Jim Flannery
'Nasty nocturnal shifts'
Sunday 01 April 2012
I had two years of Fleet Street nights in the 1970s and wouldn’t have missed a single shift [● ‘Nasty nocturnal shifts’ go as Reuters merges regional desks]. Great days under the two Jims [Forrester and Flannery]. Great stories (out of thousands of highlights, the fall of Saigon live on the phone, e.g., and, memorably, the sacking of Whitlam written off raw AAP as our corro was off feature-writing in the Pacific). Wonderful friendships, wonderful gastronomic nights (haggis, tatties and neeps or French tripes cooked on a camping gaz stove on the horsemen’s desk). Fortifying pints in the early hours at the Newspaper Workers’ Club, where Telegraph typesetters were hitting the industrial-strength lager with triple Pernod chasers. Speaking to colleagues live on the other side of the world as history was made. Playing chess and bridge in the quiet periods. Time to reflect and de-stress. The quiet relief as the sun rose over St Bride’s. I agree with Mike Rhea, no hemisphere should be left unprotected.
Roger Crabb
nbnbn
Roger Crabb
nbnbn
David Mathew
Sunday 21 September 2008
Very sorry to hear about Dave, who seemed indestructible. I’m sure anyone else of our vintage would regard Dave as the ultimate filing editor, the keeper of the scrolls, who continued to have the highest standards on copy editing in the face of pressure to loosen up in the interests of economy, i.e. profit. It sometimes took time to get a story through Dave – but you knew it would be totally error-free by the time it hit the wires. In the end the company decided that some accuracy could suffer in the interests of speed. I can’t recall whether Dave was around to witness the introduction of “Karaoke Filing”, as described by Jim Flannery, when filing editors were banished, but he would have hated it.
He was a stalwart of the Reuters Golf Society, at his prime a prodigious hitter of the ball until age and ailments cramped his length.
As an Aussie, I will miss his no-nonsense Aussie approach to life.
Colin McIntyre
He was a stalwart of the Reuters Golf Society, at his prime a prodigious hitter of the ball until age and ailments cramped his length.
As an Aussie, I will miss his no-nonsense Aussie approach to life.
Colin McIntyre
