t, 
QUOTE OF THE DAY
If things were simple, word would have got around — Jacques Derrida
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HERE IS THE DRONE’S VERY OWN HEADLINE QUESTION TO WHICH THE ANSWER IS NO
Was this Winston’s longest ever speech?
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BANGED OUT OF ORDER
RUTHLESS: Sun editor Tony Gallagher
Sun editor Tony Galagher has got himelf a brand new nickname around the NewsUK offices, reports POPBITCH.
Staff there are calling him Stony Gallagher — not just because he’s been firing people ruthlessly over the past few weeks, but because he’s also refusing to take part in the “banging out” processions that are traditional on Fleet Street whenever someone leaves the paper.
Instead of joining in with colleagues to pay his respects to the outgoing hack, Tony sits in the middle of the room with his hands stuck steadfastly to his phone instead.
Although if we didn’t know any better, we’d wonder if this was all a ploy to be shot of his former nickname — One-Trick Tony.
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BONFIRE OF THE SUBS
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COST-CUTTER MONTY ON THE MARCH AGAIN
Rommel is back and aiming for a blitz on our jobs
IT’S WAR! Notorious cost-cutter David Montgomery is on the brink of a comeback —and he has eyes on hundreds of jobs.
He plans to target struggling newspaper publishers in a takeover spree and strip out costs as he attempts to build a new digital giant.
Montgomery, 70, is within days of revealing a new listed company to make a series of deals, City and industry sources told the Daily Telegraph.
It will be called National World, and will debut on the stock market via the reverse takeover of an existing private company.
National World will aim to capitalise on the decline of print newspaper circulation and advertising, which has depressed valuations for the likes of Reach, publisher of the Express, Star and Mirror.
Investors, including major institutions, have backed Montgomery to lead the consolidation that senior industry executives claim is essential for their survival.
The Ulsterman, nicknamed Rommel by staff because “at least Montgomery was on our side”, began his Fleet Street career as a sub-editor on the Daily Mirror, He gained the reputation of being an enthusiastic cost-cutter during his time as chief executive of a forerunner to Reach and then of Mecom, a pan-European newspaper publisher he founded.
Reach is itself in talks to acquire some JPI Media titles as part of the auction meaning National World will be bidding against another of its potential targets.
DMGT, the publisher of the Daily Mail, is also said to be interested in acquiring the i, having made an unsuccessful bid last year prior to the collapse of Johnston Press.
National World declined to comment.
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Lookalike
SIMPLES CORBYN
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The importance
of letter spacing
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FACEBOOK POST OF THE WEEK
KNILL BY MOUTH
.
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Saturday's papers
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Cartoons of the Day
BOB MORAN, Telegraph (after W Heath Robinson)
KAL, The Economist
PETER SCHRANK, The Times
CARTOON EXTRA
Meet the Husband
TONY HUSBAND
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EXPRESS EDITOR'S ‘BIZARRE MEETING'
SUNDAY MIRROR DEPUTY ED QUITS IN GROPING ROW
ACCUSED: Mirrorman Nick Owens leaves the High Court after giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012
Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
THE deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror has been forced to resign after an incident involving a female member of staff, according to BuzzFeed News.
Five separate sources told the website that staff were informed of the sudden resignation of Nick Owens, during a bizarre and impromptu staff meeting in July conducted by Gary Jones editor of the Mirror’s sister newspaper, the Daily Express.
The alleged incident, in which drink played a part, occurred during a Mirror team think-tank meeting in a pub. Owens had been at a lunch with another editor before attending the event.
It’s alleged that Owens touched and groped one of the female journalists multiple times.
In the following days, he is alleged to have repeatedly called the woman while also sending texts and emails to her. One source alleged he had offered the woman a new job reporting to him.
Gary Jones went into the Sunday Mirror’s offices on July 5 and called a meeting of the newspaper’s staff.
“We walked into the office and Gary just came out with, ‘Nick’s gone. There was an incident involving drink and a female member of staff’,” a source in the meeting told BuzzFeed News.
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Downing book fund smashes £8k target
A FUND aiming to raise £8,000 to produce a book of John Downing’s pictures had raised more than £21,000 last night.
Downing, former chief photographer of the Daily Express, who is suffering from terminal cancer, took the acclaimed photographs during a career spanning more than 50 years.
Last night the fund on Kickstarter had reached £21,282. More than £12,000 was raised in one day last week.
Downing’s wife Anita D'Atellis explained the project in an email message:
Dear friends and colleagues,
I hope you will forgive this round-robin, but I would like to let you know the latest about John.
The not-so-good news is that his cancer is advancing much quicker than we would wish but, despite this, John is very cheerful and in good spirits. He is exercising every day, determined to stay strong, and we are enjoying the summer together in Henley.
A couple of months ago, John was persuaded by his journalist friends to produce a photographic book of his career, and this has kept him very busy over the past few weeks.
As you might imagine, it has been a huge undertaking to find all the photographs and, as is the way with newspapers, many have been lost in the midst of time. But thanks to the support of his wonderful friends and in particular the help and commitment of photographer Tom Stoddart, the book is going ahead.
It will be published by Bluecoat Press, and hopefully funded by their crowdfunding campaign, just launched today. We are very excited about it, as it will be John’s only solo book.
Here is the link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jd19/john-downing-legacy
I’m not expecting you to contribute, but please do take a look, and we would appreciate it if you could pass the information on to anyone you feel might be interested.
John has been overwhelmed by the generous and kind messages he has received by so many of you. Thank you all very much.
Best wishes, Anita
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SALES FALL IN JULY,
EXPRESS DOWN 10%
NATIONAL newspaper circulations fell across the board in July, new ABC figures show.
Sales of both Express titles fell by 10 per cent. Circulation of the daily is now 306,119, and the Sunday 267,268.
The Guardian recorded the smallest year-on-year circulation decline with a drop of five per cent to 130,484 copies.
The biggest year-on-year decline was reported by the Sunday People and Daily Star Sunday at 18 per cent.
The Sun remains the best-selling national newspaper with a circulation of 1.26m, only 100,000 copies above nearest rival the Daily Mail.
The free Metro has the largest circulation of any UK newspaper at 1.42m.
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My herogram from football legend Steve
CLIVE GOOZEE remembers a personal letter he received from football writer Steve Curry, who has died
I have a fond memory of a night in December ‘78 when I persuaded Express sports legend Steve Curry to file a story about the new Chelsea manager.
He had been scratching his head all day trying to pin down the identity of the new boss. He finally persuaded the Chelsea chairman, Brian Mears, to name that man.
Things were winding down as we gave the finishing touches to the third edition sports page when he phoned yours truly.
I was chief sub that night and he told me Danny Blanchflower, legendary captain of the Spurs League and Cup Double winners, and Sunday Express sports columnist, was the new manager, adding that Brian Mears would never speak to him again if we published the story.
I and several of the subs, including Roger Kelly (later to become head of sport at the Mail on Sunday, and Peter Pace (ditto The Sun) agreed he should write it.
“Put me on to copy,” said Steve. His story headed DANNY’s THE BOY appeared in the 4th edition — and Steve was buying the champagne next lunchtime.
He also wrote me the note reproduced above.
TWO GREAT DAILY EXPRESS SPORTS JOURNALISTS DIE IN
ONE AWFUL WEEK
Curry in January 1979 when he was working for the Express
Sports sub Joe Rigby had a heart attack at the end of June
TWO talented Daily Express sports stars have died within days of each other.
Shortly after we learned of the death of football legend Steve Curry, it was announced that sports sub Joe Rigby had also passed away.
Curry, who was 76, joined the Daily Mail in 2001 having forged his career with the Daily Express, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times. He left the Mail in 2006 but continued to contribute to Sportsmail on an occasional basis.
He began as a reporter with the weekly Blackburn Times, covering Blackburn Rovers, then switched to the Lancashire Evening Post.
Curry, right, enjoyed more than 30 years on the Daily Express, beginning in time to cover England's World Cup final win over West Germany in 1966.
In a career spanning more than five decades, his exclusives saw him established as a Fleet Street legend and won him multiple awards.
David Emery, who worked alongside Curry, before becoming Express sports editor, said: “There were a few young lads who went on to have significant roles in the paper and there was a great feeling of camaraderie.
“Steve pulled some big stories and had some great contacts.”
At a Football Writers' Association tribute to him on his 70th birthday, Curry recalled the change in football reporting: "We used to stroll into training grounds, stand on the touchline, shout at the players and have fun. It was all one happy family. Now you almost have to make an appointment to visit a training ground. They're like Fort Knox.
"We made friends with footballers. After England won the World Cup I remember giving Alan Ball a piggy-back round the reception of the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington late in the night."
Curry was a life member and former chairman of the FWA. He was also a regular on Sky Sports' Sunday Supplement programme.
He leaves a wife Carol and son Mike.
Joe’s death was announced by his wife Angela, a former Daily Express copytaker.
She said: "It is with more sadness than I can describe to tell you that my dear husband, Joe Rigby, passed away on Thursday afternoon.
"He had a heart attack on 29th June and was discharged six days later. We hoped he would make a recovery to allow us to go forward and enjoy our retirement.”
Joe also leaves an identical twin brother Vic, a sports sub on The Sun. The two were very close.
Funeral details will be announced when we have them.
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MEET BRAZIL AND SOME OTHER NUT
THERE’S an old Daily Express saying that it never rains in pubs.
This old saw has never been disproved, although we do recall a burst pipe causing water to leak through the ceiling at the Mad Hatter in Blackfriars, London, one night. This, however, did not interrupt the drinking. Nothing did in those days.
TalkSPORT breakfast radio host Alan Brazil followed this wise dictum yesterday when rain in London forced him to a welcoming hostelry to meet his old pal, former Daily Express news editor Mike Parry.
Rumour has it that they were still there when the sun came out. Plus ça change.
DAILY DRONE
Internal Memorandum
To: The Editor
From S Muldoon (trainee) 18 August, 2019
Sir,
Please forgive me for being presumptuous but I think I have a good idea for a new series in the Drone. I notice that your recent use of a picture of a former News Editor of the Daily Express met with wide, nostalgic acclaim.
I respectfully suggest that we broaden this concept and “print” pictures of other iconic Express news editors under the generic title of, say, Monarchs of the Newsroom.
Of course, I don’t know these people but old hands suggest those who ended an error era at the old Express building in Fleet Street would be most suitable: Brian Hitchen, Arhllis Rhind, John Jinks, Philippa Kennedy and Michael Parry.
I feel confident that this timely reminiscence will also bring you the approbation of your peers.
*Stupid boy — Ed
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Our man Muldoon spots
a flaw in Weekend mag’s vacuous movie listings
DUMB AND DUMBER: Read the piece here
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DRONE OPINION: FALLING STANDARDS
George Osborne thinks this odd cartoon is funny. Perhaps he could explain why he's laughing so much
Have you any idea what this cartoon is trying to say? The Sturgeon and McDonnell seagulls are helpfully labelled, much in the manner of the late Michael Cummings.
But at least Cummings’ labels on his Daily Express drawings explained the ‘joke’. This one doesn’t.
The cartoon, by Christian Adams in the London Evening Standard, was proudly Tweeted yesterday by that experienced exponent of journalism, editor George Osborne.
The Standard, a give-away which reported an £11.5 million loss last year, has become increasing dull and unreadable under the editorship of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Advertisers are said to be deserting the paper.
It is no secret that newspapers which fail to invest in journalism lose readers. On the Standard that investment did not even extend to the editor, who is a politician and financier with no previous journalistic experience.
Can no one save this ailing old ghost of a newspaper?
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His name was Hawkey, Raymond Hawkey and he had designs on Bond and the Daily Express ...
THRILLING THREE: Express design guru Raymond Hawkey, far right, with Len Deighton and Bond author Ian Fleming
RESEARCH by the Daily Drone has unearthed one of the forgotten stars of the Daily Express from the 1950s and 60s.
That man was Raymond Hawkey, design director of the paper from 1959 to 1964, who later designed acclaimed book jackets for Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and Len Deighton’s thrillers.
Clive Irving wrote in The Guardian after Hawkey’s death aged 80 in 2010: "I was features editor of the Daily Express when Raymond Hawkey arrived at the paper, which was then at the height of its success in the late 1950s.
"It is hard to convey to those who work in the relatively sanitised newsrooms of the digital age the bawdy zoo that was the editorial floor of the Express.
"Banks of cut-and-paste subeditors yelled commands to the copy runners, a single backbench of senior editors shouted at the subeditors, muscular reporters bargained for column inches, and in a far corner of the black glass building was a bear pit of competing claims for the severely rationed space in the ‘soft’ end of the paper.
"In this Fleet Street madhouse Hawkey, who was always impeccably barbered, confronted visual barbarians. His title of design director seemed optimistic, since there was a rigid template of typography and page layouts, imposed from on high, that nobody had the power to circumvent.
"But Hawkey chose to work in discrete elements, combining feature headlines and simple, strong images in bold panels.
"His style, which later came to full expression in his wonderful book jackets, was the first and one of the most consequential if furtive steps in the long and too-slow advance of newspaper design that eventually culminated in the transformation of The Guardian in the late 1980s."
Hawkey was design director of the Daily Express from 1959 before he was appointed presentation director of The Observer in 1964 where he led the design of its colour magazine. He died in 2010 aged 80.
In 1962, Hawkey was chosen by Len Deighton to design the cover of his first novel The IPCRESS File, which some regard as the template for the covers of all subsequent airport novels. He went on to design covers for Deighton's books, including Horse Under Water, Funeral in Berlin and The Action Cookbook (where the IPCRESS revolver reappears, this time with a sprig of parsley in the barrel).
Hawkey designed covers for works by many other authors, including the Pan paperback editions of James Bond published from 1963-1969, which the Financial Times described as having "a stark elegance ... consistently menacing and memorable. Each has a single photographic image on a plain or textured background. Blurb is dispensed with. It's the visual equivalent of a cruel, sardonic smile.”
A key element was Hawkey's bold use of lettering — the sans-serif James Bond wording is far larger than the book title or the author's name.
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How to understand yokels on your hols
WE on the Drone are conscious that our readers are leaving their metropolitan comfort zones for rural holiday havens where the locals speak differently.
Lord Drone and his huge entourage have now returned by sedan chair from the bucolic delights of Dorsetshire and is pleased to present for your edification the following Guide to Yokel Speak.
1. "Gurt lush" – Very nice; absolutely divine; heavenly in extreme.
2. "Wossup wi’ee?" – How the devil are you, old friend?
3. "Cheers Drive!" – Thank you so much driver for a middling-to-wonderful transportation experience.
4. "I baint finnikee!" – I am not at all fussy and I'm offended by your accusation!
5. "Whirr be she vrom?" – From where does this lady emanate? Because it certainly isn't from around here.
6. "Is they yur chillurn?" – May I enquire for some random reason whether these childen are the fruit of your loins?
7. "Urza a good’n, inn’er?" – It must be said that that lady is well-respected/banging.
8. "If I’d a-knowed, I ooden a-went." – If I had prior knowledge about how shit this event would be, I would never have ventured out of the house.
9. "Art’noon!" – Afternoon!
10. "I do ‘ope that snow pitches." – It is my wish that the snow currently falling will settle on the ground.
11. "I casn’t grumble." – My current emotional state is neither happy nor sad.
12. "Where's ee got to?" – Where on earth could he be, he's been gone for an extraordinarily long time?
13. "Gid out wi’ee!" – I'm tired of you and would like you to leave promptly.
14. "Gitten dimpsey." – It is becoming dark, just in case you yourself hadn't noticed that.
15. "Ouzez thisisis?" – To whom does this belong?
16. "Prapper job" – The genuine article; a task performed with commendable skill and acumen.
17. "Up tuther zide-a feeyuld." – The far side of the field. You came in through the wrong gate, you bint.
18. "She’z be’ind ‘ee wiva gurt big ztick." – She’s behind you with a ludicrously large stick.
19. "Wasser doin?" – What is she up to? I must know!
20. "Whirr be gwain to?" – Where are you going? Everything you could possibly need is in this small village. Why ever leave?
21. "Backalong." – A while ago, could be last Thursday or thirty-five before.
22. "I spec it be chockful by now." – I have a terribly strong feeling that it will be absolutely full by now.
23. "Tid’n my daps, is’n?" – I can't believe these are my plimsolls. Are they really?
24. "He ain’t niver bin galllivantin!" – I am shocked that the man you speak of has been straying from home; please confirm this piece of gossip and don't skimp on the details.
25. "Come inyer and wet thee whizzle." – Do come inside and have a beverage or seven.
26. "Well ah, tint a waspe tis a dumbledore!" – Wait, I can confirm this is not a wasp it's a bumblebee, after all. Resume picnic!
27. "Whirr zer bin to?" – I demand to know where on earth she/he has been!
28. "S’right nottlin, sno." – It’s incredibly cold, wouldn't you agree?
29. "Eye sorer war shin." – I must admit I spied her washing.
30. "Cordin eye, stimey wenoam" – In my humble but entirely correct opinion, it is time this man went home.
31. "Dough-knee get ‘ammered!" – Don't you dare come home drunk!
32. "My azwell gwoam." – I might as well go home because this is terrible.
33. "Ark-a-ee!" – Stop what you are doing and listen to the incredibly important words this man is speaking!
34. "Owvee dun? Avvee dun awright?" – I would like to know how you are doing with a given task? Is your performance as you would have expected it?
35. "Bleedin’ turbull, atcherly." – Absolutely terrible, actually. And things are unlikely to improve for me.
36. "Well I be jiggered!" – Well I'll be a son-of-a gun, this news has absolutely floored me!
37. "I’m ztarvin, waffee got tweet?" – I couldn't be more hungry and this leads me to wonder what exactly we have to eat around here?
38. "Don’t tell I, tell ee!" – Don’t tell me, tell me.
39. "All right me luvver, ‘ows yer tracter?" – I'm from London and I think I'm pretty funny right now.
All phrases from the book Don’t Tell I, Tell ‘Ee!
Thanks to buzzfeed.com
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Flotilla's tribute to our man Ecclestone
SAD MOMENT: Paul Ecclestone’s widow Kelly scatters his ashes Picture ALAN LEWIS, Photopress Belfast
FRIENDS and family of former Expressman Paul Eccleston paid a final farewell to him as his ashes were scattered on his beloved lake.
Paul, pictured right, who held a number of reporting and news editing roles on the Daily Express in Manchester, died of cancer aged 67.
He worked on the Belfast Telegraph and other local news sheets before graduating to the national press and Fleet Street.
Paul was a keen fisherman, and former winner of the Roscor Cup. It was his final wish that his ashes be scattered by his wife Kelly on the lake where he spent many happy hours.
A keen angler, Paul was the uncle of former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston and also worked for the Telegraph, Mail, Mirror and Today. He was made redundant as editor of the telegraph.co.uk environment section in 2008.
Paul’s entry on LinkedIn reads: "After a lifetime in Fleet Street working across a variety of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers I am now based in Kent and taking it a little easier.
"I help run a community newspaper on Romney Marsh called The Looker — the name of a traditional Romney Marsh shepherd's hut.
"It's strange — but hugely enjoyable after the frenzy of national newsrooms — to go back to local issues and politics.”
After the scattering of the ashes, a toast was made and a local musician played in celebration of his life.
The occasion ended in predictable fashion, as ALASTAIR McQUEEN reports: Word reaches me of a happening — or even embarrassing occurrence — at the scattering.
Allegedly a former Daily Express reporter found his way to Lough Melvin but could not get to the correct launching place in time for the flotilla’s departure.
Eventually he pitched up as the flotilla reached the middle of the lough and sat in his car watching from a great distance.
When guests returned to shore they saw him and approached his vehicle to be greeted with the words: “Sorry lads, I can’t get out of the motor, I’ve just shit myself.”
Can this unfortunate wordsmith in purple Y-fronts be identified? Lord Drone would love to know.
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WHO COULD THAT BE WITH OUR ALF?
Sunday Express legend Alf Lee was just strolling through Henley Regatta in his best bib and tucker when who should he bump into than our erstwhile Prime Minister Theresa May.
The pair exchanged a few friendly words before ambling off in different directions.
Jeremy Gates suggests a caption competition and offers: Alf Lee to Theresa May: “You might think you had a tough time, but I had to work for both Eve Pollard AND Charles Golding!”
Can you do better? Send a stamped, addressed envelope to dailydrone@mail.com
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Drone has not been inundated with entries for the caption competition. That dolt Muldoon did submit an entry but addressed it to himself and failed to include it in the envelope — which he sent without a stamp — Ed
UPDATE: An entry at last. This from RICK McNEILL: “It’s all right officer, I found her wandering around the champagne tent. I think she’s become separated from her party.”
The crisp oncer (it’s on an elastic band attached to Lord Drone’s wallet) goes to Rick.
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COLDWAR STEVE
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MULDOON’S SEASIDE
Bingo on the beach
The bijou Dorset resort of Swanage has always attracted families of quality, many attracted by the old London and South Western Railway in 1885, and today is no exception.
Nowadays, it is also known as a haven for the gentry drying ou recuperating after major operations.
Knotted handkerchiefs and deep-fried battered sausages are so outré here that one wonders why the local council hasn’t enshrined a comprehensive ban in statute.
Not that visitors aren’t encouraged to have a good time: there are miles of sandy beaches, attractive cafes and a promenade.
Why, there’s even Bingo on the beach (do be careful not to get sand in that new hip, your lordship).
And if you want to really know this part of the Jurassic Coast talk to the locals. There’s a rum cove at Lulworth and in Studland, Old Harry Rocks and his chum Ballard Down always have a tale to tell over a libation or two as the westering sun sinks below the restless azure sea (enough freebie hack prose — Ed)
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ROZ CHAST
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EXCLUSIVE
HOLIDAY RELIEF NEEDED TO EDIT
MAIL ON SUNDAY
IS there any body out there who would like to edit the Mail on Sunday?
We only ask because the Drone’s mole in Derry Street reports that My Lord Northcliffe is struggling to find holiday cover for editor Ted Verity.
Verity is off on vacation shortly and they have had to haul Eric 'Mr Nice Guy' Bailey out of retirement to sit in the editor's chair because nobody else will do it.
Tobyn Andreae, the smooth-talking Old Etonian deputy editor, dislikes Verity and was given six months to go off and revamp Mail Plus.
When the six months were up he refused to go back and is being found work elsewhere. Another Daily Mail executive on secondment to the MoS has likewise refused to stay on, leaving Verity to fend for himself.
The Trump cables leak story, written by cub reporter Steven Edginton, which resulted in the resignation of the UK’s ambassador to the US, is either going to result in Verity getting the Scoop of the Year award, or possibly putting him in the dock.
Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, had a pop at the MoS on Twitter, which was most uncharacteristic, and surely where he leads other editors will follow in failing to support Verity.
Was it ever this bad at the Express? Definitely!
UNCHARACTERISTIC: Lionel Barber’s Tweet
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News you may have missed
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Pattinson’s great moon scoop - and they didn’t even give him a byline
THE 50th anniversary of man’s landing on the moon was celebrated in July — and what better way to celebrate it than publishing this picture, described at the time as the Scoop of the Century.
Reporter Terry Pattinson showed ratlike cunning to secure the first pictures of the dark side of the moon for this great Daily Express front page, dating from 5 February, 1966.
Pattinson discovered that the Russians were using the same photographic technology as that used by newspapers, to send photos back from space. So he arranged for the Express to send the necessary machinery to the Jodrell Bank observatory from where the picture was snatched.
Terry has been dining out on the story ever since but he has been complaining on Facebook this week that he was not given a byline for his scoop. We think he has a point.
He said once that he would love it if his epitaph was ‘The Man Who Caught the Moon’.
How the Express described that great lunar landing 50 years ago
The Cummings view
(Brought to you by the Grainy Pics Dept)
Thanks to Expressman Colin Simpson for these cartoons. Take a peek at afaranwide, the excellent Hong Kong-based travel website Colin runs with his wife Sue Brattle, HERE
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My lunch in the sun with Gentleman Jim
A TOUCH OF GLASS: Jim Davies and Esther
By ESTHER HARROD
Exactly another year on and here we are again, back on holiday in beautiful Cornwall, taking time to visit our old friend and colleague, Gentleman JIM DAVIES.
When we visited Jim and Pat in 2018, he hadn’t been in good health for several months. Things picked up for a bit, but unfortunately Jim was unwell again earlier this year and had to undergo an operation. I’m glad to report that Jim is on good form once again and the consultant has now signed him off.
We belatedly celebrated Jim’s 85th birthday over a very enjoyable lunch at the impeccable Nare Hotel with its stunning view overlooking Carne Beach (if you are ever in the area, this is a must place to visit). Jim had obviously ordered the weather for our visit – a perfect, sunny day that made our meal, taken under the parasol, even more delightful
As ever, Jim had plenty of Daily Express anecdotes to share – many laughs and fond memories of colleagues past and present.
After scoffing some expensive food and wine, we returned to Jim and Pat’s lovely home in Tregony to continue reminiscing in their beautiful garden while watching various birds fly on to the feeding station. A very green and peaceful English setting in the company of good friends and Tallulah, Jim and Pat’s beloved dog.
Jim showed me a short documentary which he had featured in A Day in the Life of the Daily Express (see below). A great watch.
Last year Jim reluctantly said that he felt he would no longer be able to do the journey to London to join one of our Daily Express monthly get togethers. But now he is feeling better, Jim is motivated to let the train take the strain and possibly come to the First Tuesday lunch in October to catch up with his mates.
It would be great to see as many faces as possible to celebrate Jim’s return to London from the depths of Cornwall. (The George, in The Strand, opposite the Law Courts, from 12.30pm onwards).
*It wasn’t the only time that Jim was chosen to feature in a documentary. See How Lord Olivier saved the kipper
TOGETHERNESS: Jim and his wife Pat
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DRONETUBE
A day at the Daily Express in 1979
The BBC took its cameras to the Daily Express offices in Fleet Street in August 1979 to film the production process. The film centres on writer James Davies who interviews a couple with a daughter suffering from Down’s Syndrome.
As a sign of the changed times, the little girl is referred to as a Mongol — the word, now considered inaccurate and unkind, is even used in a headline.
Also featured in the film, which runs for 19 minutes, are editor Derek Jameson, features editor Bill Spicer, photographer Bill Lovelace, news editor Arliss Rhind, Andrew Harvey, Geoff Compton, deputy editor Arthur Firth, Gaby Fagan, Jeremy Deedes and Esther Harrod.
HOW LORD OLIVIER SAVED THE KIPPER, BY JAMES DAVIES
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TOMMY ROT!
A copy of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists here please (it’s available at all good bookshops and more than a few bad ones)
JOURNALISM REDEFINED: English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson displays his credentials as he arrives for sentencing at the Old Bailey in London. He was jailed for nine months for contempt after filming men accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls outside Leeds Crown Court in breach of a reporting ban.
Picture: David Mirzoeff/PA Wire
DRONETUBE
Cricketing perils of
a man called Fuckar
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BUTCHER'S HOOK-ALIKE
Putin raises the steaks
SLAB OF MEAT MAD VLAD
WATCH out chums, those damned Russkies are everywhere you look, even in the butchery department of your local supermarket. That nice Mr Vladimir Putin seems to have his beady eyes on us. Don’t have nightmares!
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Um, just to let you know, it’s still a bit too long, could you cut from the end please love?
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Lunchtime O'Smooch
ON ME ‘EAD SON: Daily Mail diarist and former Expressman John McEntee receives some well-earned adulation from his son Paul after an expensive lunch at Ranald Macdonald Boisdale in London.
Paul took this selfie outside Dirty Dicks although they hadn’t actually been in the pub. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. You know how it is after a good lunch ...
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Overheard in Waitrose
A FEW ESSENTIALS: Shopping list found in WaitroseBefore the Drone’s junior journo, Muldoon, fulfilled his dream of working at the World’s Greatest Online Newspaper, he was a “partner” at Waitrose, stacking shelves, pricing stock and even serving on the check-out.
Now in this brilliant new Drone series, he reports, in his trademark witty and incisive way, on the snatches of conversation, Overheard in Waitrose, which give a unique insight into the customers who patronise this iconic family grocers.
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“And the part-time girl on the checkout has just finished an English degree. It does so enhance the shopping experience to be able to discuss Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with the staff.”
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“I always shop here just like mummy did. I do admit to nipping into Iceland now and then but that’s only to get some tinned crap to give to the food bank.”
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“We took Hector down to Exeter’s open day. It’s OK. Russell Group, of course. Nice people. Supposed to be very much a public school campus. Trouble is they’re public schools daddy says he’s never heard of.”
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“Jolyon, if you can learn to pronounce bruschetta properly before we go to Sardinia I’ll buy you the new Saracens shirt.”
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“If you children are good, mummy will make your favourite chorizo, egg and sauté potatoes tonight.”
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“Henry, you’re not going to believe this: they haven’t got balsamic glaze, only a sodding mist. I’ll have to go to M&S on the way home.”
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“Mummy has Lego got a silent T like Merlot?”
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“Sebastian, if you don’t stop hitting your sister you won’t get any brioche.”
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“Bloody hell! Ever since they started dishing out free coffee it’s been like a soup kitchen in here.”
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“Yes, let’s have a coffee. I’ve just spoken to Rosita and she’s still doing the ironing. I hate being home when the cleaner’s still there.”
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“I thought I’d better phone to warn you, Lavinia, there’s only two half lobster tails left. I know: it’s ridiculous. It must be the heat. Everybody’s barbecuing this weekend."
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“Mummy, are the free cups of coffee for the poor people who haven’t got a Gaggia?”
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“Mummy, are we doing shopping for the boat as well?”
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“Tarquinius, do you want Iberico or Serrano ham?” “Iberico, of course, mummy”
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“Everyone on our estate shops at Waitrose. Even the gamekeepers.”
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“Ari, darling, please put that down. Aristotle! I said now.”
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Mother: “Oh, focaccia. I’ve forgotten my purse.” Daughter: “That’s all right, mummy, I still have daddy’s AMEX from my school ski trip.”
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“Please don’t rummage in the reduced bin, darling. Someone from the golf club might see you.”
MORE TOMORROW
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PRIVATE EYE GENIUS DIES AT 81
SO LONG
… and thank you for all the laughs, Mr Booker
THE Drone pays tribute today to Christopher Booker, first editor of Private Eye and the genius behind many of its jokes, who has died of cancer aged 81.
This cover of the magazine, dating from 1968 and featuring Enoch Powell at the height of the racism row that cost him his job in Ted Heath’s shadow cabinet, is acknowledged to be one of his best.
Booker founded the Eye with fellow Salopians Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton in 1961. He was ousted by Ingrams two years later.
Returning in 1965, he remained a permanent member of the magazine's collaborative joke-writing team with Ingrams, Barry Fantoni and current editor Ian Hislop.
Of his collaborative joke-writing, Booker said: "Over the years I have enjoyed some of the most hilariously pleasurable times I can remember in my life. Between us we have laughed our way through tens of thousands of joke items.”
The writer and critic Adam Mars-Jones regarded Booker as “near-barmy”, yet it was said without malice.
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ONLY IN THE TIMES
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Bonfire of the subs
A Reader writes: If she can trounce Venus Williams, this Telegraph writer Claire Cohen must be a right dab hand at tennis
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WE NAME THE GUILTY MEN
TWO NICE BOYS: We asked who you thought these two young Expressmen were. We can name them as Roger Watkins, left, and Terry Manners who both went on to senior positions on the Daily Express and other publications. They are pictured on holiday in Tenerife some time in the 1970s.
Roger Watkins breaks off from a Tibetan yoga-based fitness session with his personal trainer Chailai to recall that at the airport on the way home he remarked that it was a pity their holiday was only a week long. “Oh no, mate,” said Manners, “ I couldn’t suck my gut in for longer than that.”
LOTS OF BOTTLE: Evening beers with the two Carols
Caricature of the Week
Boris Johnson by ADRIAN TEAL
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Could the head of design pop in for a moment?
COCK-UP: Buttermilk for sale at a Tesco supermarket in Ireland. The carton on the right has been adjusted by a helpful shopper
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Er, could you please have another think, old man?
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McFadden’s Cold War
Delaration of Independence
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News you may have missed
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Tony Husband
DRONE SUBBING WORKSHOP
FIRST TAKE THE PICTURE, THEN CROP IT BADLY
BARKING: Try to avoid the subject of the picture at all costs, just like they do on the SUSSEX EXPRESS
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EXPRESS JOURNALISTS STAR IN THE GUARDIAN
Actress Raquel Welch sets out for a walk in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London on March 4, 1966 Picture: JOHN DOWNING
THE work of two Daily Express journalists has been featured in The Guardian in a tribute to the illustrious past of the World’s Greatest Newspaper.
A fascinating collection of photographs taken by the celebrated photographer John Downing can be found HERE.
Reporter Kim Willsher visited the site of the Chernobyl disaster with Downing in 1986. Her eyewitness account is published HERE.
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SHOCK BBC OFFER
Don’t all rush, they’re only free for over-75s
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THE FAR SIDE
GARY LARSON
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DAILY DRONE CRUSADE
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THE ETERNAL TRUTH
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EXPRESS CHIEF'S EXTRAORDINARY HOME MOVIE
Beaverbrook as you’ve never seen him before
THE Drone has uncovered an extraordinary home movie featuring Daily Express proprietor Lord Beaverbrook and the novelist H G Wells.
The silent film, filmed in 1924 at the peer’s home Cherkley, near Leatherhead, Surrey, takes the form of an amateur black comedy and also features the writer and feminist Rebecca West, who had a long affair with Wells and later reportedly with Beaverbrook.
Beaverbrook, who died in 1964 and widowed in 1927, is pictured above wearing a top hat with some of the cast.
The film is fascinating also as a social document, revealing the mores of the time which are considered very politically incorrect today.
You have been warned!
The film, entitled They Forgot to Read the Directions, runs for 20 minutes and there is no sound.
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I dumped my girl for being too fat, claims Porky Parry
POT, KETTLE? Former Daily Express news editor Mike ‘Porky’ Parry reveals his version of chivalry on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine Show
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FLEET STREET IN CRISIS
Jobs face axe at Sun as profits fall and sales tumble
LARGE-SCALE job cuts are planned at The Sun, Sun on Sunday and Sun Online as the company seeks to slash costs.
Staff at the titles, of whom about 500 to 600 work in editorial, were told of the plans earlier this week.
Bosses want to “reduce complexity” in the editorial and commercial departments and have been asked to consider applying for voluntary redundancy.
It is not yet clear how many job cuts will be made.
A company spokesperson said: “News UK is in the process of reviewing all areas of its businesses to ensure we are maximising resources and to enable future revenue growth.
“As part of this process, we need to reduce complexity and review all of our costs so that we can focus our investment on delivering high-quality editorial content to existing and new audiences.
“Staff at the Sun have been invited to apply for voluntary redundancy. We cannot comment any further at the current time.”
The company more than tripled its pre-tax losses to £91.2million in 2018, according to accounts published in January.
The Sun’s circulation has fallen eight per cent in the past year to 1,371,194 and the Sun on Sunday has dropped nine per cent to 1,137,105.
The Drone understands that management plan to slash the news budget by 75 per cent, online by 25 per cent and they're telling people that this is the last time that any properly decent redundancy terms will be offered, so anyone interested should go now.
Things at The Sun accidentally got a little too transparent after someone in HR mistakenly sent a private email out to the whole of the staff. It was a tax query about a third party's medical treatment, which also contained some discussion of the impact it had had on the company's private healthcare scheme. Oops!
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How newspapers work
.
Before last weekend, the last time that Liverpool won the Champions League was in 2005, reports POPBITCH.
A small group of reporters managed to cadge their way on to one of the club buses as it paraded around the city. While on the bus, one tabloid hack took a call from his editor who needed to know the size of the crowd cheering on the team.
Having no real idea, he blurted out "750,000" – and then suggested to all the other reporters that if they all just agreed to stick to that figure, they'd all be OK for the day. So they did.
The story came to mind last Sunday when the city of Liverpool was celebrating again. And how many people did the press think were out on the street?
.
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LEGENDARY EDITOR’S BULLETINS REVEALED
Christiansen Chronicles
THE editor most revered by Express men and women is Arthur Christiansen, even though it is doubtful if anyone alive today worked for him.
He died in 1963 but his name is still spoken of in hushed tones by many.
Christiansen became editor of the Daily Express in October, 1933, a position he held for 24 years until 1957, a longevity in office that has never been beaten.
During his editorship, sales peaked at two million in 1936, more than three million in 1944, and four million in 1949.
Each day he wrote a bulletin. It was compulsory reading for members of editorial staff.
Christiansen also expected them to read the Daily Express from start to finish daily and in addition, one other newspaper. Heads of department were expected to be familiar with the content of all morning newspapers by the time of first conference (around 11am).
Only one editor since Christiansen has attempted to write a daily bulletin. That man was Christopher Ward (1981-83). His attempts were widely ridiculed by staff who risked their jobs by posting rival bulletins in the display box outside the editor’s office in Fleet Street.
These cod bulletins are in the possession of the Daily Drone (don’t ask!)
The World’s Greatest Website is proud to be able to print the best of the Christiansen bulletins when he was in charge of the World’s Greatest Newspaper.
There will be a new one every day.
TERRY MANNERS writes: "Dear Lord Drone, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading the story of Editor Arthur Christiansen's famed bulletins. And examples too ... what a magnificent piece of investigative Drone journalism.
"I shall look at his original, cream bulletin case hanging in my study between the picture of Elvis and the Beatles with renewed fondness. I may even polish the glass.
"Meanwhile, I rather think your public is also waiting to be entertained by extracts from the outstanding bulletins published in the box long after the great man's death. Will they ever be found? Get my drift?”
Drift received and understood — Ed
JEFF CONNOR writes: "You suggest that 'no-one who worked with him will still be alive'. Last I heard Michael Caine is still going strong and he appeared with Chris in the 1961 movie, The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
"Chris played a hard-boiled national newspaper editor and the filming took place in the Express offices in Fleet Street. Michael was cast as 'Checkpoint Policeman (uncredited)' which is proof that everyone has to start somewhere!
“Also, I know you were probably discussing the history of the Express, but in his spell at the Star Lloyd Turner also posted a daily bulletin, nominally a herogram but pretty unusual back then!”
Point taken! — Ed
*The 1961 movie The Day the Earth Caught Fire is available as a DVD on Amazon for £9.92. Details here
Christiansen playing ‘The Editor’ in The Day the Earth Caught Fire
RELIC: Christiansen’s bulletin board remained on the wall outside the editor’s office until the move to Blackfriars in 1989. It was rescued by Terry Manners and now adorns his study wall
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ROZ CHAST
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Farewell to two legends of the old Daily Express
GREAT LADY: Peggie Robinson collecting for Poppy Day
Picture: Yorkshire Post
TWO talented stalwarts of the Daily Express in Manchester, Stan Welsh and Peggie Robinson, have died within days of each other.
Stan, famed copytaster and all-round good guy, succumbed to pneumonia on Wednesday, May 15.
Peggie, a brilliant news reporter, died on May 4, aged 97.
Jim Collins, a former Express sub-editor and a good mate of Stan described him as "one of those true journalists who made up the Daily Express’s backbench team in Manchester for many years”.
Stan had been suffering from bowel cancer but eventually succumbed to pneumonia while in hospital. There will be an inquest.
His former wife Rita Welsh said it was a peaceful death in the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.
Another friend, Mike Hughes, said: "Stan, who was in his early 80s, joined the Express in the late Sixties and soon became copytaster.
"He stayed at the Express until production switched to London. He was also a Sunday Express regular.
"He had been active until recently, still going for a beer with former Express and Star colleagues living in Sheffield, including Peggie Robinson.
“Stan made his way to the Express, after National Service as a gunner and working for papers in East Anglia and Sheffield.”
Peggie, a highly-respected mountaineer and yachtswoman, was one of the few women reporters operating after the war and covered the Yorkshire Ripper case and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
A Tynesider, she died in a care home in Sheffield after a long illness.
Two lost legends of journalism, by RICHARD DISMORE
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McFadden’s Cold War
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EVEN BEEN FOXED BY A NICKNAME?
How editor McColl came to be known as Basil Brush (possibly)
MR BRUSH MR McCOLL
Former Express and Mirror man TERRY PATTINSON has entertained his friends on Facebook with two great anecdotes about the Daily Express
I was once delegated to escort Tory Minister Norman Tebbit around the Daily Express building in Fleet Street.
Editor Ian McColl, not long out of Scotland, insisted on joining me although I knew the building like the back of my hand.
After showing Tebbit around the newsoom, picture desk, and fashion department, I decided to take him to the features writers' room.
As we walked down a long corridor McColl suddenly stopped and said to Tebbit: "This is the features department, accommodating the best writers in Fleet Street."
With a grand flourish he threw open the door. Out fell buckets, brushes and mops. It was a store cupboard.
McColl apologised and Tebbit said he had to 'get back to the House of Commons.'
I escorted Tebbit to his chauffeur-driven limo, parked outside the Express office. As he got into the car Tebbit said to me: "Why don't you Express chaps drink more lemonade?"
Private Eye loved the anecdote. After that McColl was dubbed 'Basil Brush.”
*But there’s no denying that McColl (my first DX editor) did look like Basil Brush — Ed
*****
True story. Freelance journalist Frederick Forsyth ventured into Fleet Street in the late 60s when he was 31 years old and tried to persuade the legendary Chapman Pincher (Daily Express) to look at his manuscript for a new book.
Pincher had asked his faithful secretary, Yolande, to get rid of the 'nutter' from the front hall (as we used to call people who dropped in without an appointment. Most were time-wasting nutters).
Instead, Yolande took Forsyth upstairs to meet the great man and made a pot of tea. Pincher was busy with his latest blockbuster exclusive and was as polite as possible before throwing the hungry freelance back on to the street.
Pincher felt sorry for Forsyth because, said Pincher, the proposed book had no chance of success. The book? The Day of the Jackal. The rest, as they say, is history.
Pincher revealed this anecdote in his autobiography published four years ago.
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The Day I had breakfast with Doris Day (sort of)
ROBIN McGIBBON remembers a chance meeting with Hollywood superstar Doris Day, who has died aged 97.
In the mid-Seventies, when I was publishing books, I had breakfast with Doris Day, in the famous Beverly Hills restaurant, Nate 'n' Al's.
Well, not quite.
I was in a booth with a minor Hollywood film producer, Murray Silverman, when Doris came in, with a gentleman I didn't recognise, and sat in an adjoining booth, only a couple of feet away.
My producer pal, who was not known for his shyness, immediately asked the actress if she would mind if he introduced me, "a famous publisher from London, England”.
In those days, I wasn't shy in coming forward either and did my best to live up to Murray's hyperbolic billing. Far from being irked that she'd been hijacked, with no escape, the enchanting Miss Day was charm itself — politely asking me about myself and my company for, at least, a quarter of an hour — before her (very tolerant) companion looked, again, at his watch and said they really must order.
Over the years, I've rarely missed an opportunity to boast of the morning I had breakfast with the legend that was Doris Day.
Well, I did. Didn't I?
And look who met her too!
WHO’S A LUCKY BOY? Express and Mirror columnist Paul Callan posted this pic on Facebook of him with Doris Day when he was a mere slip of a thing
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DRONE OPINION
WHY HAS THE DAILY MAIL HIRED THIS CARTOONIST?
WHAT is the point of the Daily Mail’s new cartoonist Paul Thomas? His drawings are just not funny, in fact they are embarassingly bad. Every day.
Thomas was hired to replace the brilliant Mac, Stan McMurtry, who retired last December.
Yesterday he plumbed new depths by drawing a cartoon, pictured above, which not only isn’t funny but doesn’t make sense.
Does anyone get the ‘joke'? The Drone can’t explain it.
The editor should have taken Mr Thomas aside and whispered in his ear: “Could you have another think, old man?”
For that matter, the Mail On Sunday cartoonist Michael Heath isn’t much better either.
It’s a sad state of affairs when newspapers lose their sense of humour.
*An observant reader points out that the cartoon has a headline to which the answer is No.
How the Mail billed Paul Thomas's arrival in January
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Muldoon’s Lookalike
McENTEE BRADY
One is perceived to be playing a pivotal role in the future of this country with his subtle, sotto voce, behind the scenes advice and guidance; the other is the chairman of the 1922 Committee, a backbench group of Tory MPs.
John McEntee and Sir Graham Brady may share the role of influential power brokers but they actually look alike as well.
Former Expressman McEntee, a leprechaun-like wit, bon vivant and World’s Greatest Lunch Club favourite, has just taken over the Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column where he excels at writing short, witty and incisive observations of the events of the day (taking the pith, perhaps).
Sir Graham, a former PR consultant who edits the parliamentary magazine The House, has a genuinely important Brexit deadlock task in persuading the Prime Minister to “stop making a tit of yourself and piss off.”
Isn’t life (and Muldoon) grand? — as McEntee’s guide and mentor Peter McKay was wont to proclaim.
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FREDDIE’S STAR QUALITY
WE on the Drone are not particular fans of the comedian Freddie Starr, who has died aged 76. But this recording of him trying to mime to a broken tape shows him at his best.
Expressman ROBIN McGIBBON met Starr in the 1980s when he took the spiritualist Doris Stokes to the comic's Berkshire home for a Sun story about him giving the medium a horse.
Robin reports: "A Sun photographer had already arrived and Freddie nodded towards the kitchen, saying: 'Yer mate's in here — having a wank,' then ushered Doris through to his lounge where they stayed, chatting, until Freddie was ready for photos, 40 minutes later.
"The photographer and I weren't even offered a cup of tea. A funny man? Certainly. But coarse, rude and obnoxious, too.
"I went back to Bouverie Street with the snapper and typed the story in the Sun newsroom before trotting over to the Express for my afternoon subbing shift.
"Oh, happy days!”
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Snapper hits jackpot
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MONARCHIE
Nation rejoices at baby's daft name
First school? Here’s a dummy run
THERE was dancing in the streets of Britain last night as Harry and Meghan announced the name of their newborn son.
He will be known as Archie Harrison Tarquin Fin-Tim-Lin-Bin-Whin-Bim-Lim-Bus-Stop-F’tang-F’tang-Olé Biscuitbarrel Mountbatten-Windsor.
The long-awaited announcement broke some of the secrecy surrounding the royal birth.
This is not the first time there has been a clandestine element to the birth of a Royal baby, as former Fleet Street reporter FRANK BALDWIN found out when he door-stepped the Lindo Wing for the birth of Princess Anne’s first baby Peter in 1977.
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Team who helped make the Daily Mirror great
THERE are some well-known Fleet Street faces in this picture of Mirrormen at the wedding of Tony Hatton in around 1971.
Sadly only four of them are still alive.
Pictured from left are: Alex Collinson, Phil Walker, Ted Graham (back), Ben Noble, Tony Hatton, Phil Bunton (back), Ron Pell, Vernon Rowe and Chris Evenden.
So far as we know, the survivors are Alex Collinson (who supplied this picture), Ted Graham, Phil Bunton and Vernon Rowe.
Alex was with the Mirror from 1971 to 1988, starting as a news sub and graduating to production editor and group systems trainer. He later joined the Mail on Sunday finance section where he worked from 1993 to 2006.
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ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
New King rises out of a crisis
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DAILY EXPRESS EDITOR CONFESSES
I TOOK COMMAND OF BRUTAL PAPER WITH
TORTURED HISTORY..
AND I COULDN’T SLEEP
HARD LABOUR: Gary Jones has toned down the racism
DAILY Express editor Gary Jones has proved himself to be part of a grand tradition — a square peg in a round hole.
He has confessed in an interview with The Guardian that he is a lifelong Socialist who believes that immigration has been good for Britain and that we should remain in the European Union.
In other words his personal beliefs do not match those of his newspaper. There is nothing new here — the Express has been edited by an eclectic assortment of characters.
Does that make Jones the wrong man to edit the Right-wing Brexit-supporting Express? Not a bit.
It has never been a requirement of the job for the editor to be a Tory. Bob Edwards, who edited the Express twice, certainly wasn’t and Lord Beaverbrook once hired Left-winger Michael Foot for the Evening Standard.
Lord Drone, before his ennoblement, spent 32 years on the Express and served under 12 editors. Only three of those were worth their salt — Lord Drone's old chum Chris Williams, Derek Jameson, who was the only one to actually increase circulation, and Sir Larry Lamb, who could have been even better if he had shown more enthusiasm.
The other nine editors are mostly too awful to mention.
So can Jones make a success of it? Who knows. But if things go on as they are with circulation tumbling (see below) he could be the last to hold the top job on this once-great newspaper.
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Retirement from the Daily Mail is music to the Ashworths' ears
WHAT do two respected Daily Mail sub-editors do after being forced into retirement by that nice Mr Dacre? They get a life by creating a website full of nostalgia and great music.
Alan and Margaret Ashworth now devote their time to A & M Records, an online compilation of everything they love from Beethoven to Beefheart.
There are also clips from the old BBC radio shows like Take It From Here, Have a Go and The Brains Trust. There is even a Dog Track of the Week by Bingo Reginald Ashworth, the couple’s working cocker spaniel.
Alan told the Drone: "We now help out with the website The Conservative Woman and both write regular columns for it — myself on rock and folk music, Margaret on hymns and old programmes from the BBC when it was good."
Alan, a former Assistant Night Editor, and Margaret, who was Splash Sub, have a combined service on the Mail of more than 70 years. They live in the Ribble Valley.
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Two Mikes fall out in vicious Twitter spat
DAGGERS DRAWN: Mike Graham, left, and Porky Parry
EXPRESSMEN Mike Graham and Mike Parry, who formed a popular radio partnership on TalkSport, have fallen out big time.
The origin of the dispute, which broke out on Twitter, is unclear but seems to be centred on comments in Mike Graham’s book On the Road which is due to be released next Christmas.
Their radio partnership broke up when Graham moved to host his own show in the prime mid-morning slot on TalkSport’s sister station TalkRadio. The programme is in direct competition with another morning chat show hosted by Expressman James O’Brien on rival station LBC.
Parry, known as Porky, co-hosts a TalkSport show with Alan Brazil which he bills as Alan and the Porkmeister.
The two Mikes met while working on the Daily Express in London. Parry spent some time as a reporter before being appointed news editor.
A passage in Graham's book reads:
"The problem for Mike Parry was that he wasn’t actually very bright. He was fifth in the pecking order in his own office. He was despised by every photographer he ever worked with and was universally known as a man who couldn’t be trusted.
"Aside from that his time in New York was uneventful. He broke no stories, he came up with no great features and in London he was treated as very much the junior.
"When he met me he became very chummy. He asked me to feed him all the news that I found out about for a very substantial fee that he could pay me for the Express.
"I liked him at first. It took me a while to work out that he was a complete bullshitter.”
Cynics have wondered whether the entire affair has been engineered to publicise Graham’s book.
EDUCATING ARCHIE: According to Wikipedia, Mike Graham’s first name is actually Archibald but, of course, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.
The tweets below give a flavour of the spat.
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ROBERT LEIGHTON
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Fleet Street between the wars
George Davison Reid photographed this uniformed messenger boy crossing Fleet Street in London some time in the late 1920s and early 30s. Such boys often went on to become photographers or journalists themselves.
The picture looks west up the street towards the Law Courts and The Strand. The church is St Dunstan-in-the-West which has stood on Fleet Street for 180 years. Close by is the Bristol Times and Mirror building.
Below is the scene today.
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HOW CUB REPORTER DEVNEY GOT HIS OWN BACK ON THE BIGWIGS
Industrial editor Barrie Devney at his desk in the Daily Express offices in Fleet Street on 9th March 1969
Picture: Norman Quicke/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
DAVID THOMPSON, former Chief Parliamentary Correspondent of the Daily Mirror, has a great anecdote about his days as a trainee reporter on the Mansfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield Reporter with his friend and rival Barrie Devney, who worked for the opposition.
The most boring job they had to do was to collect the names of mourners at funerals but often the earnest young reporters were arrogantly waved away by the town’s bigwigs.
One day Barrie, who went on to become the respected Industrial Editor of the Daily Express, got his own back.
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The Daily Express, best policy for a healthy life
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NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Expressman Leon Symons commented: "I worked for the Ilford Recorder many moons ago. It was part of a group that stretched from Newham to Romford and was a very good example of the great British local paper.
“We didn't do stories about the borough's levels of excrement. However, I did once adopt the guise of a Spaniard and went ‘undercover' after Redbridge Council decided to make the borough a tourist destination — except they had no tourist attractions."
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Inside story of how Daily Star’s Page 3 models went tits up
CENSORED: Ellie’s embonpoint has gone belly-up
Lord Drone is obliged to his gossip friends at POPBITCH for the following dispatch ...
The Daily Star's move from Richard Desmond's stable of smut to Trinity Mirror's more right-on empire has been a surprisingly seamless transition.
But behind the scenes, at least one huge change has been made. Last week, topless models disappeared from the Star’s Page 3 – and they're not coming back.
The fact that the change was slipped out with zero fanfare suggests that management was hoping to get away with it without anyone noticing. However, when nobody actually did notice, it got them even more worried.
Some of the Star's long-suffering staff fear that the reason there hasn't been a resulting media storm means that no-one's actually reading their paper any more.
Never fear, chaps! We saw what you did – and we're here to pay tribute to the end of a British institution and some of the stars that Page 3 produced.
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EXPRESS JOURNALIST FOUND HANGED AFTER GRIM 17-HOUR SHIFT
CARING: Helen was also grieving the deaths of her parents
A STRESSED Daily Express journalist killed herself after working an arduous 17-hour shift, a coroner was told.
Helen Ledger, a 45-year-old freelance on the picture desk, was found hanged at home after her work load increased following the paper’s takeover by Mirror Group.
She was also grieving the loss of both her parents.
Her partner Christopher Walton described Helen as a kind-hearted and caring woman.
Coroner Dr William Dolman gave a verdict of suicide, saying she hanged herself and had made her intentions clear in a note.
Mr Walton, who lived with Helen in Crystal Palace, South London, called paramedics after returning home from his job in the music industry on 26 November, 2018. She was confirmed dead the same day.
Only three weeks earlier Helen's father had died of motor neurone disease. A year earlier that same disease had taken her mother’s life.
Delivering his conclusion at South London Coroners’ Court, Dr Dolman said Miss Ledger had been “down and distressed by work events and other events in her life”.
Christopher Walton told Press Gazette she “accepted everyone” and was “always warm” towards others. “If you needed help, or something was a problem, she would always be understanding,” he said.
Mr Walton told Press Gazette that she had been unhappy at work and he believed workplace stress had “played a massive part” in her death
MAELSTROM OF EVENTS
“It was evident to me that the work was making her suffer, because she just wasn’t happy. It just wasn’t fun for her in any shape or form,” he added.
He said changes at the Daily Express, which early last year was bought by Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror (now Reach), had “meant staff were all having to do more” and that she complained about it to him daily.
She “changed as the job changed”, Mr Walton said.
In September last year, Press Gazette reported that Reach was cutting 70 jobs across the Express, Mirror and Star titles in an effort to “remove duplication of effort”, with the redundancies understood to have fallen hardest on Express and Star staff.
Mr Walton said journalism had “always been part of Helen’s life”. She began her career in her late teens at a picture agency before going on to work at The Independent.
He said Ledger had faced a “maelstrom” of events before her death, including the loss of both parents.
“To say one thing was more prevalent than the other is probably unfair, but she spent most of her time at work,” he said. “She spent more time at work than she did with me.”
In the week before she died she had worked long hours, covering from 8am until 1am on the Saturday. He said she “was like a ghost” on the Sunday. The following day he found her dead.
“I keep wondering why is it she got left alone on the desk that week,” he said.
A Reach spokesperson said: “Everyone here is extremely saddened by this and devastated for Helen’s partner Chris. She was a talented colleague and beloved friend to many of us and we miss her.”
Helen’s friend and colleague DON JOHNSTON said in tribute: "So sad to read of Helen Ledger, with whom I worked closely on the Indy and Sindy years ago.
"Really a lovely lass, full of fun and laughter but combined with a drive to get you the best results.
"A good few times in the rush to finish pages, she’d send us pics then follow that a little later with others, saying, 'You might like these better'. And, of course, they were, and we’d whack them in, usually laughing, sometimes swearing. Mostly laughing, and thankful.
"A terrible loss to her family. And national journalism. An awful, emotionally disturbing result of the cruel cost-cutting that has ruined the quality of today’s journalism.
"May that poor lady now rest in peace. Alas, suicide does not end the pain, it just transfers it."
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Daily Mirror newsroom 1953
Even our elderly benefactor Lord Drone struggles to identify anyone in this view of the Mirror newsroom taken in Coronation year, 1953.
The chap pictured centre in the bow tie looks very much like David Thompson, current Life President of the Association of Mirror Pensioners, but it isn’t him as he confirmed last night.
He said: "Doppleganger reporting. No, not me. But I was involved in the Coronation, reporting local events for the Mansfield Reporter and Sutton Ashfield Times and then starting National Service.”
Revel Barker added: "I have a vague recollection that one of them (and I couldn't even guess which) was Joe Grizzard, who was on the back bench as a rising young star, perhaps even around that time.
"You need somebody to contact Hannen Swaffer — a committed spiritualist, he was still around then, and will still be online, somewhere. You could get him via Doris Stokes."
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News you have missed
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Bottoms up Down Under
IT’S an unwritten law that when old Fleet Street hands get together they end up in the pub.
Expressman Roger Tavener and his old chum Allan Hall carried on this fine tradition when they met to discuss old times in Sydney’s Lord Nelson, allegedly Australia’s first pub.
Roger wrote on Facebook: “Very excellent to meet up with foreign correspondent and author Allan Hall in the Lord Nelson.
“After 35 years (we were kids) it ended as it must. He fell asleep on a ferry and had to be woken by a friendly deck hand.
“I fell asleep on a bus (what’s a bus?) and the driver woke me. Mr Uber got me home. A very lovely Fleet Street day in Oz.”
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Sucker for a chukka
QUEASY RIDER: Expressman Hughes on his trusty steed
THE horse looks pretty docile but so, it must be said, is its heavily-lunched rider.
But who is this latter-day gaucho? It is none other Expressman Mike Hughes, doing his best to stay aloft his mount while on a visit to a polo ranch near Buenos Aires.
Mike, a former City sub, told the Drone: "I understand Lord Drone has had a few chukkas (or is it chukkas-up?) at Smith’s Lawn, so I thought he might appreciate a couple of pics of me on a docile young filly.
"It was my first time on a horse in 60-plus years and I was persuaded to ride after a leisurely Malbec-fuelled lunch.
"The mallet over my shoulder is just for show, although I did manage to hit a few balls and stayed onboard for 30 minutes."
SADDLED UP: Mike, right, with his daughter, Rachael and Federico, owner of the polo ranch in Argentina
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A TRIBUTE TO HECTOR BREEZE IN THE TIMES
TOP DRAWERS: Hector Breeze, left, with his fellow cartoonists Charles Griffin and Bill Caldwell at the Daily Express office in Blackfriars, London, 1997
THE Times has paid tribute to Daily Express Pocket Cartoonist Hector Breeze in an obituary.
Breeze, who died last December at the age of 90, was appointed by the Express in 1982 and was best known for his drawings featuring impoverished gentry with characteristic chinless faces and tiny dot eyes.
Fellow cartoonist Ralph Steadman wrote in 1996 that Breeze's "clumsy bewildered characters restore my faith in the seriously daft”.
In 2004 Breeze was voted Pocket Cartoonist of the Year in the Cartoon Art Trust awards, but six months later he was sacked by the Daily Express.
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Lament for the death of the gossip column
TEA FOR ONE: Writer David Lister contemplates another slice of cake at Cliveden,1999 Picture: ©The Independent
DAVID LISTER, a writer and columnist for The Independent, has written a masterly account of the slow demise of the Fleet Street diarist, including the death and resurrection of the William Hickey column in the Daily Express.
The rise and fall of the Fleet Street diarist
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A song to strike a chord with all long-suffering newspaper journalists
(CONTAINS SWEARING)
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LEVY’S GOLDEN FIFTY
Former Daily Express and Daily Mail star features writer Geoffrey Levy has celebrated 50 years of marriage with his wife Stephanie … and Alan Frame was invited to the Golden Wedding party of his old friend.
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MEANWHILE AT WESTMINSTER…
New Brexit plan revealed
NEWS SERIES
Angry people in local newspapers
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McFadden’s Cold War
*As in all images on the Drone, click on the pic for a larger view.
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To Russia with booze and a spare bath plug
Ian Benfield dies at 84
Lord Drone is personally greatly saddened to report the death of his good friend Ian ‘Bunter’ Benfield at the age of 84.
Ian had been suffering from vascular dementia for two years, as as his son Guy reports below in The Journalist.
Bunter was a top news sub-editor on the Daily Express for many years where his agreeable nature and good humour made him a popular and valued member of staff.
He was never happier than when he was drinking beer in the pub with his colleagues.
Ian died last December but news of his death has only just reached Drone Towers. His funeral was in January.
DICK DISMORE remembers:
Bunter, the man who subbed the Yorkshire Ripper trial single-handed — and the Printer didn’t bother setting the running copy. This was much to the consternation of the Night Editor, one K. MacKenzie, who monstered the culprit so badly he had to buy him a bottle of whisky to ensure publication of the next day’s paper.
And Bunter just kept subbing and let it all wash over him. Happy days.
*Ian's brother, Derek Benfield, pictured above, was an actor, best known for his role as transport company foreman Bill Riley in the TV series The Brothers.
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C’est Jim sur le TV
Your eyes do not deceive you, this is Sunday Express sub-editor Jim Humphries appearing on BBC Breakfast TV.
Jim, who has lived in the Dordogne region of France for the past 15 years, was interviewed about his attitudes to Brexit with a fellow villager in Corgnac-sur-L’Isle.
As you perceive from his expression he is not keen on it. Jim said he was worried about continuing to receive free health care after he had undergone three recent operations in France.
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Expressman David Laws gets full-page treatment
Long-serving Expressman David Laws is busily publicising his latest novel Brexit Day, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the Bury Free Press in his native Suffolk.
The paper gave David the full-page treatment with an interview with writer Barbara Eeles.
The book, a thriller, involves an out-of-favour journalist who tracks down a group of spies intent on sabotaging Brexit — and an assassin who is stalking the Prime Minister.
It’s a cracking read and is available as an ebook or paperback on Amazon. BUY IT HERE
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Brandt’s masterpiece
An atmospheric picture of Battersea Power Station taken in 1936 by Bill Brandt. It is from his classic series of night photographs of London inspired by Brassaï’s pictures of Paris.
Brandt was arguably the most influential photographer of his generation and this picture is widely regarded as a masterpiece.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SIR — Your organ rightly points out that the answer to any headline with a question mark at the end of it is invariably 'no’.
Ernie Burrington, when night editor at the Mirror decades ago, would attest to the truth of this by citing the following classic example (from the Daily Herald, I believe): Is this the face of Christ in the sole of a cobbler's boot?
My question is: Is there an earlier or more absurd example? Silly me. The question mark provides its own answer.
Yours etc
CONFUSED of Epsom
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Sir — I was intrigued to read in your mighty organ the reference to “the face of Christ on a cobbler’s boot.”
This may be an offshoot of a similar miraculous apparition which is indeed linked with the late, great Ernie Burrington, with whom I worked on both the Daily Herald and The People and who was mentioned in your item
Ernie was chief sub on the Herald when they published an astonishing picture showing the face of Christ in a patch of snow. This picture remained in the Odhams library and was occasionally exhumed to make appearances in The People when Ernie was deputy editor. It invariably produced a torrent of letters from readers who had spotted the face of our saviour in a variety of alternative settings including a pancake and a bar of soap.
Regards
PLAIN JOHN SMITH
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A song about Brexit
(Contains swearing)
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FLEET STREET PUB BY CANDLELIGHT, 1988
GREAT TIMES: The Observer has republished a fascinating piece about Fleet Street watering holes written at the time the paper left for new pastures in 1988. The picture shows the conviviality continuing despite a power cut.
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LOOKALIKE (DON’T HAVE NIGHTMARES)
MOMO WILLIAMSON
HERE’S an uncanny resemblance. Chris Williamson, the extreme-Left MP booted out of the Labour Party for denying anti-semitism was a major problem is known as the Vegan Serial Killer, because he’s a vegan and … well you get the message.
Momo is an internet hoax intended to scare the daylights out of children. Fortunately Momo doesn’t exist and many people wish Mr Williamson didn’t either.
One thing that can be said with certainty is that they have never been spotted in the same abattoir together.
Which is nice.
PICTURE OF THE YEAR
SALISBURY JOURNAL
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VIZ
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CARTOON EXTRA
BILL TIDY
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Express and Star help Reach to boost profits
PUBLISHER Reach increased its revenue by more than £100million last year following its acquisition of Express Newspapers.
New figures showed income rose to £723.9million in 2018, with an adjusted profit before tax of £141.9million, both numbers up by 16 per cent year-on-year.
The company, formerly Trinity Mirror, also increased its cash pot for dealing with phone hacking cases by £12.5million last year.
It spent £9.6million of the more than £70million provision in 2018, with £13.6million remaining. The publisher has faced more than 100 civil claims for historical phone-hacking carried out on the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
Reach made an operating profit of £145.6million last year.
However, the company, which owns the Mirror, Express and Star titles plus the Sunday People, posted a pretax loss of £120million last year after writing down the value of its goodwill, publishing rights, titles and buildings, against a profit of £82million in 2017. Excluding the writedown, it made a profit of £141.9million.
According to its full-year accounts, the company is on track to deliver at least £20million of savings by 2020.
The company said it had made £3million in “synergy cost savings” in 2018 as it cut out duplication across the Express, Star and Mirror teams, with up to 70 national newspaper redundancies falling over the 12 months.
A further £20million in cuts was the result of “structural cost savings”.
Reach made up to 140 people redundant in its regional newsrooms in 2018 under its strategy of building separate print and digital regional teams, Press Gazette has reported.
The company’s net debt is at £40.8million, with a pension deficit of £348.6million.
In a statement alongside its accounts for the year, the company said: “Subject to there being no significant adverse implications arising from the UK’s exit from the European Union, we are confident that our strategy will enable continued progress to support profit and cash flow.”
Simon Fox, Reach chief executive, said: “I am pleased with the performance we have delivered in 2018 and encouraged by the stronger finish to the year.
“We have begun 2019 in a strong financial position with good momentum on the integration of Express and Star and with clear plans for digital growth.”
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STEVE SNAPS HIS ANKLE
FASHION stops for no man as former Express photographer Steve Wood has proved.
Despite breaking an ankle, Steve grabbed a pair of crutches and struggled to the airport to catch his flight from London to Italy for Milan Fashion Week.
He was philosophical about his broken ankle, telling the Drone: “It has stopped me going skiing so it has saved me £300 a day. I would rather have been skiing but I broke it the day before I was due to go.”
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Lower Thames Street 1905
As the Daily and Sunday Express news operation prepares to leave its Lower Thames Street offices in London for Canary Wharf here’s a pic of the road in 1905.
Lower Thames Street is just as busy then as now as carts queue to collect fish from Billingsgate Market on the left. This scene looks west with the spire of St Magnus the Martyr Church, which still nestles next to London Bridge, visible in the distance.
Lower Thames Street today with the old Billingsgate Market building on the left. The Express building is the grey structure further up
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LUDGATE CIRCUS,1926
Hold tight to your hats chaps, there's a General Strike on
A BUS operated by an independent company passes through Ludgate Circus at the foot of Fleet Street, London, crammed with passengers during the General Strike on 4 May, 1926
The 15A bus route ran until 1987 when it was merged with the 15 which still runs down Fleet Street.
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Tony Benn on the Guardian
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Craig parties with Fleet Street royalty on his 70th
Just a few of Craig's editor pals: From left, Eve Pollard, Sir Nicholas Lloyd, Wendy Henry, Craig MacKenzie, his brother Kelvin, Judy McGuire and Piers Morgan
By TONY BOULLEMIER
Tabloid royalty turned out in force for Craig MacKenzie's 70th birthday bash last Saturday.
Ex-editors and many others from across the newspaper spectrum descended on the party in Weybridge, Surrey.
Craig started as a sub on the Daily Express and went on to become deputy editor of the Daily and Sunday Express. He also edited titles for the Murdoch and Mirror groups.
He thanked guests who had made him welcome when he first arrived in Fleet Street.
Presenting him with a spoof Sun Page One, Piers Morgan paid tribute to his incredible loyalty.
He said whenever he had problems, Craig would be in the trenches alongside him.
Piers described him as "mad funny" and said he loved Craig's passion for life and work.
He added: "All the MacKenzies are like that. Everything at 100mph."
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DAILY STAR MOVES TO CANARY WHARF
FINAL EDITION: The staff of the Daily Star in London posed for a final picture as they prepared their last edition in Lower Thames Street. They have now moved to the Mirror building in Docklands.
Note the mouse held aloft top left, a reference to the rodent problem in the LTS building.
The Daily and Sunday Express news operation has now joined the Star at Canary Wharf.
Mirror sport and the magazines have switched in the opposite direction from Docklands to LTS.
The Star and Express titles had been based in Lower Thames Street since 2004.
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Spot the Expressman
FOUND HIM YET? Look closely and you will see Terry Chinery hard at work on the Luton News back in the 1970s. Terry, first left, went on to greater things and became Night News Editor on the Daily Express. And yes, that dagger in the foreground is his, we are reliably informed.
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PALACE COMPLAINS TO REGULATOR
NEW CRISIS HITS MoS
OVER SNATCH PICS OF
THE QUEEN’S SHOOT
THE Mail on Sunday has run into more trouble under its new editor Ted Verity, the Daily Drone can reveal.
The paper rather naively ran pictures of the Queen out shooting with Jackie Stewart.
But the photographs were taken on private land which is not allowed without permission. This triggered a very rare complaint from Her Majesty.
The faux pas has resulted in the resignation of the Mail on Sunday’s picture editor Jack Culver.
An MoS insider told the Drone: “Royal hackles were already up following the Prince Philip crash debacle so naturally they were thrilled to be able to whack back.
“But the complaint was not made to Ted Verity direct from the Palace press office, but through IPSO [the Independent Press Standards Organisation], which Lord Rothermere will hate because it’s such a stupid mistake.
“Ted Verity bawled out the picture editor Jack Culver because the pics the MoS had of Prince Philip driving solo, after his car crash, were not exclusive.
“I believe the background to this is that they were taken by a freelancer, who warned at the point of sale he would be selling elsewhere and those were the terms on offer.
“As a result, Culver went in and resigned without waiting for a pay-off.
“How much longer will Verity last? But then they say that about The Donald.”
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Nestling amid the sylvan folds of the rolling English countryside, the Grade 1 listed mansion now known as DroneHaven welcomes journalists, particularly sub-editors, from the Daily Express and other Fleet Street publications who are facing their “final edition” with ageless style and aplomb.
The 300-year-old mansion has been skilfully converted into one and two bedroom self-contained six-star cottages and apartments all lovingly finished to an enviably high specification. This iconic retirement village boasts lounges, a bar, dining room and library. There are lawns and lakes and ample parking. A mini bus* is available to take guests into the nearby town where there are frequent trains to London.
The dedicated DroneCare staff have developed a series of residents’ activities aimed at Fleet Street’s finest. They include:
DroneDisco
A former Night Editor and local radio disc jockey leads music aficionados in what he calls The Vinyl Edition, listening to, and discussing, the hits and stars of yesteryear. Legends such as Connie Francis, Bobby Vee, Conway Twitter and the Big O. Our host will reveal fascinating facts about the icons he discusses. For instance, did you know what Chuck Berry was referring to when he sang about his dingaling? All meetings will feature state-of-the-art sound systems* and will close with our popular SingalongaTel karaoke sessions.
DroneDeadline
The group is given the chance to relive the glory days of Fleet Street sub-editors by helping to produce a genuine parish magazine (St Nicholas Church in the village) in real time against the clock. Guided by an experienced parish magazine editor, our “subs” will work on copy paper with a pen and use spikes, scissors and glue*. Crumpling up crap headlines, which have been rejected, and throwing them on the floor is encouraged as is randomly shouting “Stop the press!” “Hold the front page!” and “Cooking on gas!” These sessions traditionally end on “Press Day” with the “editor” shouting: “Make it sing!” and the “subs”replying in unison: “And make it a song I like!”
DroneGoss
Remember those Fleet Street days of salacious, scurillous scuttlebut? Whispers behind the hands? Secrets guaranteed to shock? These popular sessions are dedicated to the legendary Les Diver, the one-man rumour mill who coined the slogan “Goss is King; Goss is Power”. Your host is the Daily Drone’s resident royal expert, our very own PopBitch. He will pass on the very latest rumours from the Palace and Parliament. Be prepared to be teased and tormented.
The House of Drone wishes to thank the Press Association for its assistance in delivering this programme.
DroneDrink
In the evenings it’s time to slope down to the Bertie Brooks Memorial Bar for an attitude adjuster or two. Whatever the weather, gentlemen are expected to be in shirt sleeves as if they had just “gone to the library” or “popped to the loo”. Offering toasts is very much de rigeur in Bertie’s. Apart from the popular “To Wives And Girlfriends - May They Never Meet”, Drones often utter the memorable “Lagers Till We Lurch”, “Swans Till We Swoon”, and “Pils Till We Puke”.
Members of DroneDram*, our amateur dramatic and re-enactment team, will be on hand to assume the roles of famous Fleet Street characters. Mrs Moon will humiliate you by banning you from “Falstaff’s Dive Bar” and a sinister black-cloaked character will sweep in shouting: “Flood the bar!” Highlight, for some, is the florid, irascible Scotsman who pins you against the bar, invades your personal space and demands why the fuck he hasn’t been made Chief Sub.
More to come
Other programmes we are working on include DroneDown! in which “subs” compete for the Jack Atko trophy by being judged the best at asking for their copy to be delivered to the printer. A DroneDram* team member will act as Messenger Roger. DroneDrone enables residents to start their own beehives aided by apple-cheeked Mrs W* from the village. We have high hopes for DroneEscape in which the fitter members of our community form a Colditz-style Escape Committee and start to dig a tunnel, nicknamed Larry, under the West Wing bin store.
*Extra charge.
Your retirement dream
Find out more about DroneHaven by sending for our information pack containing detailed specifications, plans and photographs of our apartments and cottages as well as comprehensive costings. Write to: Drone Enterprises, House of Drone, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 1AD or visit our website www.dailydrone.co.uk
A Drone from Home with the House of Drone
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Help cheer up John Downing
CHUMS: Downing, centre, with the late Danny McGrory, left, and Tom Stoddart celebrate England’s 5-1 win over Germany while attending Kim Willsher’s wedding in 2001
THE many friends and colleagues of star photographer John Downing are being urged to rally round him today.
John has been diagnosed with incurable lung cancer, according to his wife, the pianist Anita D'Attellis.
She said John was ill over Christmas, culminating in an
operation to remove liquid from his lung.
Anita added: "At the same time they took a biopsy, which sadly turned out rather bad news. He has a particularly virulent cancer, which is incurable. He’s in good spirits considering, and full of gallows humour.
"He's happy for you to mention it to any of his old colleagues, but would appreciate emails only, because he’s not up to taking phone calls at the moment."
John's great friend, Tom Smith, reported that the surgery John underwent last week at London Bridge Hospital will, in John’s own words, only "delay the inevitable a short time”.
He added: "Most of old-time Fleet Street and all of the London Welsh Choir have our fingers crossed. Please pass this on to all who knew him and worked with the 'best snapper of his time'.”
Understandably, John is not up to phone calls at the moment but Anita said you may contact him by email at jd@johndowning.co.uk
UPDATE
John writes in an email to friends:
The operation has gone well and will, I hope, extend my time a little longer. In fact I feel pretty good.
I am very lucky to have such a lovely wife Anita, who has been a true stalwart. I have had a great life full of excitement, fun and had the pleasure of befriending all of you. Throw in a handful of tablets each day (the most important of which is the morphine I suspect) and how could I fail to feel good.
In passing, watching two nurses trying to part me from my underpants whilst I was attached to tubes and wires would have had you in fits and would have made a great Jacques Tati film.
Well, must away and write a epitaph.
All the very best to you all, and thank you.
IS THERE MUCH MORE OF THIS? John Downing waits for reporter Kim Willsher to finish filing her story
BELOW: Downing documentary, 34:15 runtime
Downing's study of a young Sue McGibbon
FORMER Daily Express news sub Robin McGibbon is justly proud of this Downing photograph of his wife Sue taken when she was aged 17.
Robin told the Drone : "In the early 70s, my wife, Sue, worked at the Daily Express, selling classified advertising. Her boss was John's wife, Jeanette, who felt it would make the girls' regular sales calls more personal if clients knew what they they looked like.
"She primed John on each girls' personality and he chatted with each one — to relax them — before taking their photograph, which was stuck on compliments slips sent to prospective advertisers.
"The attached pic of Sue, aged 17, is displayed in our study, assuring that, for her, John will never be forgotten.”
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Legendary sports writer McIlvanney dies at 84
THE greatest sports writer of his generation, Hugh McIlvanney, has died at the age of 84.
McIlvanney spent most of his 60-year career with The Observer and The Sunday Times and worked briefly for the Daily Express.
He leaves a wife, Caroline, son Conn and daughter Elizabeth.
In 1996, McIlvanney was awarded the OBE, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award 2004 by The Scottish Press Awards, and is the only sports writer to be voted Journalist of the Year.
McIlvanney was great friends with fellow Scotsman Bill Montgomery, a Daily Express news sub who was never reluctant to give someone a thump whether they deserved it or not.
An Expressman who prefers to remain anonymous, recalls:
"I am reminded of the night I was chief sub and, for no reason, didn’t give Bill Monty a story. He thought he was getting the freeze. Later in the Press Club, Bill told me there was a call for me. Remember those phone booths in that dimly-lit hall?
"I went out and picked up the phone which was hanging off its hook. The line was dead. It was a set-up.
"I felt the grip of death on my throat. It was paranoid Monty, demanding to know who’d instructed me to give him the freeze. I couldn’t plead my innocence owing to asphyxiation.
"Just then Hugh McIlvanney appeared through the gloom. 'Need a hand there, Billy?' he said.
"You don’t forget moments like that.”
PATRICK COLLINS, sports writer and friend of McIlvanney’s summed up the man, saying: "When his countless admirers speak of Hugh’s writing, they recall the rolling phrases, the astute insights, the dramatic sense of occasion.
"But those who worked with him — and especially the heroic subs who placed paragraph marks on his copy — will tell of the tireless perfectionist, the man whose Sunday would be spoiled by a misplaced comma or a wayward colon.”
ALAN HILL, former Express Chief City Sub, writes: One of my former bosses, Roy Mackie, City Editor of the Daily Express for some years, was a good friend of Hugh McIlvanney’s. I spent many a convivial night in their company, usually in The Old Bell.
My friend Iain Murray, formerly of Daily Express features and The Observer, told a Hughie story some years ago.
Hugh was becoming a wee bit stressed by someone in the pub. Seeing what was coming our good friend Bill Montgomery placed his hand on the back of Hugh’s neck.
The squeeze on the McIlvanney neck was said to be tighter than a Scotsman’s grip on a tenner. And it was accompanied by Bill, saying in his warmest Glaswegian tones: “Now Hugh, we’ll nae be havin any of your nonsense tonight.”
Iain claims Hugh’s feet came off the floor.
Calm was restored. And as Roy Mackie said: “Strong drink was taken, and we all went home good friends.”
ROGER WATKINS: I was a features sub in Manchester in 1972 when a newly-appointed McIlvanney came into the office to write up a featuremin time for the first edition. He was taciturn and uncommunicative and I recall thinking at the time that he did not seem happy to be on the World’s Greatest Newspaper and, especially, not to be camping in a branch office wrestling with a battered Olympia.
When his copy came I’d like to say I subbed it with all the attention of a Cliff Barr or a Roy Povey but, to be honest, I didn’t sub it at all.
JIM DAVIES: The fully-deserved paeans of praise for the work of Hugh Mcilvanney prompted some fond memories of our time together. When he — I thought inadvisably — came back to the Express in the early Seventies (he had been on the Scottish Daily Express earlier in his career), we were having a jar or six in The Old Bell.
I said the Express was a tightly-subbed paper which might fit ill with the lengths he had been accustomed to at The Observer. "I decide what a piece is worth," he said with what, in anyone else would have sounded like rank pomposity.
I teased him. "I doubt they have a type face small enough so what do they do?” 'They hang it in a strip below the page,' he said with a look that almost challenged anyone to disagree.
His return to the Beaverbrook fold was not a match made in heaven and did not last. But happily it did not derail an illustrious career the like of which I doubt we will see again.
Hughie and I were both among the class of '34 who arrived in Fleet Street in the late 50s and early 60s and, sadly, we are a rapidly dwindling bunch. But boy, did we have the best of it!
1 DRONE EXCLUSIVE: My last meeting with Hugh
3 Donald Trelford’s terrific tribute in the Sunday Times
Hugh’s tribute to Pele last year
Hugh McIlvanney’s address to the Football Writers’ Association at The Savoy, London on 21 January, 2018
ONLY IN THE DRONE
Mail on Sunday ‘stole’ Mirror’s royal exclusive
SENIOR journalists at the Mail on Sunday are in despair after alleged blatant plagiarism at the paper.
The entire Page 3 of this week's edition of the MoS was apparently a straight lift of the Sunday Mirror’s splash about the woman who broke her wrist when her car was in collision with Prince Philip’s Land Rover.
Our mole at Northcliffe House said staff had their heads in the hands over the incident and that the Sunday Mirror plans to bill MoS editor Ted Verity for the story.
An unconfirmed report claims that the woman who sold the tale to the Sunday Mirror went first to the Daily Mail and asked how much they would pay.
They gave a price which she agreed before being told: 'We'll call back you in the morning’. Exasperated, she took her story to the Mirror who snapped her up.
Our informant told the Drone: ‘I seem to remember that in the old days it was always a case of 'grab the body and get it away.
'How times change.’
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Meltdown on Sunday
THINGS are going from bad to worse at the Mail On Sunday with editor Ted Verity under pressure following the axing of star columnist Tina Weaver.
Weaver's removal was ordered by Lord Rothermere following revelations that she masterminded phone hacking at the Sunday Mirror while she was editor.
Verity is already facing a costly lawsuit for referring to the couple wrongly arrested for the Gatwick drones chaos as morons in a splash headline.
Our informant at Northcliffe House says morale at the MoS is at rock-bottom because staff had been accustomed to the gentlemanly ways of former editor Geordie Greig. Under Verity they now find themselves back to the bad old days of Paul Dacre.
Weaver’s reported involvement in the phone-hacking scandal was revealed exclusively by the news website Byline.
A source told Byline: 'This is already being seen as a humiliation for Ted Verity and leaves a big question mark on his judgment. The decision to get rid of Weaver was made by the paper's top executives last Saturday.
'When they hired her, they knew there were some skeletons left over from her years at Mirror Group Newspapers. But until Byline's stories came out, they did not know the full extent of Weaver's involvement in the phone-hacking scandal.
'It was abundantly obvious they had scored a big own goal. Reluctantly, but inevitably, they had to let her go.'
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Who’s still in the Q?
Dear Lord Drone,
I wonder how many of your digital followers worked on the old broadsheet DX in the late 60s and early 70s, when Douglas Orgill was Chief Sub?
Dougie was very stout and never ventured far from his chair. He could just about reach Ralph Mineards & Co on the middle bench to hand out copy.
But we lower mortals, on the distant benches, had to be summoned to receive our LP, Brev and Min instructions.
As an ex-tank commander, Dougie liked to keep up morale with a joke or two. So when he issued an order, he interposed the initial Q in our names.
When, for example, he called out: “Anthony Q. Boullemier, approach the base of the podium,” a hum of merriment would go round the desks.
But how many of those in the Q are still with us?
Clearly Kelvin Q MacKenzie is. As is David Q Laws, Ian Q Bain, Laing Q Leith, Chris Q Chalke and Rick Q McNeill, although I believe Rick sat near enough to Dougie to be handed his copy.
But listing those who have departed this earth is sobering. Lloyd Q Turner, William Q Reynolds, Leslie Q Diver, Robert Q Kilby and William Q Montgomery to name just a few.
How many others are still out there today?
If they’re readers of this mighty organ, perhaps we could be told?
Yours as ever,
Anthony Q Boullemier.
PS: Dougie never did tell us what the Q was meant to stand for.
IAIN Q MURRAY may have the explanation.
He writes: I suspect that Dougie, whom I fondly recall from my brief spell in DX features, was enjoying a mischievous private joke.
Q was the pen name of Sir Arthur Quiller Couch (1863-1944), editor of the Oxford Book of English Prose and a series of Cambridge lectures published as On the Art of Writing.
He coined the writers’ maxim ‘murder your darlings’.
“If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it— whole-heartedly — and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.”
It would have amused Dougie to see the subs as discerning assassins hired to butcher purple prose.
This from RICK Q McNEILL:
I recall Dougie Orgill also used occasionally to address lowly subs as Shufflebottom and Aloysius — as in “Anthony Aloysius Armstrong, your past has caught up with you!”
DOUGIE THE WAR HERO
By JIM Q DAVIES
When Dougie Orgill was brutally sacked as chief sub he found himself deposited in features where I lived. I barely knew him but attempted to commiserate. 'Nonsense, dear boy,' he said. ‘It's out of the kitchen and into the restaurant.'
That lovely piece of insouciance began a friendship which lasted for several memorable years until his early death at the age of 63.
Dougie was an expert in some pretty diverse fields from tank warfare to butterfly collecting, a constant source of entertaining stories and a joy to lunch with — especially in El Vino where he loved my embarrassment at being made to wear a tie, usually one of Geoffrey Van Hay's gravy-stained numbers.
During the advance through Italy in early 1944 Dougie's tank was knocked out by a German shell and his crew surrounded and told they would be shot. Bravely, Dougie told the Panzers that they could shoot him as commander but that his men must be taken prisoner under the terms of the Geneva convention.
Into this crisis charged a German officer, ironically the same rank as Dougie, who ordered the German troops away and apologised saying his men had sustained days of aerial bombardment and were stressed out of their minds.
He explained that he had no facilities for taking prisoners and told Dougie and his men to stay by their stricken tank until the Allied advance caught up with them. 'This war will be over very soon,' he said by way of farewell.
Dougie congratulated him on his perfect English and asked where he had learned it. ‘Oxford,' said the German. 'Which college?" asked Dougie. ‘Balliol,’ said Herr Maior. 'Me too,' said Dougie, upon which they exchanged names and addresses and promised to get in touch when the war was over.
Dougie fulfilled the promise only to find out that his generous combatant had been killed within days of their battlefield meeting.
I can't settle Tony Boullemier's query about Q any more than I could ever discover why he always called me Soulberry.
I am, though, proud to say that I was invited by his family to give the address at his funeral at St Bride's where, to his undoubted celestial amusement, I did not wear a tie!
Good to know there are still those of us around who remember this great man. Best to everyone, Jim.
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CHAPMAN’S PARTING SHOT AS HE QUITS THE EXPRESS
Private Eye reports:
Veteran Daily Express hack John Chapman, who refers to himself as a “Fleet Street survivor” having stuck with the paper through its Desmond doldrums and on to the new Mirror-managed era, left last month with an old-school retirement party at El Vino.
He had an admirable valedictory message for his assembled colleagues: “I have witnessed the slow, sad decline of a once-great newspaper … but I was earning an old-style Fleet Street salary so I don’t give a fuck.”
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MARTIN HOLDS COURT
Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend, left, holds a riverside conference with deputy editor Dick Dismore, right, and Andy Hoban at the Lower Thames Street offices in London some time in the mid-Noughties.
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TYPICAL SCENE AT STAMMIES
Stamfords Wine Bar was the favoured watering hole for Daily Express journalists in the 1990s and early Noughties, mainly because it was but a short lurch from the Blackfriars offices.
Pictured among an impressive array of empty beer and wine bottles are the usual suspects … picture editor Chris Djukanovic, editor Chris Williams, backbencher Nick Dalton and sub Sheila Molloy.
…. AND HERE’S ANOTHER
STAMMIES again in a snap provided by MIKE HUGHES, who is on the far left. Also pictured are Chris Williams, John Twomey, personal finance writer Jessica Bown, and Luke Felton, who is sadly no longer with us.
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ONLY HERE FOR THE LEER
WHO'S that woman with Expressman Ashley Walton? And why does he have that devilish look on his face?
We do not know … but we think we should be told.
This picture of Margaret Thatcher with the Drone’s chief reporter comes from the BBC TV programme Icons.
Walton explained yesterday: 'The shot was taken somewhere in the UK during Mrs Thatcher's first election campaign in 1979 before she became Prime Minister.
'I covered the whole three weeks of the campaign travelling the length of the UK and having a great time. It was certainly the most gruelling three weeks of my life. Where did all that hair come from? Mine not hers.'
He added: 'Now I know what it feels like to be a legend in my own lunchtime.’
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YOUR STARTER FOR 10 PINTS
Guess who trousered the redundo jackpot?
All three of them!
This charming study of Daily Express features subs Norman ‘Normal' Cox, Dave ‘Squiffy’ Searby and Mike ‘Trouser’ Snaith shows them at a lunch to celebrate their redundancy in the 1980s.
Yes folks, thanks to excellent contracts, journalists once rejoiced in getting the sack, as JEFF BOYLE explains in the …
The Great Golden Wheelbarrow lunch
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The day Jean Rook came gunning for Express subs
THERE is no doubt that Jean Rook was a great columnist who well deserved her title of the First Lady of Fleet Street.
But it is no secret that her column in the Daily Express needed careful subbing. This would of course lead to a certain amount of friction between Jean and the Features Department.
An executive, Geoff Compton, was assigned by Features Editor Alan Frame to be a ‘human firewall’ between the First Lady and the hard-pressed features subs.
One famous day he received two scathing memos from Jean complaining about the editing of her column.
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Deep in thought, the late, great Paul Carter
IF there was one man the Daily Express should never have let go it was Paul Carter. He was the finest journalist many of us have ever worked with — and not only that he was a delightful person.
Here he is meticulously checking the first edition proofs at the Express offices in Blackfriars, London, in 1999 or 2000.
Paul, who went on to be a brilliant deputy editor of the Daily Mail, was forced out by editor Rosie Boycott mainly because she failed to understand the culture of a middle market tabloid.
Paul died in 2017 aged 54 after a long battle with cancer.
Also in this pic is the back of production editor Bob Smith’s head and Nick Dalton.
In his own words: Paul bids us farewell
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The Roaring Eighties
IF ever there was a decade for partying on the Daily Express it must have been the 1980s — and here is the proof.
Pictured at a Roaring Twenties evening are, from left, the late and much lamented Ross ‘Crommers’ Tayne, Robin McGibbon and his wife Sue, and Jan Barden who hosted the party at her home in Penge, South-East London.
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HOORAY FOR PINKY!
ONE of the great features of the old Daily and Sunday Express was the people. And one of the most cheerful was Peter ‘Pinky’ Floyd of the Picture Desk. A truly lovely man, here he is in 1998, lighting up the SX picture desk in Fleet Street with his radiant good humour.
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A quiet Saturday night on the Sunday Express
Here’s another snap from the old days, this time at the Sunday Express offices in Lower Thames Street, London, circa 2005.
On the far left is Tessa Evans, then Roy Povey arriving in his overcoat. In the distance, trying to mind his own business, is Alastair McIntyre, then from left on the middle bench is Mark Hoey, Rod Jones, Brian Izzard and on the backbench, Andy Hoban.
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I had that Tim Shipman in the back of the cab ...
You know the feeling, you’ve had an enjoyably heavy lunch and then, in the cab back to the office, the news desk calls, jolting you back to reality.
This was Sunday Express politico Tim Shipman back in the day, trying to sound lucid after a liquid lunch at the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping, London. An amused Andy Hoban looks on.
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MORE FLEET STREET FUN
IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES: Daily Express features subs having fun in their break some time in the 1990s are Elaine Canham, Norman ‘Normal’ Cox and Jeff ‘Mine’s a Toby Light’ Boyle. The blonde in the foreground is features desk secretary-cum-nurse Alison Greenacre, who, according to one member of staff, 'dispensed our morning hangover cures’.
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Mrs Stumpy’s dog car(t)
A message arrives in a forked stick from ROBIN McGIBBON.
He writes: A girl, aged no more than four, was walking by our bungalow, with her mother, when she spotted blankets in the back of the pictured Perodua Kenari, which my wife, Sue, uses to take friends' dogs for walks.
"Look, mummy," the girl said, pointing at the odd-looking vehicle, "A caravan for little people."
As one of the shortest subs ever to work for the Express, I'm wondering if I should seek your permission to start driving it!
Lord Drone replies: On yer bike, Stumpy!
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Muldoon’s Lookalike
ESSEX McINTYRE
Can it be? Surely not. How is it that the world has only just noticed that the acting-singing heart-throb David Essex and our very own Drone clan chief Lord Bingo McIntyre of that Ilk bear more than a superficial passing resemblance? They’re not related of course: one’s quite high born, actually and the other is, at best, of artisan stock.
Essex, OBE, a man of undistinguished looks, has made good through his showbiz talent. He almost became a professional footballer, though and was on West Ham’s books as a lad. He famously refused to answer a single question in his 11-plus so that he could attend a local secondary modern renowned for its footie prowess.
Lord B, the better looking of the two, comes from an ancient Highland clan (war cry: Flodden the bar!). The name McIntyre is from the Gaelic Mac an t-Saoir meaning son of the carpenter. The clan’s historic seat may have been Glen Noe in Argyll and Bute but it is now Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. The chief is in pretty good form considering he has been on a slippery slope (geddit?) for years.
I’ll get you for this, Muldoon — Ed
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THE SLIPPERY SLOPER
WHERE’S HE GONE? Jon Zackon tears his hair out as a thirsty Kipper Keeling slips out to the pub again
ONE of the great legends of the old Fleet Street Daily Express in the 1970s and 80s was Ted ‘Kipper’ Keeling who, although an excellent news sub-editor, was mostly noted for his ability to slope off to the pub in a cloud of cannabis fumes without the Chief Sub noticing.
Reading on the Drone of Kipper’s exploits, former sub Nick Pigott climbed into his loft to retrieve this sketch he drew at the time of Assistant Chief Sub Jon Zackon tearing his hair out as his nemesis slipped out to the pub.
The original story is here:
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GLOOM AT MAIL AS ONE MORE STAR NAME QUITS Now Charlie throws in towel
Charlie Sale, former Daily Express sports sub and latterly sports columnist on the Daily Mail has announced his retirement on Twitter.
His decision to quit follows the exodus of several star names following the appointment of Geordie Greig as editor to replace Paul Dacre. It is not thought that Charlie’s retirement is connected with this.
Last night after more that 200 Twitter tributes to Charlie, he tweeted: "Absolutely overwhelmed by all the kind messages today re retirement. Even the trolls were nice. Thanks so much.”
One fan tweeted: "Charlie, many congratulations on your recovery. Yet another foe bested, though I’m sorry you’re leaving the circuit; you’ll leave a gap that’s impossible to fill. An absolute doyen of journalism and cantankerous harrumphery. Retiring now, maybe, but you’ll never be ‘irrelevant’.”
On the Express, Charlie rose from sub to No 3 and was a candidate for sports editor when David Emery was short-listed for deputy editor on the Sunday Express, but SX editor Eve Pollard opted for Craig Mackenzie.
LATEST gossip from Northcliffe House reveals that a memo from the Mail’s managing editor informing all staff of the details for Victor Davis’s funeral was sent to everyone — including Victor Davis! Well, he WAS there…
Our informant had a long chat with a Mail insider who said the troops were very distressed at the way the Daily Mail has lost its edge under Greig. Our mole compared it to the emasculation of the Express.
THE DRONE is indebted to Popbitch for the following titbit in its review of the year:
After nearly three decades of steering the ship, Paul Dacre stepped down as the Daily Mail's editor.
Once in a morning conference Dacre interrupted a journalist talking about the female fighter pilots who were going into Libya to ask: "What? Actually flying the planes? And shooting? Not just navigating? Or giving directions?"
The reporter informed him that, yes, the women would be flying fighter jets.
Dacre mulled this over for a hot second, before asking: "Won't their tits get in the way of the steering?”
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HOW THE EXPRESS DID IT IN STYLE IN THE EARLY 1950s
These two images are taken from from a style book entitled The Express Way, issued to staff in Manchester and Glasgow in the 1950s, writes BOB CUMMINGS.
The pamphlet contains such gems as:
THE CRITICS
Advice to the critics: They should not assume too much knowledge on the part of the reader. It is their job to give information to the reader in such a way as not to offend the erudite and not patronise the ignorant. (April 1, 1953).
Whenever possible print a woman's age. That's a fine paragraph in today's Diary about Lady Helena Hilton-Green who flies to the hunt — but I wanted to know how old she was (March 31, 1953).
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SNAPPERS SNAPPED
Here, in glorious black and white, is another trip down memory lane. This pic of Sport and General Press Agency staff was taken at the retirement in 1980 of John Macnee, centre standing. Back row, fourth from left, is Tony Sapiano.
Stuart Clarke, editor of The Moorlander in Devon, fills in some of the gaps: Middle row, Dave Ofield, Scoby Riggs, printer, Alistair Loos, Dennis Jones, Hugh Routledge.
Front row: Neville Mariner, Stuart Clarke, Roy Chaplin, Julian Parker and Dave Benett.
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Daily Express news subs 1960s
This snap, provided by David Eliades, shows the Express newsroom in London some time in the early 1960s.
In the foreground is foreign sub Jack Atkinson and next to him in his customary white shirt is splash sub Peter Hedley. The man to Hedley’s left on the middle bench is Ted Hodgson who later became night editor.
Opposite Jack is Ken Macaulay and next to him is Ralph Mineards.
The man seated under the pillar in the white shirt and dark tie, is Eric Price. This would date the pic as before 1962 as Price left the Express that year to join the Western Daily Press in Bristol.
The backbench is the long desk on the left, second left is Bob Edwards, (the only man to be made editor of the Express twice) next to him is Eric Raybould and Morris Benett.
Thanks to TONY BOULLEMIER and ROGER WATKINS for help with this caption.
RICK McNEILL reports: I would date the picture pre-1965, before I joined. I recognise those you mention but others are unknown to me.
I think the man in the far right background, on the telephone, is picture supremo Frank Spooner and the man seated looking up at him Jim Nicholl. I seem to recall the picture desk and foreign desk shared the same space around then.
Facing Ted Hodgson is Welshman Harold Jones wearing his signature cardigan, look you. Apart from Morris and Raybould the Backbench is populated by strangers. I’d love to know who they are!
ALAN HILL, Chief City Sub from 1968 to 1996, who identified Bob Edwards, recalls: Bob gave me my job on the Express City staff. When I arrived, six weeks later, he had gone … again!
I believe he sacked Frank Spooner in the morning. Frank’s staff took him for a long lunch and when he returned to clear his desk … Bobbity had been sacked himself. Frank continued as Picture Editor for years.
Click pic to enlarge
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SIR — How nice to see a photograph of my late father, Ralph Mineards, deputy father of the Daily Express chapel, in your illustrious organ.
When he retired in 1979, getting the honor of being "banged out" by the printers, he estimated he had travelled more than a million miles commuting from his Northampton home to London Euston, whiling away his hour-long ride doing the Times crossword.
I always remember him telling me that when he sat on the committee that helped launch the Daily Star, its audience was considered "the Millwall supporter who rolls his own cigarettes”.
An extremely capable journalist and wonderful father.
I followed in his footsteps as an Express trainee on the Falmouth Packet, where my colleagues included Nick Coleridge, now the head of Conde Nast UK, before joining Paul Callan's Inside World on the Mirror and then moving to Nigel Dempster's Diary on the Mail, leaving for the U.S. as an editor on New York Magazine, eventually becoming an anchor for CBS and a commentator on ABC News.
I have now lived in Santa Barbara for 11 years, where I write a weekly column for the Montecito Journal.
RICHARD MINEARDS
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FLASHBACK TO 1965
Twiggy’s Express dress
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GOOD MOURNING AND GOOD NIGHT, WILLIAM HICKEY
They look glum but these Daily Express women were in fact putting on an act. They were actually having fun, mourning the death of the paper’s William Hickey gossip column.
Back in 1987, the Express decided to replace the long-dead diarist with a real person in the shape of Ross Benson. Fleet Street gossip columnists led by the Daily Mail’s Nigel Dempster held a mock funeral for Hickey whose name was revived following Benson’s death.
This picture is supplied by Kim Willsher, second left, with Louise Court on her right.
The rise and fall of the Fleet Street diarist
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SIR — On a flying visit to London recently I took my family for dinner at the new Joe Allen, fondly expecting to wallow nostalgically in its uniquely cool and quietly clubbable atmosphere.
Imagine my surprise (as they say) to find myself in a overcrowded characterless bistro full of shouting tourists off the street and an expensive menu with little to remind me of its bygone Exeter Street heyday. Even the signature cheesecake tasted like Tesco’s!
Perhaps you chaps have a different perspective at your regular get-togethers there. Probably it’s the company not the place? Maybe also night times are a no-no. Too close to the Strand.
You know what they say . . . never go back.
Greetings to all Express Persons of Good Standing!
RICK McNEILL
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Tweet of the Year
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MAC’S 50-YEAR REIGN BEATS GILES
Stan McMurtry, better known as Mac of the Daily Mail, has now surpassed Carl Giles of the Daily and Sunday Express as the longest-serving cartoonist on a national newspaper, serving from 1968 to 2018, reports Tim Benson of the Political Cartoon Gallery in Putney.
Mac has now retired from the Mail and has been replaced by Paul Thomas.
Giles, who died in 1995, drew his last cartoon for the Express in 1989.
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Reflections on Cummings, a great Express cartoonist
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Caricature of the week
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart by Adrian Teal
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They way we were
Production editor Bob Smith, left, and artist Fred Boyce inspect the first edition of the Daily Express at the Blackfriars offices in the 1990s
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It’s the Duke, caught on camera in the 1970s
There’s a few familiar faces in this pic of the London Evening Standard backbench in, at a guess, the 1970s. In the background gazing into the middle distance is Chris ‘Duke’ Djukanovic, later to become picture editor of the Daily Express.
Seated on the right is Charles Wintour, famed editor of the Standard, and next to him in the striped shirt is Roy Wright, who later became the editor of the Daily Express before disappearing without trace.
PETER STEWARD has filled in the gaps. He writes:
I believe the picture was taken before I joined the Standard (in the long hot summer of 1976) and for some reason I think it was a pre-Budget meeting. At that time the Evening Standard was part of the Beaverbrook empire and housed in Shoe Lane.
As you say, to the left of Charles Wintour is Roy Wright who returned to the Standard while I was there. I think he was deputy editor when Simon Jenkins was fired and Wintour returned for a short time before Lou Kirby arrived and Associated took half a share in the paper.
Seated centre is Bill Sharp, the splash sub.The chap back left in beard and specs is Cyril Raper, who enjoyed a White Shield Worthington. I think he was once chief sub, but during my time there he was like an executive revise sub.
In those days subs sent copy direct to the printers below via a conveyor belt down the middle of the desk and a hole in the floor. The first opportunity to get it revised was when galley proofs arrived upstairs or when the stone sub got a chance to read it.
On the left is the legendary political editor Bob Carvel (with pipe) and Michael King.
Perhaps the person furthest right could be David Henshall.
I left the Standard on December 29 1983 after being kidnapped in the Poppinjay by the sweet-talking Terry Manners. I was working a five-day week as the Standard's chief sub at the time but Terry held out the prospect of a four-night week for more money.
Six months later Mr Manners showed me the way to the escape tunnel (or perhaps he regretted tempting me in the first place) and I left to join the Sunday Express under that dynamic liberal editor Sir John Junor.
Click pic for larger image
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Latest Eye
Classic Eye (1975)
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When we were very young
The faces look familiar to anyone who was on the Daily Express in the 1970s and 80s. But who are these two youngsters? The answers are here
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Day the long Fleet Street lunch died
COLIN DUNNE, a former feature writer for The Sun and Daily Mirror, has written a superbly nostalgic piece in Press Gazette about the death of the Fleet Street long lunch. It will ring a distinct bell for many readers of the Daily Drone.
Dunne’s story inevitably involves Kelvin (no surname needed) storming around the office trying to get his staff out of licensed premises.
The Drone’s own ASHLEY WALTON has a similar recollection. He reports: Shortly after Kelvin left the Express to edit The Sun I was taking a lunchtime glass in the Wine Press and joined four Sun reporters who were all sitting at the bar with one eye on the window and Bouverie Street.
In the middle of some convivial chat the foursome suddenly fled from their stools and disappeared into the back of the bar. Kelvin came through the door and joined me at the bar.
After about half an hour of picking my brains about life on the Express he stood up to leave. At the door he turned round ... 'Oh by the way can you tell those cunts in the bog to come back to the office.’
I went to the gents, there was no sign of them but four closed doors. Looking underneath the doors, nothing to see, so I shouted: 'He knows you are here!’
The foursome got down from the toilet bowls and fled to the office — but not without finishing their drinks still on the bar.
There was a good deal of late evening merriment going on, too, at around that time, not least at the Mirror.
On one famous occasion chief sub Vic Mayhew rolled back from Barney's about 20 minutes after the last bell to be confronted angrily by night editor Mark Kahn.
'Pissed again,’ said Kahn to Vic.
'Yeh Mark,' said Vic. 'So am I!'
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Fleet Street then and now
1899: Carter’s Hair Cutting Saloon, at 17 Fleet Street, London, just opposite Chancery Lane. The facade above the gateway, which leads to Inner Temple, hid the original 17th Century half-timbered front which was subsequently restored.
The first floor of the building comprises Prince Henry’s Room, named for the son of James I. It is one of the few surviving buildings in the City of London dating from before the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is a Grade II listed building.
BELOW: The same building today.
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Hold the front stage! It’s Christiansen the film star
1961: Legendary Daily Express editor Arthur Christiansen demonstrates that as an actor he was a very fine journalist playing himself in the cult sci-fi movie The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
Chris, pictured with Edward Judd who played a maverick reporter (aren’t they all? — Ed), spent most of the time spouting lines like: “Hold the front page!” and “Make it sing and make it a song I like,” (or was that another legendary Daily Express editor?)
The film was based on the Express in its heyday and many shots were filmed in the office and Fleet Street. Behind the scenes there was also rumoured to have been a piquant play within a play starring an Express executive (still there in the seventies) and the luscious female lead Janet Munro, who, after a hard day’s filming, were encountered discussing bold intros and splash heads in the lane behind the Old Bell (mem to Night Lawyer Cocklecarrot: It’s OK: they’re both dead now)
MULDOON
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We think this may be a pic of the Express subs
but could it be the Mail?
This fascinating pic of sub-editors in, at a guess, the 1950s has been taken from the website of Hugh Dawson, who was chief sub and production editor of the Daily Mail for more than 40 years. Hugh, pictured right, died aged 73 on 24 June after a long fight against motor neurone disease. He started in journalism on the sports desk of The Journal, Newcastle, in 1962 and left the Daily Mail in 2010. He also worked on the Hemel Hempstead Post and Echo.
Hugh identified the picture as of the Daily Express. That being the case, we think the man on the far right of the pic is Dan McDonald.
But Rick McNeill, who joined the DX news subs in the 1960s, thinks the picture may be of the Daily Mail newsroom. He said: "Inspecting your fascinating DX subs picture with my Sherlock Holmes © Magnifying Glass, I think the man you ID as Dan McDonald is cutting a copy of the Daily Mail. See masthead. Which leads me to suppose that (a) it is not Dan McDonald but a lookalike, and (b) this is a pic of Daily Mail subs. Did Dan ever work for the Mail?
"Also the room, windows, ceiling lights and clock on the pillar are wrong — the Black Lubyanka subs’ room I joined in the mid-1960s looked nothing like this and was unchanged since at least before the war.
"Maybe the real mystery is why Hugh Dawson mistakenly identified the picture on his website? He was after all Mail chief sub for yonks.
"I’m happy to be proved wrong, however.”
Chris Chalke, an Express news sub in the 1970s, wondered if the picture is in fact of the Daily Express in Manchester. Dan McDonald was a Scot so he could well have worked there before moving down to London.
Chris added: “The skull on the left opposite Dan McDonald reminded me of Ted Hodgson.”
Roger Watkins has his doubts too. "I don’t think that’s the Daily Express. When I moved to Fleet Street from Manchester in the seventies the back bench was parallel to Fleet Street facing north (it later turned 180 degrees when it moved to be closer to the news desk).
"In Hugh’s picture there are windows behind the back bench. For that to be the Express they would have to be on the Shoe Lane wall (where the art desk and reporters were situated when we left the Lubyanka)
"Unlikely, especially when you consider there was a huge supporting pillar (by which the Manchester Desk sat) which would have been in the middle of the subs desk.
"I don’t know much about lookalikes but I think Rick’s right about Dan.”
Last night further forensic examination of the photo throws up more doubts. Could the pic date from the 1930s?
Rick said: "Since when did subs (Mail or Express) ever look so respectfully buttoned up with suits and ties and Ernest Bevin specs? Pre-war I reckon."
What do you think?
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The amazing life of Bain, a fantastic story well told
The idea of launching a public relations company in a desert country where they’d never heard of PR, especially when you couldn’t speak the language and had no experience in that business, might seem more like insanity than entrepreneurial vision. But that’s exactly what former Express sub IAN BAIN did in the United Arab Emirates.
After an understandably shaky start, he built it into one of the biggest consultancies of its kind in the Middle East with clients that included General Motors, Airbus, Intel, Samsung, Emirates Airline and many others.
At the time, Ian was well used to risk-taking, having been a reporter, a merchant seaman, a big-time booze smuggler in India, and Buenos Aires correspondent of the Express and The Economist — all before the age of 24.
How he achieved success without the benefit of an education (he attended nine schools in 10 years and was thrown out at the age of 15 without a single exam pass) is beautifully described in his memoirs, Singing in the Lifeboat, available on Amazon.
Amid a multitude of other adventures, the book relates how Ian battled alcoholism, checking himself into a psychiatric clinic in Dubai where he was shocked to find patients handcuffed to the water pipes, and guards with batons. “It wasn’t the kind of rehab I’d had in mind,” he said.
"I'm grateful to a few of my old Express colleagues who read the manuscript and produced some lovely words for the covers," he added.
"Right now I'm trying to figure out how Amazon's sales charts work. With pre-orders alone, the book hit No 1 in UAE history and No 1 in motor rallying when these subjects are only loosely connected. Of course, that's only on one particular day but not everyone knows that.”
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DRONE PHOTONEWS
In remembrance of Bob
Bob McGowan was one of the great reporters on the Daily Express. Now, exclusively on the Drone, his widow Pauline has issued some pictures of our esteemed colleague, who died in 2011 aged just 67.
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Drone Mart
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DRONETUBE
Nick Lloyd’s tribute to Jean Rook in 1991
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DRONETUBE
Our man Ashley on ITV news
Ashley Walton out on the Fergie story, early 1990s
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Daily Star Sports Desk 1980
Former Daily Star sub Jeff Connor, pictured front right, sent this snap of the paper’s Sports Desk in Manchester circa 1980 before they moved to new offices.
Pictured, second left, is sports editor Arthur Lamb, to his left is deputy sports editor Gordon ‘Geordie’ Burnett (long departed), the secretary was named Sue. In the background between Gordon and Jeff is the backbench with deputy night editor Chris Davis, later Royston Davis, who went to The Sun, and leaning over him is copy editor Mike Hughes.
Next to Chris is night editor Andy (mine’s a Bell’s and a light ale) Carson, then Ian Pollock. On the extreme left is Jack Ronnie (probably). Also on the backbench is Robbie Addison.
To the left of Chris Davis is Ian Pollack and standing is a guy called Robbie who we think was deputy to editor Peter Grimsditch. Behind secretary Sue is the DS newsdesk. Thanks to Mike Hughes and John Edgley for help in identifications.
Read Jeff Connor’s potted history of Ancoats from 1976 to 1988. ONLY ON THE DRONE!
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One in the Eye
No 103
Volume 15: 1986
THE history of the Daily and Sunday Express as told 30 years ago through the columns of Private Eye (Lord Drone does not necessarily agree with the sentiments expressed although, from memory, they seem reasonably accurate.)
New readers: The Eye referred to the Express as the Getsworse, the Getsmuchworse, or the Getsevenworse or sometimes even worse than that.
UPDATED 27 JANUARY
25 July 1986
Street of Shame
When an Englishman was sentenced to hang in Malaysia for drug-running, the Getsmuchworse swiftly dispatched ace newshound Norman Luck to cover the pleas for clemency, death-cell agony and grisly end. Unfortunately the grisly end took rather a long time coming.
Worried about the cost of this jaunt, the Getsmuchstingier’s news desk ordered the luckless Luck to return home. While he was in midair, though, it became clear that the editor, “Nick” Lloyd — who had not been told of Luck’s imminent return — wanted him to remain in Kuala Lumpur.
In panic, the news desk decided to keep the return of the prodigal wordsmith secret. As soon as he touched down on home soil he was whisked off to a hideaway and continued filing stories as if he was still in Malaysia.
Thus it was that a series of graphic eyewitness accounts of the days leading up to the hanging which appeared in the Express under the byline “from Norman Luck in Kuala Lumpur” actually came from no further afield than Tunbridge Wells where Luck was holed up in a luxurious flat while involved in discussions of a Malaysian nature.
19 September 1986
Street of Shame
Just as United boss David Stevens removes one source of sleaziness, Roger Boyes, so another pops up. Fleet Street's most repulsive yob Ray Mills, now has a column in the Star.
Eye readers will remember Mills from issue 635, in which his habit of peeing in office wastepaper baskets, to the distress of cleaners, was disclosed. Mills’s new column is the journalistic equivalent of peeing in public.
At the Star he is known to one and all as BIFFO — Big Ignorant Fucker From Oldham.
The most recent Mills story involves his teenage son who, trying to please the elderly delinquent, baked him a birthday cake. Mills threw the cake at the lad’s head, shouting: “Are you a queer or something?”
3 October 1986
Street of Shame
When word was brought to dynamic Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie that Pat Phoenix was dead, his reaction was swift. “Get Doris Stokes [a clairvoyant] on the phone,” he screamed at a subordinate. “I want the first interview from the other side.”
A few minutes later the trembling subordinate reported back. La Stokes said that it took some time for for the spirit to move from earthly form. Even with her talents she could not yet make contact with the departed star.
“Well tell her to make it up,” shrieked MacFrenzie.
14 November 1986
“Hindley Freedom Move” screamed the Daily Getsmuchworse on Monday, labelling the story as “exclusive”. Its gullible readers were informed that Myra Hindley was to be sent to an open prison, and there were assorted quotes expressing the appropriate shock horror.
The Home Office denied the story as being untrue, for a very good reason — it was.
Step forward yet again Mr Michael Rocco Ryan who, posing as a prison nurse on escort duty, conned the gullible hacks. They can, however, almost be forgiven — for Rocky has become more sophisticated in the last twelve months. He has a fun-loving female accomplice who leads the hacks into his traps.
28 November 1986
Blood is running in the gutters at the Sunday Express, following the takeover by new Editor Robin Esser and his personally-appointed deputy Brian Hitchen.
Assistant Editor James Kinlay, once touted as the next editor, finishes at the end of the month. Photo editor John Dove has been given his cards and finishes up at the same time. Foreign editor Terry Foley returned from sick leave to be told he was no longer needed and has moved out of his office.
The latest office notice board announcement is the demotion of News Editor Michael Dove to reporter, apparently for his remark in the Poppinjay pub: “Brian Hitchen wouldn’t know a news story if it was shoved up his nose. He’s a beer-bellied idiot.”
“Inspector” Michael Watts has been axed after 27 years on the paper after telling Esser: “You can’t change the character of my column, old boy. I won’t stand for it.”
Travel editor Lewis de Fries has been chopped and now the Esser/Hitchen Punch and Judy act have turned their sights on Features Editor Max “Fuhrer” Davidson because of his continual complaining within the office: “All I get are inane features from Esser’s talentless Yuppie friends and Hitchen’s old drunken American-based cohorts.”
Assistant editor Ted Dickinson has been told to leave because when Esser tried to get back on the Daily Express after the closure of the Evening News he wrote a memo, still on file, reading: “On no account should Esser be given a job. He’s a total incompetent.”
Assistant editor Henry Macrory has been demoted to News Editor and one of his deputies, Ted Gartell, leaves at the end of November after being axed. Political editor Keith Renshaw has volunteered for early retirement at Christmas.
So of all departmental heads, that leaves just Diary Editor Lady Olga Maitland. The terrible duo backed off at the last minute when she befriended and started lunching with Lady Stevens, wife of Express supremo Sir David Stevens. Now she’s organising a counter-plot, jabbing her poison pen into the backs of her would-be executioners.
But that has not stopped Punch and Judy from targeting their next victim: the great Sir John Junor himself, who keeps bad-mouthing Esser and Hitchen to his spies still on the Sunday Express.
*****
The Daily Express, it seems, is still under the impression that its rightful owners are the Beaverbrooks. Lady Beaver has recently taken to ringing the paper’s executives to complain of items she finds “offensive” or “anti-Tory”, to wit one poor hack’s reference to “booze and fags”.
The hack was summoned to Deputy Editor Leith McGrumble’s office and told to empty his desk and collect his cards. As stunned as were his building society and family, the minion duly complied, but first informed the Father of the Chapel. A ruckus ensued between various heads of department and, 24 hours later, the hack was reinstated. Later he was told that he had also been guilty of anti-Tory sentiments and had better keep his nose clean (ie brown) in the future.
Lady Beaverbrook is 94.
Christmas issue
Letters to the Editor
Bloodless…
Sir,
Less blood has flowed on the Sunday Express than you claim. Only one member of the News Desk is leaving the paper, entirely of his own volition. The only change in my own position is that my duties have been expanded.
Yours unanaemically,
HENRY MACRORY
Assistant Editor,
Sunday Express
121 Fleet Street, London
Coo
Sir,
Your piece about me (Eye 651) is wrong in every detail.
I was not demoted from News Editor. I came off the desk in order to write for the new lively Sunday Express. It was entirely my idea and the move was approved by the editor.
Neither have I ever criticised Brian Hitchen in the Poppinjay or anywhere else. The remarks you attributed to me are a complete fabrication.
Your article was untrue and highly defamatory. I thought you had learned your lesson about checking facts after your recent High Court experience.
Kindly publish this letter. I know better than to expect an apology from you.
MICHAEL DOVE
Senior Reporter
Sunday Express
121 Fleet Street, London
THAT’S IT FOR 1986
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Who put the lights out?
NOTHING stopped the Daily Express in 1972, not even the miners’ strike. It was the year of constant power cuts instigated by Prime Minister Edward Heath to cope with the lack of coal to fuel the power stations. And as the clock hit 4.14 on a winter's afternoon the Express news sub-editors slaved away by gaslight. Lord Drone recalls that the gas lamps on the ceiling were still there when the Fleet Street office was vacated in 1989.
Who’s in the picture? We put a few names to faces HERE
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DroneTube
Farewell to Fleet Street
Fleet Street was full of journalists for the first time in many years when the London Press Club held a long lunch to mark the departure of the last newspaper from the Street of Broken Dreams. Watch the YouTube video of the event above and read the Guardian report
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DroneTube Exclusive
Life After The Front Page
This rare and previously largely unseen film, unearthed in the annals of Lord Drone, recalls the grand old days of Fleet Street. It includes interviews with Ann Buchanan, of The Sun and Daily Mirror; Clem Jones, from the Wolverhampton Express; Eric Todd of the Manchester Evening Chronicle and The Guardian; and George Bell and Ted Townshend of the Daily Telegraph.
The film, which was made by students of Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 1999, also includes someone called Alastair McIntyre (who he – Ed?) who addresses the public from the Daily Express offices in Blackfriars.
Runtime is 16 minutes.
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DroneTube Exclusive
The Crusader Years 1900-1990
Only in the Drone: This video was supplied to Express staff in 1990 and is now published on the web for the first time.
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