Roger Crabb
'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
Gilbert Sedbon
Monday 27 June 2011
“What a reporter. What a man. So glad I knew him.”
I echo Tony Winning's appraisal of the great Gilbert Sedbon. I first met him as he was about to pass 60, but you’d never have known his age from the energy and the enthusiasm he showed every day in the bureau. His kindness and encouragement for callow junior reporters was also legendary. I quickly learned how to avoid the volcanic eruptions to which Gilbert occasionally succumbed when some smartarse was subbing his copy. It was simple – no matter how much you changed the copy, you effaced yourself and signed off every story REUTER SED.
Roger Crabb
vbnbnbn
I echo Tony Winning's appraisal of the great Gilbert Sedbon. I first met him as he was about to pass 60, but you’d never have known his age from the energy and the enthusiasm he showed every day in the bureau. His kindness and encouragement for callow junior reporters was also legendary. I quickly learned how to avoid the volcanic eruptions to which Gilbert occasionally succumbed when some smartarse was subbing his copy. It was simple – no matter how much you changed the copy, you effaced yourself and signed off every story REUTER SED.
Roger Crabb
vbnbnbn
Pensioners' lunch
Friday 14 May 2010
"We are undiminished. This decision is tawdry, little and mean spirited in the extreme." [● No more pensioners’ lunches - Tom Glocer].
Good on ya, Digger, and Michael and Howard too. The recent displays of top-level contempt for Reuters traditional values were appalling, if not completely unexpected. The family news agency may have had its failings, but we were all hugely proud to belong.
Long may the Short Lunch Club and the Paris Dinosaurs thrive. They defend the values that matter.
Roger Crabb
Good on ya, Digger, and Michael and Howard too. The recent displays of top-level contempt for Reuters traditional values were appalling, if not completely unexpected. The family news agency may have had its failings, but we were all hugely proud to belong.
Long may the Short Lunch Club and the Paris Dinosaurs thrive. They defend the values that matter.
Roger Crabb
