Jim Forrester
'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
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Roger Crabb
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Tom Glocer
Wednesday 07 December 2011
I share Jim Forrester’s sentiments. If you hire a biscuit manufacturer, what do you get? Biscuits. Tom Glocer was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer; he did an M&A deal and sold the brand. He has most probably enriched himself more than any other head of Reuters, and he can now laugh all the way to the bank.
Brian Mooney
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Brian Mooney
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Tom Glocer
Monday 05 December 2011
Journalists with first-hand experience of the Thomson organisation will not be surprised by the abrupt departure of the man who toppled Reuters from its world-leading position as a news provider and tarnished its long-standing reputation as a considerate employer. Surprise does come in reports of the massive money Tom Glocer will receive – and the fact that he didn’t receive the short-shrift he meted out to others.
Jim Forrester (who joined Reuters to escape Thomson)
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Jim Forrester (who joined Reuters to escape Thomson)
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Murray Sayle, hero of his own story
Thursday 07 October 2010
Ian MacKenzie’s recollection of Murray Sayle is revealing and interesting but, according to my memory, in error on one point. Murray Sayle did work for Reuters. Briefly.
My memory, confirmed by other old-timers, is of a holiday relief sub on the old Central Desk in the early 60s.
Sayle was one of several itinerant Australians hired in those days. He was a good journalist but a disaster as a desker. Time-keeping was never part of his nature. Scheduled as the 7 am sub, it was a good day when he arrived by nine. On some days he just didn't turn up. Then he disappeared completely. On the desk we never knew whether he had been told to depart or had just decided to move on.
Jim Forrester
My memory, confirmed by other old-timers, is of a holiday relief sub on the old Central Desk in the early 60s.
Sayle was one of several itinerant Australians hired in those days. He was a good journalist but a disaster as a desker. Time-keeping was never part of his nature. Scheduled as the 7 am sub, it was a good day when he arrived by nine. On some days he just didn't turn up. Then he disappeared completely. On the desk we never knew whether he had been told to depart or had just decided to move on.
Jim Forrester
Patrick Massey
Thursday 19 March 2009
Many of Pat's reports stick in my memory but the most vivid came during the Six-Day War. Quoting from my recollection, his unforgettable eyewitnesser began: Boots, boots, boots. Boots littering the desert sand, discarded by soldiers to speed their flight from advancing Israelis, were the only sign of the Egyptian Army in Sinai...
Many of Pat's stories made me mutter "I would like to have written that" but it is only "boots" that pop up regularly.
Jim Forrester
Many of Pat's stories made me mutter "I would like to have written that" but it is only "boots" that pop up regularly.
Jim Forrester
