PeterMay

By PeterMay

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Nearly 50 years ago the Fraser Award conferred upon me the title of Scotland’s Most Promising Young Journalist of the Year. The prize included a visit to Fleet Street, which was then still the beating heart of the British newspaper industry. I was taken to the offices of The Times and introduced to the editor, William Rees Mogg, father of the reprehensible Jacob. He allowed me to sit in on the morning editorial conference. I also visited the offices of Punch Magazine (sadly now defunct), and sat at the famous Punch table, around which editorial conferences were held, and which was scarred by the initials and names of famous contributors going back well over a hundred years and including such luminaries as James Thurber and Mark Twain. Walking past the former offices this morning, I captured this iconic reminder of its glorious satirical past hanging above the Punch Tavern. The office windows above the pub remain dark, dusty and empty.

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