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
Last stop on the shimmering way
A PEREGRINE falcon witnessed Stan Jones’ last journey on the 296 bus. A black cockatoo and a butcherbird were there, too; providing a fitting and appropriate send-off for a man who flew with them in his thoughts daily, at least until today. Stan Jones was retiring after a life on the road. It had been a good life because most days he drove theOpossumBaybus out ofHobart. For 40 years the bus driver had told his passengers they were on the greatest, most beautiful, most … [Read more...] about Last stop on the shimmering way
Beatles, Brahms and Blackbirds
BEFORE I retired from the Mercury newspaper, my colleagues used to joke that they always knew when I’d been on duty by the number of bird stories that appeared in the newspaper. Writing and looking for bird news, especially when compiling and editing the world pages, was a welcome distraction from all the man-made turmoil and mayhem in the world. One night on my usual journalistic bird hunt, or bird trawl through the new agency reports coming across the wires, I was … [Read more...] about Beatles, Brahms and Blackbirds