bugger,’’ said the player serving, gazing at the open window. “Bruce,’’ he shouted sharply. A copy messenger came running into the room from the newsroom of the Chronicle beyond. “Fucking ball’s gone out the window again. Go and get it,’’ said the server. Without saying a … [Read more...] about A newspaper lost in time
My hero Gilbert White
WILDLIFE documentary-maker David Attenborough was once asked what was his favourite bird out of all the thousands of species he had seen on his travels worldwide. He did not have to cup his hand to his chin in classic pose to think about it. He had an instant answer, all the while looking wistfully out of the window of his suburbanLondon home, to the garden beyond. The bird wasn’t the wandering albatross that circumnavigates the globe on wings with a span 3.5 metres, the … [Read more...] about My hero Gilbert White