Author Description

The eclectic life and crimes of a British journalist with more than 30 years' experience in Fleet Street and who has seen a revolution, from hot metal to digital. Paul was adopted from birth, given up by an Irish woman - a domestic who lived n central London, who already had two children - and describes his efforts to track her down, and his struggles to come to trems with being different. His journey takes in growing up in the country's first New Town, built after many were bombed out of London in WWII. He works hard to get to grammar school, but then fails his O-levels and is given a second chance that he grabs in both hands. His career in newspapers begins with his local paper, and takes in times as a freelance, including working on the first editions of the new Mail on Sunday, and then a staffer on The Sporting Life. He worked on the technical side, on equipment that empowered journalists after the stranglehold of the print unions in Fleet Street was broken. Paul also had five years living and worling in New Zealand, offering a different perspective on life, before returning to work in provincial newspapers. Along the way he worked with so many colourful characters - as well as for the disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell. It is a remarkable journey in a fast-changing world. And the tale ends with the devastating efects of the coronavirus pandemic on Britain's newspaper industry.