Colin Mooney
Frank Fitter and Dennis Savage
Wednesday 05 October 2011
So the curtain has finally come down on the “Twilight Twits” – 85 Fleet Street’s evening economic news editing desk. Under the command of Frank Fitter, Dennis Savage, Frank Nunnay-Elam and Peter Perllman ran one of the most laid back professional news operations I have ever worked for. I cannot believe they are all gone: they were all at my wedding. I guess I spent a third of my time on the evening shift. The sub who drew the short straw had to write the “market trends” report for the late news on Radio 4, filling in the blanks at the last minute as Wall Street closed, so the BBC messenger could collect it from Frank. We used to try and slip in some difficult phrasing to try and trip up the reader!
Confirming Colin Mooney’s comments, they were hands-on journalists of the old school: the knowledge and technique they passed on to downtable subs was immeasurable.
Dennis was always going on about Madam Binh’s (the Soup Kitchen down the side of the Express in Shoe Lane), supposedly frequented by the team but I never saw anyone I recognised in there. One side of Dennis not generally known was he was quite an expert on antique and vintage playing cards.
Frank was an avid Spurs fan. He even organised a Reuters cricket team that played a couple of matches against sides like the Fuller’s Brewery (they must have been on a liquid lunch as that game was over almost as soon as it started!).
It has been an honour and a privilege to know and work with these wonderful guys. Loads of laughs and happy memories.
Gerry Corran
nbnbn
Confirming Colin Mooney’s comments, they were hands-on journalists of the old school: the knowledge and technique they passed on to downtable subs was immeasurable.
Dennis was always going on about Madam Binh’s (the Soup Kitchen down the side of the Express in Shoe Lane), supposedly frequented by the team but I never saw anyone I recognised in there. One side of Dennis not generally known was he was quite an expert on antique and vintage playing cards.
Frank was an avid Spurs fan. He even organised a Reuters cricket team that played a couple of matches against sides like the Fuller’s Brewery (they must have been on a liquid lunch as that game was over almost as soon as it started!).
It has been an honour and a privilege to know and work with these wonderful guys. Loads of laughs and happy memories.
Gerry Corran
nbnbn
Double blow
Sunday 02 October 2011
The sad passing last month of both Frank Fitter and Dennis Savage must herald the end of an era for a score or so UK provincial hacks (like myself) who were recruited in the 1970s when Reuters was expanding its specialist economic news services.
For most of us Frank and Dennis were the leading seniors on the evening shift for the London production desks on Fleet Street’s second floor. With their deaths their Reuters generation is virtually extinct along with other newsroom accessories such as typewriters, pencil-subbing, telegraphists, copy belts and copytakers. They will be warmly remembered for:
● passing on their considerable market expertise and experience to newcomers
● maintaining a healthily sceptical stance to all in editorial authority. But, to be fair, it wasn’t just the bosses who were ribbed – fun was poked at themselves and anyone else in the newsroom when a suitable occasion arose. Contemporaries will recall hilarious discussions on prospects for the Kansas City manure futures market
● employing a pleasingly non-judgemental attitude towards staffers who had overstayed their welcome at nearby hostelries such as The Cogers, The Bell and Mrs Moon’s.
Most recruits like me found a week of evening shifts hard going. The only thing worse was the overnight shift. But stalwarts such as Frank and Dennis enjoyed their evenings and upheld the quality of output without sacrificing any of their above principles.
Colin Mooney
nbnbn
For most of us Frank and Dennis were the leading seniors on the evening shift for the London production desks on Fleet Street’s second floor. With their deaths their Reuters generation is virtually extinct along with other newsroom accessories such as typewriters, pencil-subbing, telegraphists, copy belts and copytakers. They will be warmly remembered for:
● passing on their considerable market expertise and experience to newcomers
● maintaining a healthily sceptical stance to all in editorial authority. But, to be fair, it wasn’t just the bosses who were ribbed – fun was poked at themselves and anyone else in the newsroom when a suitable occasion arose. Contemporaries will recall hilarious discussions on prospects for the Kansas City manure futures market
● employing a pleasingly non-judgemental attitude towards staffers who had overstayed their welcome at nearby hostelries such as The Cogers, The Bell and Mrs Moon’s.
Most recruits like me found a week of evening shifts hard going. The only thing worse was the overnight shift. But stalwarts such as Frank and Dennis enjoyed their evenings and upheld the quality of output without sacrificing any of their above principles.
Colin Mooney
nbnbn
