In 1970 I drove from London to Dartmoor to join the Tavistock Times as an indentured junior reporter. In this talk I explain what the job entailed, and relate some of my stranger stories - such as the churchwardens who were accused of sheep rustling and the sub-postmaster who couldn't tell me if he liked his job. I also lament the passing of a time when small communities had local papers, and when reporters on local newspapers were accountable for what they wrote.
Views: 840 | Enquiries: 4I am an experienced writer and public speaker and currently offer three talks. The first tells of my adventures on two Greyhound Bus road trips around America half a century apart - and of how I coped with the changes in the country, bus travel and myself. The second describes my experiences as a junior reporter in Devon in the 1970s, and laments the demise of local newspapers. The third is a personal look back at the second half of the 20th century, and argues that we baby boomers have been a lucky generation.
I spent two decades working as a journalist for local, national and medical publications, and two decades running courses on writing and editing skills for health professionals. I have also published four books on medical writing, including Winning the Publications Game, now in its fourth edition. I am a former president of the Mole Valley Speakers Club and former president d’honneur of the Wimereux Cricket Club in France. I live in Surrey with a saintly American wife and a needy garden. I am willing to Zoom anywhere, but I would expect most of my live talks to be in the south-east.
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