Peter Jackson - former City writer at the Echo.

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

Was anyone sober ?

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I was pretty pissed when the Belgian gendarmerie decided to detain me in some compound for a lengthy time with a load of others:biggrin:

Missed the game.

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

I was pretty pissed when the Belgian gendarmerie decided to detain me in some compound for a lengthy time with a load of others:biggrin:

Missed the game.

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stitch up

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Originally Posted by Bluebird23

Next time you see him, tell him....

A - It might be an idea to take out a restraining order against an odd bod, on a Cardiff City forum.

B - That he and his daughter had a narrow escape, from having a trout fishing misogynist, as ‘family.’

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TLG has lots of interests but he's never been into trout fishing as far as I know

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

I was pretty pissed when the Belgian gendarmerie decided to detain me in some compound for a lengthy time with a load of others:biggrin:

Missed the game.

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Everyone was pretty pissed or on something else that evening

Jailbirds ! Jailbirds !

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

stitch up

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I can’t really remember what happened, in my head there was bits and pieces going on but nothing too daft and some of the Liege locals were playing their part.

Rounded up and dumped in a warehouse.

Not fussed on the Belgian gendarmerie, they’ve always been heavy handed in my experience, one particular knobhead once threw me out of a Wales game for walking into him at half time. He was less than happy seeing me back in the ground with the pre match brass band during the second half. At the end of the game, I rather stupidly scaled the fence to go back into the Welsh enclosure. He made the effort to come and give me a whack across the arse with his truncheon (there’s no euphemisms here so don’t get excited).

What a miserable fuucker.

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

Everyone was pretty pissed or on something else that evening

Jailbirds ! Jailbirds !

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LSD and Blanche beer is a heady mix:biggrin:

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Originally Posted by Pengs

I worked in the Library at The western Mail and Echo between 1971-75. The library provided support to both the editorial and sports departments. My Department was situated next door to sports which was then occupied by Peter Jackson, Karl Woodward and JBG Thomas. JBG was the rugby writer and Woodward and Jackson used to cover mainly the footy for CCFC and Cwnty.
Peter with a few of the journalists played Sunday League Football at Pontcanna for a team combo with the BBC, under BBC flag. I had a few games on the wing.
He was a very good keeper in an average side.
This was a few years before he left for the Mail. He was a City man through and through then and I have no reason from our several chats that he would ever be anything else.
Karl Woodward also spoke well of city but did not play himself. Karl also covered the boxing and one or two other sports. Both divided their time writing for the popular pink sports paper and covered all the local league stuff.
Chris Stuart joined the Western Mail as a young Journo and later became Peter’s replacement and Chris went onto presenting for BBC and BBC Sports radio commentary with shared duties with fellow Western Mail Journo Grahame Lloyd. Grahame hailed from Lincoln but became a firm City fan and I believe is published. He now works in England somewhere but also used to provide radio commentary for City and Wales games.
I last talked to Grahame after I left the WM and E on the Canton stand at Ninian Park post 1975.
All good people.
JBG Thomas did not want to talk about anything else but egg.

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Thanks for this. It is a really interesting post (my Dad was Circulation Manager at The Echo at around the same time).

I vaguely remember Jackson and Woodward being football men and covering City with some enthusiasm along with Joe Lovejoy but he might have been much later.

My Dad had ZERO time for egg-only journos nor the embarrassing bias that a lot of the local press showed towards eggby.

Thanks again

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

Thanks for this. It is a really interesting post (my Dad was Circulation Manager at The Echo at around the same time).

I vaguely remember Jackson and Woodward being football men and covering City with some enthusiasm along with Joe Lovejoy but he might have been much later.

My Dad had ZERO time for egg-only journos nor the embarrassing bias that a lot of the local press showed towards eggby.

Thanks again

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We can agree on that

JBJ was shocking

The Welsh press is still the same

Family has always taken the Western Mail

Every Saturday there is a supplement

Two full pages by the rugby ref nigel owens who now equates his farm work to being an international referee

And Simon Thomas , chief rugby writer for the Western Mail who also has a full page later in the paper every Saturday where he talks exclusively about rugby , nothing else

No other sports pages at all in the Saturday supplement

Just rugby , every week

And I enjoy watching rugby alongside ccfc

Its no surprise some people really can't stand the game

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

I can’t really remember what happened, in my head there was bits and pieces going on but nothing too daft and some of the Liege locals were playing their part.

Rounded up and dumped in a warehouse.

Not fussed on the Belgian gendarmerie, they’ve always been heavy handed in my experience, one particular knobhead once threw me out of a Wales game for walking into him at half time. He was less than happy seeing me back in the ground with the pre match brass band during the second half. At the end of the game, I rather stupidly scaled the fence to go back into the Welsh enclosure. He made the effort to come and give me a whack across the arse with his truncheon (there’s no euphemisms here so don’t get excited).

What a miserable fuucker.

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with those plastic cuffs

Or is that the nightclub I used to go to ?

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

with those plastic cuffs

Or is that the nightclub I used to go to ?

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They’ve got a penchant for the cable ties:biggrin: Kinky.

What date was the last ‘pink’ football echo in South Wales?

Does anyone know? In my head it’s the mid 90s.

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

They’ve got a penchant for the cable ties:biggrin: Kinky.

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it takes all sorts

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

Thanks for this. It is a really interesting post (my Dad was Circulation Manager at The Echo at around the same time).

I vaguely remember Jackson and Woodward being football men and covering City with some enthusiasm along with Joe Lovejoy but he might have been much later.

My Dad had ZERO time for egg-only journos nor the embarrassing bias that a lot of the local press showed towards eggby.

Thanks again

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I agree it was an interesting post and the bit about JBG Thomas especially so because of the fact that he was the reporter for the City’s Cup Winners Cup game in Larnaca in late September 1970 - Peter Jackson clearly didn’t go to the match, neither did the Western Mail’s City reporter, Clive Phillips, yet that paper saw fit to send the “doyen” of rugby reporters to Cyprus for a game in early autumn! Maybe I’m adding two and two and making five, but JBG’s report did refer to 80 degree temperatures!

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I agree it was an interesting post and the bit about JBG Thomas especially so because of the fact that he was the reporter for the City’s Cup Winners Cup game in Larnaca in late September 1970 - Peter Jackson clearly didn’t go to the match, neither did the Western Mail’s City reporter, Clive Phillips, yet that paper saw fit to send the “doyen” of rugby reporters to Cyprus for a game in early autumn! Maybe I’m adding two and two and making five, but JBG’s report did refer to 80 degree temperatures!

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Mario Basini was another of the rugby mafia if I remember

John Billott ?

Or was he English based ?

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

We can agree on that

JBJ was shocking

The Welsh press is still the same

Family has always taken the Western Mail

Every Saturday there is a supplement

Two full pages by the rugby ref nigel owens who now equates his farm work to being an international referee

And Simon Thomas , chief rugby writer for the Western Mail who also has a full page later in the paper every Saturday where he talks exclusively about rugby , nothing else

No other sports pages at all in the Saturday supplement

Just rugby , every week

And I enjoy watching rugby alongside ccfc

Its no surprise some people really can't stand the game

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Western Mail's circulation is now barely 10k. A quarter of the Dail Mail, Sun in Wales.
It's not worth mentioning anymore more as an influential Welsh paper.

I hate to say this but the swansea based south wales evening post was always better than the echo or western mail

These days both cardiff publications are as thin as tissue paper

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I agree it was an interesting post and the bit about JBG Thomas especially so because of the fact that he was the reporter for the City’s Cup Winners Cup game in Larnaca in late September 1970 - Peter Jackson clearly didn’t go to the match, neither did the Western Mail’s City reporter, Clive Phillips, yet that paper saw fit to send the “doyen” of rugby reporters to Cyprus for a game in early autumn! Maybe I’m adding two and two and making five, but JBG’s report did refer to 80 degree temperatures!

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We all know what you are saying........ :thumbup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

We can agree on that

JBJ was shocking

The Welsh press is still the same

Family has always taken the Western Mail

Every Saturday there is a supplement

Two full pages by the rugby ref nigel owens who now equates his farm work to being an international referee

And Simon Thomas , chief rugby writer for the Western Mail who also has a full page later in the paper every Saturday where he talks exclusively about rugby , nothing else

No other sports pages at all in the Saturday supplement

Just rugby , every week

And I enjoy watching rugby alongside ccfc

Its no surprise some people really can't stand the game

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When my Dad was at The Echo, he used to take me into the players lounge after the match - I'd have a Coke and sit and watch the football results on Grandstand, on a TV on top of a tall wooden stand in the corner, as the cars filed out of the car park opposite NP.

It used to amaze me then, and still does, that on the way home he'd drive past Thomson House in town, and get a copy of the Football Echo straight off the presses - the paper was always warm, and the ink never quite dry, but that is quite an achievement, especially in those days, to get a paper out with all of the match details in it, so soon after the final whistle. :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

When my Dad was at The Echo, he used to take me into the players lounge after the match - I'd have a Coke and sit and watch the football results on Grandstand, on a TV on top of a tall wooden stand in the corner, as the cars filed out of the car park opposite NP.

It used to amaze me then, and still does, that on the way home he'd drive past Thomson House in town, and get a copy of the Football Echo straight off the presses - the paper was always warm, and the ink never quite dry, but that is quite an achievement, especially in those days, to get a paper out with all of the match details in it, so soon after the final whistle. :thumbup:

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I can remember that, at my insistence, my Dad had to drive the mile or so to the nearest newsagent that was open on a Saturday night to get my copy of the Football Echo - sometimes he'd have to wait a while because it was late in arriving, but my recollection, which may be incorrect given the passing of time, is that I was able to be reading about that day's game at around 6.15, about an hour and a half after it finished.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I can remember that, at my insistence, my Dad had to drive the mile or so to the nearest newsagent that was open on a Saturday night to get my copy of the Football Echo - sometimes he'd have to wait a while because it was late in arriving, but my recollection, which may be incorrect given the passing of time, is that I was able to be reading about that day's game at around 6.15, about an hour and a half after it finished.

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It seemed like about 15 minutes after the final whistle, but it obviously wasn't!

If my Dad picked one up off the presses from Thomson House, then it could have been ready by 5:30/5:45 or so. Impressive if you consider that the reports would have been dictated over the phone and more than that, manually type set and laid out using hot metal :yikes:

(I can also remember - and this isn't Football Echo related in anyway! - the club's catering ladies laying out loads of pyrex cups and saucers on top of each other, on a big table in the players lounge, under the Grandstand. Like it was yesterday.)

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

It seemed like about 15 minutes after the final whistle, but it obviously wasn't!

If my Dad picked one up off the presses from Thomson House, then it could have been ready by 5:30/5:45 or so. Impressive if you consider that the reports would have been dictated over the phone and more than that, manually type set and laid out using hot metal :yikes:

(I can also remember - and this isn't Football Echo related in anyway! - the club's catering ladies laying out loads of pyrex cups and saucers on top of each other, on a big table in the players lounge, under the Grandstand. Like it was yesterday.)

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Yes, that's why I said I wasn't quite sure that 6.15 was right - I did have a feeling that it might have been a bit early than that, but decided it was impractical given all that was involved, but maybe they were able to do it quicker.

Although I can't ever remember staying in Ninian Park long after the game finished, I can certainly remember those pyrex cups and saucers - we had some at home, very trendy they were for about three months :hehe:

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Yes, that's why I said I wasn't quite sure that 6.15 was right - I did have a feeling that it might have been a bit early than that, but decided it was impractical given all that was involved, but maybe they were able to do it quicker.

Although I can't ever remember staying in Ninian Park long after the game finished, I can certainly remember those pyrex cups and saucers - we had some at home, very trendy they were for about three months :hehe:

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:thumbup:

Thanks BD and TOBW.
I had two mates who worked in Circulation at the time at the Echo. They were very busy although no complaints as tight targets attracted better pay rates. Both have since passed on...Flu and C19. Both rated Circulation as a happy ship. Your Dad must have been a top man as both of my mates were tidy whingers.

SF... John Billot was a very tidy chap and as Mario Bassini...both were feature writers and I cannot recall them being involved with sports.

The papers Cartoonist Gren....now sadly RIP was a huge City fan.

The comments about the ink on the Pink brings a wry smile...hot off the press and a huge circulation. Must read for City fans at the time under Jimmy Scoular and beyond.

I liked working at Thomson House. All the Sports Journo’s would engage in chat about the City except JBG and his trip,to Cyprus was probably down to nepotism. Lol.

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Originally Posted by Pengs

Thanks BD and TOBW.
I had two mates who worked in Circulation at the time at the Echo. They were very busy although no complaints as tight targets attracted better pay rates. Both have since passed on...Flu and C19. Both rated Circulation as a happy ship. Your Dad must have been a top man as both of my mates were tidy whingers.

SF... John Billot was a very tidy chap and as Mario Bassini...both were feature writers and I cannot recall them being involved with sports.

The papers Cartoonist Gren....now sadly RIP was a huge City fan.

The comments about the ink on the Pink brings a wry smile...hot off the press and a huge circulation. Must read for City fans at the time under Jimmy Scoular and beyond.

I liked working at Thomson House. All the Sports Journo’s would engage in chat about the City except JBG and his trip,to Cyprus was probably down to nepotism. Lol.

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Well there you go, I used to deliver papers to Gren when I took a years unpaid leave in 94/95 to write a book (it never got published!) and spoke to him once or twice, but was a bit sniffy with him because I thought of him as someone who had no interest in football!

Did you know Clive Phillips who wrote on City for the Western Mail? He was the other journalist whose work I used extensively in the book and there was someone else called Rex Reynolds who filled in when he was ill - I would like to send him a book as well if I could, but he had been replaced by Karl Woodward by the mid seventies so I assumed he’s no longer with us.

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Originally Posted by Pengs

Thanks BD and TOBW.
I had two mates who worked in Circulation at the time at the Echo. They were very busy although no complaints as tight targets attracted better pay rates. Both have since passed on...Flu and C19. Both rated Circulation as a happy ship. Your Dad must have been a top man as both of my mates were tidy whingers.

SF... John Billot was a very tidy chap and as Mario Bassini...both were feature writers and I cannot recall them being involved with sports.

The papers Cartoonist Gren....now sadly RIP was a huge City fan.

The comments about the ink on the Pink brings a wry smile...hot off the press and a huge circulation. Must read for City fans at the time under Jimmy Scoular and beyond.

I liked working at Thomson House. All the Sports Journo’s would engage in chat about the City except JBG and his trip,to Cyprus was probably down to nepotism. Lol.

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Fascinating stuff Pengs!

When my Dad left the Echo, Gren drew a big cartoon of him sitting behind a desk, (complete with massive flares and huge moustache) and got all his colleagues to sign it. It is framed and has hung on the kitchen wall of my parents house for years now (it is all faded now though :-( ). I'm sure that some of the employees mentioned in this thread are on there - I'll look if I'm ever allowed to go and see my Mum again!

I also remember my Dad taking me onto the floor of the print room at Thomson House and one of the chaps doing the hot metal page layout gave me a little metal print block with my name on it. I was so thrilled (except they spelled my name wrong...)

PS And the last point on this, which you might be able to help with - on the Gren cartoon mentioned above, Gren wrote 'Gone To Grimmers', on the sole of one of the shoes on my Dad's caricature. My Mum seems to think that this was a local watering hole for people who worked at The Western Mail and Echo. Any ideas?

I wasn’t about re Clive P or Rex R.
Gren was notoriously sniffy with a lot of people. He was ok with me for whatever reason. His office was 30 or so paces away from the library and he always worked with his door open.
We sometimes were able to let him have file pics of whatever subject matter he was drawing. He loved the valleys and if I recall a lot of his characters had a city scarf on (although published in black and white....I saw the colour version lol)
Karl W and Peter J were like chalk and cheese with Peter talking more about the footy. Karl liked his boxing above all.
I was 16 when I started there and my claim to fame was having my pic with three other fans on the back page of the Echo catching a train to Leeds for the 4-1 FA cup defeat (Derek Showers for us)!
Long time ago now. Halcien days!

Not sure where Grimmers was. We did have a journo Darts team that played weekly in the pub St Mary’s Street side ...corner of Caroline Street. Forget the name.....getting old now lol.

Perhaps being so young at the time ...I never got into the drinking circle! Played darts though for them and table tennis!

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

Fascinating stuff Pengs!

When my Dad left the Echo, Gren drew a big cartoon of him sitting behind a desk, (complete with massive flares and huge moustache) and got all his colleagues to sign it. It is framed and has hung on the kitchen wall of my parents house for years now (it is all faded now though :-( ). I'm sure that some of the employees mentioned in this thread are on there - I'll look if I'm ever allowed to go and see my Mum again!

I also remember my Dad taking me onto the floor of the print room at Thomson House and one of the chaps doing the hot metal page layout gave me a little metal print block with my name on it. I was so thrilled (except they spelled my name wrong...)

PS And the last point on this, which you might be able to help with - on the Gren cartoon mentioned above, Gren wrote 'Gone To Grimmers', on the sole of one of the shoes on my Dad's caricature. My Mum seems to think that this was a local watering hole for people who worked at The Western Mail and Echo. Any ideas?

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Grimwades?

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Originally Posted by Pengs

I wasn’t about re Clive P or Rex R.
Gren was notoriously sniffy with a lot of people. He was ok with me for whatever reason. His office was 30 or so paces away from the library and he always worked with his door open.
We sometimes were able to let him have file pics of whatever subject matter he was drawing. He loved the valleys and if I recall a lot of his characters had a city scarf on (although published in black and white....I saw the colour version lol)
Karl W and Peter J were like chalk and cheese with Peter talking more about the footy. Karl liked his boxing above all.
I was 16 when I started there and my claim to fame was having my pic with three other fans on the back page of the Echo catching a train to Leeds for the 4-1 FA cup defeat (Derek Showers for us)!
Long time ago now. Halcien days!

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Now I live in Tynewydd, which is just north of Treorchy, I can appreciate those old Gren cartoons so much more because he had the valleys down to a tee. I’d forgotten about Karl Woodward and his love of boxing, but you’re right - I seem to remember him being interviewed on the telly about Welsh boxing back in the seventies and eighties.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Grimwades?

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Maybe....let me look, and then I'll ask my Mum.

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

Maybe....let me look, and then I'll ask my Mum.

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Apparently it was.....

Grimwades was my father's account and he regularly used 'Gone to Grimmers' as his well worn excuse when he wanted to disappear. Seems like a rubbish excuse if even Gren knew about it for the cartoon! :facepalm::biggrin:

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Originally Posted by Bobby Dandruff

We all know what you are saying........ :thumbup:

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In the 70's we used to call into a club in Crwys Rd - The 21 Club I think - for some afternoon drinking etc., when the licensing laws were still post WW1 ! There was a miserable old bastard sat at the bar every time I went and I think it was JBG.

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

In the 70's we used to call into a club in Crwys Rd - The 21 Club I think - for some afternoon drinking etc., when the licensing laws were still post WW1 ! There was a miserable old bastard sat at the bar every time I went and I think it was JBG.

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I used to get in the 21 club in the early eighties when a few of us from Companies House were on a Friday piss up and had the afternoon off - I was surprised it never had more people in there. Having misjudged Gren, I’m probably wrong again, but I’d never have thought JBG was a 21 club type.

I seem to recall that there was at one time an early Football Echo, which was sold with the results incomplete. A lot bought it though not for the Football League results but for the write ups on the previous week’s local league games, so not having the final scores didn’t matter. In fact a lot of local league players were in their pubs/clubs after their afternoon fixture watching the scores come in on the teleprinter anyway so finding out if your name was in there for last week’s goal(s) was more important than East Fife 4 Forfar5.

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Originally Posted by splott parker

I seem to recall that there was at one time an early Football Echo, which was sold with the results incomplete. A lot bought it though not for the Football League results but for the write ups on the previous week’s local league games, so not having the final scores didn’t matter. In fact a lot of local league players were in their pubs/clubs after their afternoon fixture watching the scores come in on the teleprinter anyway so finding out if your name was in there for last week’s goal(s) was more important than East Fife 4 Forfar5.

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You’re right, there’d be the half times scores in the late news on the back page.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I used to get in the 21 club in the early eighties when a few of us from Companies House were on a Friday piss up and had the afternoon off - I was surprised it never had more people in there. Having misjudged Gren, I’m probably wrong again, but I’d never have thought JBG was a 21 club type.

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The other place was the pub just over Caerphilly mountain. We'd all be in a Ford Cortina or similar and as we were getting close, wind down the passenger window and ask a passing female pedestrian ".. excuse me please, can you tell me how far is The Black C*ck Inn ? Laughed our simple heads off every time !

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

The other place was the pub just over Caerphilly mountain. We'd all be in a Ford Cortina or similar and as we were getting close, wind down the passenger window and ask a passing female pedestrian ".. excuse me please, can you tell me how far is The Black C*ck Inn ? Laughed our simple heads off every time !

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:hehe:

As a kid I had a violent and deeply unpleasant father who had driven my mother out of the home - and a contact of hers subsequently got in touch with me on the quiet and at a time that I was losing interest in going down the City. For a season or two I faked going to home games on a Saturday, visited her and read the pink on the way home to get my alibi straight.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

You’re right, there’d be the half times scores in the late news on the back page.

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On the subject of timings of the Echo, The Late Extra was a rehash of yesterday’s news, The Late City reported things that had happened up to dinner time but the one I’d hang around the paper shop for in the summer was The City Final. Peter Maunder, the newsagent in Carlisle St would harangue me to take a Late City, not a bit of it, that City Final had the later cricket scores, maybe even up to tea, none of your City Final lunchtime scoreboard:hehe: The little trick that newsagents would play would to be put the Late Extras on top hoping it wasn’t noticed that the later editions were tucked underneath, bloody shysters eh:hehe:

Grimwades? ..must have heard that second hand!