The Parish Magazine July and August 2023

the parish noticeboard — 3
When talking with some readers of this magazine they told me they always like the articles
I write about the history of local people and someone suggested I write one about myself. I
mentioned this to my wife who was as practical as ever and said, that's a good idea — it will
be useful if I am ever asked to write your obituary! I will try to keep it brief!
And the rest is history . . .
Not being particularly academic, I failed the 11+ and went to a secondary school
near Southend-on-Sea, in Essex. The only subjects I can remember enjoying at
school were précis writing in English lessons and typography design in art. How
could I ever get a job editing someone's work and designing text?
I was too busy with out-of-school
activities to get involved with school
clubs, although I became head boy. Out
of school I was lead drummer in the
scouts marching band, and played with
a rock & roll group. Then there was St
John's Ambulance Brigade, working
for a local market trader selling fabrics,
gardening jobs, cleaning windows
and working in the local newsagents.
At 6am every morning I met the van
delivering the daily papers and sorted
them into the 'rounds' for the paper
boys and girls. It was a big job, almost
every home took a newspaper. I loved
reading the headlines and comparing
how the different papers dealt with the
day's news.
UNIVERSITY
I took a drop in earnings when I
left school to be an apprentice with
The Marconi Wireless Company. The
training cycle meant 6 weeks in the
factory then 6 weeks in college and so on.
One day, my college tutor suggested
I reduced my apprenticeship by a year
and go to university to study electrical
and electronic engineering.
My mother thought it was a crazy
idea to give up work at 21 years old to
go back to school — and I was also
planning to get married!
The only problem I had was that I
needed GCE O level English — I had
failed this at school. However, a crash
course at evening classes enabled me
to scrape through with the lowest
possible grade and by working the
summer season on the sea front buses
I earned enough money to get married
and go to university!
I COULD WRITE
The main thing I learnt during the
next four years was that I don't have
the technical skill to make anything
electronic work. I could, however, write
a good explanation why it didn't work
and this resulted in me graduating
with an upper second BSc(Hons).
How was I going to use it ? I had
no idea, so I signed up with a graduate
register in the hope that something
would turn up and fortunately it
did. Out of the blue I received an
invitation to meet a publisher in a
Soho restaurant for lunch at the end
of which he offered me a job with
the grand title of European editor
for a prestigious group of technical
electronics and communications
magazines that included The
Microwave Journal (about which I knew
nothing!), Telecommunications, and
Datacommunications.
The electronic industry was going
through a bad patch at the time and
jobs for graduates were scarce so I
became an editor.
A couple of weeks later, the
American owner of the magazines
turned up at the offices in Tunbridge
Wells where the European editorial
team — me — was based.
After complaining about the warm
beer in the local pub, he announced the
The Parish Magazine - July/August 2023 11
From the
editor's
desk
editor@theparishmagazine.co.uk
One of my few claims to fame is being the drummer (far left) in a band hired to keep Hayley Mills
fans entertained before she made her appearance on stage.
NEWSROOM
European office was closing tomorrow.
I would be out of work!
The publisher who recruited me was
furious and promised me a job within
a week.
REPORTER
The next week I walked into a
busy newsroom of a newspaper called
Electronics Weekly. I was to be their
technical reporter.
There was a staff of 12 journalists
but none of them had any real
knowledge of electronics. They were
mainly local and national newspaper
journalists and the editor came from
Tailor and Cutter magazine!
By the next day I had a National
Union of Journalists card which in
those days every journalist had to have
in order to work.
I was given a desk and typewriter
(which I had never used before) and
told to edit an enormous pile of
press releases issued by electronics
companies from around the world —
and was given a deadline — lunchtime!
turn to page 13