We had planned to run this new picture at the time of the Queen's historic visit to Ireland, but something happened to make us change our minds ... Now we offer it as a reminder of how the Belfast Telegraph once upon a time covered a major event .... The event was the Queen's visit to Northern Ireland in 1976 and this is the Belfast Telegraph's reporting team sent to the University of Ulster at Coleraine ... The team was made up of (from left) with photographer Charles (Charlie) Cockcroft, Betty Lowry, Women's Editor, Deric Henderson, then a young reporter and now PA boss in Ireland, the late David Watson, Robin Morton and feature writer, Michael McDowell, now a resident in Washington. Times have changed ...
Not only that...but that looks suspiciously like Emil Thompson in the background. Was he still in the land of the living then?
Posted by: KB | June 26, 2011 at 04:20 PM
Funny enough, as I looked at the picture before putting it up, I thought it was Emil, too.
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 26, 2011 at 04:54 PM
Yes, I recall that visit well. As A "reward" for our work on the visit, an NIO info head, Tommy Roberts got me and Jim McDowell onto the Royal Yacht Britannia, off Portrush one evening. We were ferried not on any official launch but on a dirty fishing boat and in the line up, I was in front of Jim. Phil-the-Greek looked at me (5' 7") and Jim behind me (6' plus) and as the naval officer announced our names, the Duke quipped "Are you related?" I replied "No, sir, thank God," to which Jim assented. The Queen of course just said "And what do you do?..." One other recollection -- the gin-and-tonics on the RY were VERY weak indeed -- must have been 95 per cent tonic, no doubt in case any reptiles got out of hand....
I have kept in touch with quite a few NI reporter friends from over the years, Robin, Barry White, etc. I have been away from NI since 1978, first in Boston/Cambridge, Mass., then New York, then Toronto (7 years with Globe and Mail and then CBC), and 23 years in Washington, first with CBC (9 years), then back to a think-tank on foreign affairs and economics and now at the World Bank just eight months in a senior international education post. Not a US citizen by choice. Still UK and Canadian passports in hand. Now 59. Son Conor (16) who plans a career as a Marine Corps or Army officer after college. Conor has my beloved dad's initials "H.C." in case he needs to use a similar byline one day. Wife Susan Flanigan, lace-curtain Irish from Baltimore, Maryland nearby but who ran Castletown House outside Dublin for a while in her 20s. Keep involved in NI issues but that is fading a bit since I came up with the concept of the Independent Monitoring Commission which did its bit in helping us get to yes. I do wish the joined-up government at Stormont really lived up to that billing, as opposed to a political carve up by SF and DUP. Me? I am still an old NILP man at heart and would vote Alliance mostly. I do help out here with the integrated schooling movement through May Blood et al. Now THAT would be the real way to change our Prod and RC separations. But will anyone really tackle it?
Don't want to sound too gloomy either. My son and I worked for Obama during the campaign and while he's not perfect either, his election brought about a real sea-change politically/socially. I think he will win reelection and then I hope he will actually push for some real and better change in this pretty conservative country. We shall see.
If anyone wants to get in touch, I can be reached at MHCMcDowell@aol.com
Thanks Graham McK for getting in touch about the photo.
Posted by: Michael McDOWELL | June 26, 2011 at 05:15 PM
At the end of the tightly secured garden party at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, after most of the people departed, there was a flurry of excitement when a convoy of ambulances arrived with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. We did a u-turn on the exit road expecting to find there had been an atrocity of some sort after all. However, having hung around for a while, we were told by a relieved police Press officer that there had been an outbreak of food poisoning among some of the kids involved in the display for the Queen. 'The caterers caused more casualties than the Provos,' he said.
Early the previous day, I was among the Press party taken down Belfast Lough on a naval vessel to see the RY Britannia and her escort HMS Fife arrive out of the dawn mist.
Because of her early deadline, arrangements had been made to take Corky Erskine from the BT off the naval launch onto a rigid raider with two Royal Marines aboard so that she could be landed at Crawfordsburn or somewhere to file early copy.
The rendezvous made at the appointed time and two burly sailors hoisted the intrepid Corky overboard by the wrists while the two Marines below clasped her ankles to steer her onto their vessel.
However, the intrepid Corky was, as I recall, clad in a skirt and as she dangled precariously between the two naval boats, a cry of 'What colour are they?' from a lascivous Daily Express lensman caused such laughter that the transfer nearly ended in disaster.
I am happy to say though that the Navy did not fail Corky and she made her appointed filing time ashore. For the rest of us we had a slow sail back to HMS Caroline after the Queen's helicopter took her to the first of her Belfast engagements.
Posted by: Chris Ryder | June 26, 2011 at 06:36 PM
Following items got into the wrong sequence
My sister, just back from Ballycastle, brot me Tuesday's Telegraph, with an article (Page 29) by Mike Gilson who says: ``Independent audited figures show that our print and digital products reach a daily audience in Northern Ireland of 279,000 people. That is a staggering figure and means a story we might write about you wil be seen by more people than at any time in our 141-year history.'' Can this be true?
Posted by: Smyth | June 26, 2011 at 05:06 PM
Smyth
My sister also brought me Thursday's News Letter ``The pride of Northern Ireland.'' But where is the ``Northern Ireland' news? It has a lead on a tribunal in Dublin, Rory McIlroy, Belfast riots, and several political stories, and Duke of York in Belfast and Lisburn. And an inquest on a soldier in Wiltshire. Did nothing else happen in Ulster last Wednesday? No local courts, no bad accidents, no council meetings? Or do local reporters not do ``corr'' any more?
Posted by: Smyth
Posted by: Smyth | June 26, 2011 at 06:38 PM
Mike Gilson is talking utter bollocks. There are enough of us on here who worked on the BT when it sold more than 200,000 a night and in most households more than one person read it so that makes his readership boast about more people seeing a story than ever before in the Belfast Telegraph's 141-year history - utter bollocks. It was one of the biggest selling - and best - evening papers in the British Isles. Didn't he think of talking to someone like Malcolm Brodie or Eddie McIlwaine before spouting such PR crap? I am sure that Des McMullen told me the circulation had topped 220,000 a time or two.
Posted by: Alastair McQueen | June 26, 2011 at 07:12 PM
The editor of the Belfast Telegraph says the paper is reaching 279,000 readers daily. (see MS above)
That, says the editor, is more readers than "at any time in its 141-year history" Well, in the late 50s/early 60s the paper was selling 240,000 a night.
Nowadays, the paper's circulation is officially stated to be 65,000. Either there is a tremendous readership for every copy; or a very large number logging on to the digital edition. What is the breakdown of the figures?
Posted by: Graham | June 26, 2011 at 07:24 PM
Graham: My argument still stands. The BT was delivered to homes and did not just rely on a street sale therefore it is blatantly obvious that it was read by more than one person. So even if you don't use expenses-type mathematics the readership then was much much higher than the "historic" figure claimed by Mr Gilson. So he's still talking bollocks. My conversation with Des McMullen was around 1969 when I was doing a stint in Belfast for the Mirror and we were comparing the evening papers in the two cities where I had worked after leaving the BT - Newcastle Evening Chronicle and Manchester Evening News - with the BT. Both papers, like the BT, circulated in industrial cities and my view was that the BT was the better of the three with its news coverage at that time. I thought the BT sold around 250,000 in its heyday and Des said it wasn't as high as that. Anyway Mr Gilson is still talking.....
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 26, 2011 at 07:44 PM
I know I'm harping on here, but I do hate it when "boy" editors are totally ignorant of the history of the once-great newspapers they have the privilege of editing. Piers Moron was up to the same trick when he "edited" the Daily Mirror. He tried to ridicule what the paper had once been - and that was in the days when it was selling FIVE MILLION COPIES A DAY! He was monstered several times by the Old and Bold who survived the Montgomery purges and then spun round and decided to he would revert to "some of the style of the old days." When Syd Young retired a big farewell was organised in The Ivy, the haunt of showbiz luvvies and so-called personalities in the West End, but......Syd got a grip of the guest list and instead of wall-to-wall luvvies it was all those of us who had been fired who were invited. I recall Joe Gorrod and myself reading Mr Moron his fortune. Then, when Kent Gavin our brilliant chief photographer called it a day another "do" was held for him, this time in the executive suite of Arsenal's old Highbury Stadium. Gavvers did not disappoint and invited all his old sacked and prematurely retired mates including Alastair Campbell. Mr Moron kept a low profile at that do, but was decent enough to say the bar would stay open until 1am with the Mirror picking up the tab. Gavvers had it extended until 3am and the bill sent to Mr Moron. The only showbiz people there were Gavvers' old chum Joan Collins and Fergie, Duchess of York. By that time Morgan was getting the message that newspapers were not about editors but more about the people who worked on them and those who bought them.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 26, 2011 at 08:30 PM
I was photographing Lurgan Golf Club's Captain's Day on Saturday past, the current Captain being Paddy Meehan who worked on the Irish News for 40 years and retired as Advertising Manager. We got talking about the BT and he said " such a shame the way the Tele has gone, their up front paid for newspaper circulation is now only 52,000 a night!!!
I can remember on joining the Tele on the 1st September 1980, I was told that on a good night - usually when Jobfinder was in the paper - the circulation was 200,000.
I personally don't believe that all this web crap should be included in "Newspaper" circulation figures!!!
Mind you they used to take several pence a day out of our wages so that they could include the staff papers in their ABC circulation figures so I suppose they'll do anything including getting their historical facts wrong in order to hid the true state of a once great publication!!!
Posted by: RedRick | June 26, 2011 at 08:48 PM
I can remember the Telegraph's circulation was 250,000 in the Sixties and people queued outside newsagents to make sure they got a copy ... a lot of things have caused the sales to decline, and many of them no newspaper could properly deal with like the spread of local radio with its almost endless news and television's power and strength increasing with 24-hour broadcastng and, again, separate news channels as well.
Posted by: JC | June 26, 2011 at 10:06 PM
OBITUARY:
Stanley Aicken
From the Belfast Telegraph
Retired journalist Stanley Aicken, who has died at 77 after a long illness, was a specialist court reporter down many years for the Belfast Telegraph, for which newspaper he covered important trials during the troubles.
Stanley, who is survived by his wife, Betty and son David and daughter Karen and six grandchildren, was a talented shorthand writer. His Pitman system was of such copperplate accuracy that Miss Florence Elliott who ran a secretarial college in Royal Avenue, once invited him to a class to show her pupils how outlines should be written.
His shorthand was so perfect that colleagues in the BT editorial department could read his notes as easily as Stanley himself.
In an era of great shorthand writers like the late Eddie Sloan, who also worked for the BT, Jimmy Boyd, who was on the Hansard staff of the old Northern Ireland Parliament and Uel Young, also of Hansard and now in New Zealand, Stanley stood out.
In the High Court his nickname with judges, barristers and solicitors was Mr Justice Aicken.
“When an occasional doubt arose about what had been said in evidence it was not unknown for Stanley to be asked by a lawyer to read back his notes,” recalled his former BT editor Martin Lindsay. “He could always be relied on to swiftly produce well before edition times a summary of the most difficult and legally involved cases.”
But my dad was an ideal family man away from his career,” emphasised his daughter Karen. “He and my mother enjoyed his retirement until ill-health struck him. He loved going for walks with his Cairn Terrier Benjie.”
Stanley, a former editor of the Newtownards Spectator, joined the BT as a general reporter and served briefly in the Ballyclare office before graduating to the courts from head office in Royal Avenue.
He was also for a short time on the editorial staff of the News-letter.
John Caruth, a former colleague in the BT and in Newtownards, described him as a well read and reliable reporter. “I remember him too as always being and immaculately dressed. The copy he phoned in from the High Court and other legal sittings in the city could always be relied on to be accurate.”
Stanley Aicken had his heyday before mobile phones made communication with news desks easier and often when fighting a deadline had to rely on public telephones to get his story through.
He learned his trade from veteran court reporter Joe Porter who in his heyday in the 50s wrote his stories in longhand and dispatched them to the BT by messenger on a bicycle.
Retired journalist Ivan McMichael who shared the Press bench in the courts with Stanley explained:”Judges looked on him as a reporter who would produce precise accounts of cases and they trusted him implicitly for his integrity. He was a man who would never break a confidence.”
McMichael and Aicken together reported the famous chocolate éclair libel action in which barristers Desmond Boal and Bob McCartney were awarded substantial damages against a newspaper.
“Even after Stanley retired prominent legal men were delighted to meet him out walking his dog around Newtownards and stop for a chat,” added Ivan McMichael.
Eddie McIlwaine
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 26, 2011 at 10:17 PM
Let's nor forget that Uel Young was also a superb court reporter among other roles on the BT.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 26, 2011 at 10:42 PM
REMEMBERED ...
There are now pictures of Stanley Aicken and Jim Creagh in our Remembered album section. Funeral details are still not available.
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 27, 2011 at 12:32 PM
STANLEY - Stanley Aicken's funeral on Wednesday, 2pm, in First Newtownards Presbyterian Church, Frances Street . . . 200 yards from the Chronicle office in which he started his career.
Posted by: Carl Anderson | June 27, 2011 at 01:08 PM
OBITUARY:
Jim Creagh
A man of great dignity and courage who was never short of a story to tell about his distinguished career in the media.
That is how Jim Creagh, former Assistant Managing Director of Ulster Television who has died after a long illness, will be remembered.
The Belfast man was 80; indeed he and his family celebrated his landmark birthday just over a week ago.
Jim’s long and distinguished career in the media began as a cub reporter on the Banbridge Chronicle in 1950, and he later recalled those formative days in a private memoir.
After only a year working in Banbridge, he became a journalist with the Irish News, where he covered a wide variety of topics as a reporter and theatre critic.
He made his break into the then relatively new world of television as assistant publicity manager of UTV in 1961, working with one of the early local ‘gurus’ of public relations, Gordon Duffield. This was only two years after the station was established.
Jim quickly gained promotion, and in 1964 he became the station’s head of Presentation, Press and Publicity at a time when local television itself was a novelty and UTV was under the control of the larger-than-life “Brum” Henderson, who used to refer tongue-in-cheek to UTV as “the fun factory.”
However, there was some truth in his remark at a time when UTV was fresh and experimental, and when staff morale was high in a station that quickly made its name for serious news and current affairs coverage of a high quality, as well as late night educational programmes.
Many of its earlier performers and presenters, including Adrienne Catherwood, Brian Durkin, Jimmy Greene and Tommy James, became instant household names.
Jim was a most capable head of public affairs, with a natural flair for good presentation and an innate understanding of the media business. He enjoyed a warm rapport with journalists specialising in media and business affairs, who held him in a high personal and professional regard.
His organisational abilities were further recognised when he was appointed Assistant Managing Director of UTV at a turbulent time during the troubles.
He retired in 1991, and in the early days of his retirement he published a magazine with a wide circulation in the Belfast city area. In the end it became an uphill struggle in a strongly competitive market.
Jim was a devoted family man, with eight children and 24 grandchildren. His son Liam became a well-known television journalist and programme maker, and earlier this year his youngest son Michael received an Oscar nomination for his short film The Crush.
In 2007 another son Fr Kieran Creagh, who was then serving as a priest in South Africa, was badly wounded in a shooting incident, and his father and other members of the family went out to his bedside to be with him at that critical time.
Jim Creagh was highly respected by his wide range of professional colleagues, and friends. In recent times he suffered from cancer but he bore his painful and discomforting illness with great courage and dignity. Even in the midst of this he was still good company, with a wealth of personal stories about his earlier career.
He also remained interested in everything around him, right to the end, and he was an inspiration to all who spent time with him.
Jim is survived by his widow Kate and their children, by his three sisters and by the wider family.
Alf McCreary
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 27, 2011 at 02:06 PM
"MLA Dumps Hubby for Civil Servant"
That's a prominent story in the Belfast Telegraph today, and a splash in the Sunday Life yesterday.
It's about a Stormont MLA, Pam Lewis who, according to the paper, has left her husband and gone off with another man.
There's been some muttering today about intrusion into privacy. The DUP say in a statement that they don't comment on the private lives of MLAs.
Pam Lewis's biography in the party website begins with the words: "Pam Lewis is 37 years old, married with three children." Only after that does it refer to her politicial activites and qualifications. In other words, her status as a wife and a mother are given prime position.
It's possible that the Belfast Telegraph, in the event of a complaint, could use this as a justification for their story on her private life. Whatever you think, the BelTel is a different paper now from what it was in "our day"!
Posted by: Graham | June 27, 2011 at 04:54 PM
The exposure of the cant and hyprocisy of the "ruling classes" in their midden is the duty of any decent newspaper. After all these people enjoy quite an enviable lifestyle paid for by the public purse so they are open to scruting - warts and all. They never tire of preaching to us lesser mortals yet when the boot is on the other foot they don't like it. Well done Sunday Life. And well done - yet again - BBC NI for bringing the Irish Robinson business to the fore.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 27, 2011 at 05:04 PM
But if her party biog. hadn't majored on her being a wife and mother, would that justify "invasion of privacy" complaint?
Posted by: Graham | June 27, 2011 at 05:30 PM
Re Cant ... my mother told me there was no such word as cant ... when I was asked to do something I was not allowed to use that word ... I had to do it ...
Posted by: Puzzled (JC knows my name) | June 27, 2011 at 05:45 PM
What is it that puzzles you?
Posted by: Graham (I don't do anon) | June 27, 2011 at 07:35 PM
Unquestionably it's an invasion of privacy. What does it matter to the people of her constituency? It's pure voyeurism. It's not like she's Christine Keeler, who MIGHT have been giving Profumo's secrets to a KGB lover. (Hey, Blogmaster, tell the young 'uns who Ms Keeler was).
Posted by: Smyth | June 27, 2011 at 07:44 PM
All right, Smyth, If her constituency party were call a meeting to discuss the matter (as Jim Nicholson MEP's party did after a newspaper revealed he had been having an affair)would that then be a public matter to be properly reported, or would it still be a private affair?
Posted by: Graham | June 27, 2011 at 08:11 PM
Someone on Copyboys referred in recent blogs to an Austin 7. My old matey in his dungarees called up today in his Austin 7 Box. Built in the 1930s it was exported to Australia where he found it and brought it home with two others in the 80s.
He has two Austin 7 Boxs and one Tourer if that means anything.
Posted by: ruthie | June 27, 2011 at 08:20 PM
Of course it's NOT an invasion of privacy. It's an exposure of hypocrisy. If you cast your mind back, Mitch, you will remember when the Mayor of Coleraine was done for drunken driving and Robert Bacon kept blowing corks out of his backside. We got round it - you and I - by flogging the story to the Belfast and Dublin papers and the Irish editions of the nationals and then our own paper HAD to run it. As Graham says this woman put her "wifely duties" and family first then cheated on her husband while living high off the hog on public money. So she hasn't a leg to stand on.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM
I still say it's nobody's business (and the Mayor's drunken driving is not a valid comparison). Yes, if the constituency association calls a meeting on it, report that. When the mayor of a city near Toronto was revealed to have a gay lover a few years ago (revealed in a blog), neither the local paper (which I used to toil for) nor any of the Toronto papers would touch the story. It was none of anybody's business who he slept with. And it's nobody's business who this woman shags.
Posted by: M Smyth | June 28, 2011 at 01:17 AM
Good piece in the Guardian today, taken from Radio Times, about a certain noow famous journalist who started his career at BBC Northern Ireland (and always addressed me merely as "McKenzie")
Fingers on buzzers, here's your starter for 10: which well known BBC presenter tried out for University Challenge as a Cambridge University student, but failed to get into the team? I'll have to hurry you.
The answer is: Jeremy Paxman, the presenter of University Challenge and Newsnight. Paxman, who attended St Catherine's College, made the admission in an interview for the Radio Times with former Conservative MP and unlikely Strictly Come Dancing star Ann Widdecombe.
Paxman, 61, who has hosted University Challenge for 17 years, said he was not picked because he was unable to answer the questions. "I did have a go. I didn't get chosen! There was a quiz going on one night to choose a team for University Challenge. I remember going along with a couple of friends, sitting in the common room and failing to answer questions, therefore failing to get selected for the team."
Widdecombe (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford) confessed that she had also been rejected for her college University Challenge team. "It doesn't reflect at all on your general knowledge or your mental ability. It is a very particular thing, playing a quiz," Paxman said, admitting that "half the time" he had slept during his university lectures.
He said the University Challenge questions had got more difficult, "because students know a lot more now".
Asked why men, rather than women, tend to take part in quizzes, he said: "I don't know. Is it competitiveness? Is it … no, I'm not going to go any further, actually." He added: "I'm not being politically correct about it – I might make observations that are not kind."
Posted by: Graham | June 28, 2011 at 09:58 AM
Sad to report that ex-Sunday Times photographer 'the Colonel' Peter Dunne has died in Cambridge after a long illness. Spent many happy hours and days with him in all sorts of places. He was a regular over here in Belfast and many people knew him. Hard to believe that such a shining light has finally gone out.
Posted by: Chris Ryder | June 28, 2011 at 12:33 PM
"Emma Swann appointed BBC Head of Knowledge Commissioning" - headline in Guardian.
Now, what the hell is that, please?
Posted by: Graham | June 28, 2011 at 01:06 PM
Only God and the BBC new age managers know.
Posted by: Chris Ryder | June 28, 2011 at 01:13 PM
HARRY THOMPSON
Harry Thompson, who will be remembered by many older readers as a presenter of "Scene Around Six" on BBC NI television, died this morning.
Harry, who was 89, had been ill for some time and had been in the Ulster Hospital for the past six weeks.
He was a presenter in the Larry McCoubrey era in the late 60s and early 70s and graduated to the evening news programme after contributing to the BBC NI sports department.
I'm told that Harry, who also continued to work as a schoolteacher, also became secretary of Glentoran football club. He started his TV presenting on news just around the time that things were beginning to get more unsettled here.
His funeral is expected to be on Friday. Our sympathy to his family.
Posted by: Graham | June 28, 2011 at 01:17 PM
When I was part of Malcolm Brodie's Saturday soccer team covering Irish League matches for the ISN I did a few games with Harry. Nice man. He used to have to slip away before the end of the game to get to Ormeau Avenue to present the soccer roundup a few moments after Grandstand ended. Never seemed flustered despite the pressure he was under and, like the legendary Brian Baird, TV fame never seemed to change him when I knew him.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 28, 2011 at 01:30 PM
Sorry, Mr President, like you I am totally in the dark over that BBC appointment. I've read the piece on Guardian Media and am still none the wiser. Chris Ryder, as usual, hits the nail firmly on the head. What utter tosh corporate speak is. Now if The Best Chairman We Ever Had still had his column he could go to town on this. Perhaps Littlejohn will take it up...
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 28, 2011 at 02:06 PM
Sad to reflect on the deaths of three people with whom I had a close attachment.Stanley was a great guy,a true professional. Jim Creagh was a great asset to UTV (long before the suits and the money men took over), while Harry Thompson was a great companion in many a drafty Press Box.
Enjoyed the blogs on the Tele's circulation figures. You know what they say - there are lies, damned lies and newspaper circulation figures! To include people dipping in and out of the digital version is a far cry from paid for circulation.
Old Shep
Posted by: Roy Shephard | June 28, 2011 at 02:59 PM
HARRY THOMPSON
FUNERAL ...
Harry Thompson's funeral is on Friday at 11am at Melville's, Holywood Road, Belfast, and then to Roselawn for burial at 12pm.
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 28, 2011 at 07:17 PM
I resent Alastair McQueen's inference that I would satirise the appointment of a commissioner of knowledge. I'll have you know I've applied for the job. As a job title it means nothing. I've done nothing before and I'm sure I could do it again given the opportunity. Its been my experience that meaningless jobs pay a lot better than jobs involving work. I've sent in my CV. Lied about my age and bought a hairpiece. Told them of my gift for doing meaningless things and that I am even better at doing nothing at all. Why I'm not chairman of a Quango, is a mystery. P.S. Sorry to read of the great Harry Thompson's death. He was a natural broadcaster with the fortunate advantage of never having been on a media studies course. And he held a real job outside the BEEB. Wrote a profile of him for the Telegraph once, around the time be was doing both sport and current affairs programmes. He was always an extremely fair chairman in political debates between angry protagonists. He said his greatest compliment came from a man who stopped him in the street and said, "You wouldn't know what you are?" Backhanded praise that meant he couldn't figure out Harry's politics from watching him on TV. Unlike today where you can usually spot a broadcaster's sympathies in five minutes.
Posted by: Chairman | June 28, 2011 at 08:28 PM
I see the Belfast Times has been reincarnated. Spotted this when browsing this evening - http://www.belfasttimes.co.uk/
Wonder if these kids know about the big strike and their namesake?
Posted by: Derek Black | June 28, 2011 at 08:45 PM
I was saddened to hear of Stanley Aicken's death.
Just one memory. Subbing Stanley's copy involved an important caveat ... cut ‘appearances’ at the peril of your life.
No matter how tempting - on the desk or on the stone - that final par was sacrosanct. The legal team had to be named, even if it meant cutting stories around his report.
Of course, contacts were important to Stanley, and I learned to respect that.
Posted by: Eddie Sterling jnr | June 28, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Thank you for letting Uel know about Stanley. He was shocked and saddened to hear that he had died.
I don't look at the copyboys website, but I think I will start keeping an eye on it from now on! Uel told me he would get himself broadband so he could go online faster (he's still using the old dial-up method!), but I won't hold my breath!
I hope you are well. We are all doing OK here, but it is winter and there is a lot of cold, wet days at the moment - roll on summer!
Posted by: Lisa J. | June 29, 2011 at 08:33 AM
I see the Taliban have attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, home to many of us covering the Russian invasion of Afghanistan back in the day. The Bloody Marys in the downstairs cocktail bar were amazing. The main restaurant, in those days, was on the top floor giving a view over much of Kabul and the airport in particular. Our Russian "minders" were always curious as to how we got information about their aircraft movements. We never told them we simply "went upstairs for a cup of coffee" and watched it all happen! One of the guys on hotel reception spoke great English and always seemed to know what was happening. Turned out a few months later that he was the main Mujihadeen (now, I suppose Taliban) commander for the Kabul area. Ho Hum.
Posted by: A.McQ. | June 29, 2011 at 09:12 AM
Stanley's Aicken's funeral today at First Presbyterian Church in Newtownards was a well attended by family, relatives, friends and old colleagues who came to pay their respects.
Stanley's daughter Karen paid a moving and frequently humourous tribute to her Dad whom she described as her 'rock and foundation' who taught her strong beliefs in how to behave and how to go about living life - his outlines for her were as clear as his shorthand outlines.
Listening were some of many old journalistic friends - Carl Anderson, our chairman, Billy Simpson, Roy Shephard, Ivan McMichael, Noreen Erskine, David Neely, Robin Walsh, John Kane, Eddie McIlwaine, Ivan Little and John Caruth.
Also there were Ian Alexander, MD of the Newtownards Chronicle, solicitor and friend of Stanley's Kevin E. Hart and Anne Lawlor, former secretary to Belfast Telegraph editor, Jack Sayers. The service was conducted by the Rev Jim Campbell.
Posted by: Blogmaster | June 29, 2011 at 05:28 PM
I should have been at the funeral for Stanley and I went back a long, long way before I came to the BT. Stanley was the
best known and most popular court reporter in the country.
As local provincial journalists we liked to see him coming to Downpatrick Assizes for he brought detailed files of the felons which was a great help to us all.
The truth of the matter was I was looking after the interests of another old friend Billy Morrow... I am a founder, chairman and trustee of the WDM Trust Fund which gives out a bursary every year. For the past couple of years this has been going to
Loughry College.
We, the three trustees have changed it today to favour Harper Adams University College in Shropshirre of which I am
also an honorary member and I was required to meet with the bank and my fellow trustees to put matters in hands.
So you see, old friends may be dead, long dead as in the case of WD, but not forgotten. Neither will Stanley be forgotten so long as old hacks like ourselves are still on the upper side of the sod.
He never got rightful recognition among his peers for his contributions to the trade. He was old school, accuracy, fairness and balance and his shorthand was copperplate. Certainly he was well thought of in court circles from the LCJ of the day downwards to the most junior of clerks.
Posted by: Michael Drake | June 29, 2011 at 08:30 PM
The actor, Sir John Gielgud, who outlived many of his contemporaries, once said "Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set." Noting that while it was sad to lose an old friend it was always nice to run into old friends you haven't lost yet. I'm sure Stanley Aicken would not begrudge us the pleasure of meeting so many at his funeral. Were he still alive, I believe Stanley would have revelled in the banter and nostalgia among us today. It was a delight to see so many old hacks again. Some for the first time in many years. Indeed when an elderly man asked if I remembered him, I confess to being mystified. It was Ian Alexander, MD of the Newtownards Chronicle. Why didn't I recognise him? Because the last time I saw him was 50 years ago when he was about 19 and taking photos for the Bangor Spectator. He's changed somewhat but if you look closely enough you can still see a hint of that eager boy in his eyes. Possibly screaming to get out. And I had a fine couple of hours with my old friend John Kane of Irish News, Northern Whig, Press Association, Belfast Telegraph and NUJ on his CV. And I have a wonderful story we laughed over till the tears ran down our beers in Robbie Cahoon's pub on the way home about an early adventure involving a film premire and a couple of press parties where there was an unlimited supply of free alcohol. And some prominent doctors who mistook dead drunk for dead. But I'll have to get his permission first. You never know who reads these things.
Posted by: Chairman | June 29, 2011 at 08:47 PM
It is heartening to know that there was a good representation of old colleagues at Stanley Aicken's funeral. Stanley would have been very pleased. It was good of Ian Alexander, director of the Newtownards Chronicle to attend, even though it's been half a century since Stanley worked there. Ian Alexander is a good example of an owner who cares about journalists and journalism, unlike some owners today.
On a related subject, some of us will have had dealings with Walter Love over the years. Sadly, his wife Mary died last week. Walter has done a fair bit of journalistic work over the years, not just on radio but in the columns of the Ulster Tatler. He still has a jazz programme on Radio Ulster Sunday nights 7-8pm. Those who know Walter will join me, I'm sure in sending sympathy.
Posted by: Graham | June 29, 2011 at 08:50 PM
I see that Kelvin MacKenzie is leaving the Sun, where he is a columnist. He is joining the Daily Mail. Gosh! What with Littlejohn already there, it'll be a double whammy now on those they regard as liberals and lefties, politically correct police forces, eurospeak, town hall bin Hilters and...oh, the list goes on...!
Posted by: Graham | June 30, 2011 at 03:25 PM
OTTILIE PATTERSON
All right, I know this isn’t strictly journalism. But I am sorry to hear that one of my all-time favourite singers, Ottilie Patterson, has died. She was buried in Comber yesterday. Some older journalists here may have interviewed her. I’d be interested to know. She came from Comber Road, Newtownards, and I remember her being featured in the Newtownards Chronicle when she signed up with the Chris Barber jazz band. In more recent years, after leaving the band, she lived at Groomsport Road, Bangor and latterly in Ayr. Ottie has been described as one of the best jazz and blues singers in the world.
If you’re interested, there are couple of links below. The first is a duet with Lonnie Donegan (also ex-Chris Barber) which I didn’t know about until now; the second is an attractively relaxed interpretation of Mountains of Mourne.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lonnie+donegan+ottilie+patterson&aq=f
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ottilie+patterson+mountains+of+mourne&aq=f
Posted by: Graham | June 30, 2011 at 08:56 PM
I was riveted to read that A McQ reported in Kabul during the Russian war. Kabul was suppposed to be a lovely mystical place at one time. Loved the piece A McQ did on his time in the hotel etc.
Bin Laden was an ally of the Taliban during that time and funded the campaign and fought to get rid of the Russians.
In return, they,the Taliban wouldn't hand him over even when his campaign moved to Somalia etc. They were always loathe to snitch on him and felt they owed him something for his help in getting rid of Russia.
However, I was equally riveted to hear a recent brilliant report on Al Jazeera where they said the Taliban had been well infiltrated and had actually pin pointed where Bin Laden had been living.
In 1998 Bill Clinton had wanted to bomb the Afghan hills where the Taliban and Bin Laden flew their falcons.
However the CIA allegedly had to stop the operation because a certain defence minister of a certain wealthy enclave was also flying his falcons with the Taliban and his nibs.
Posted by: ruthie | June 30, 2011 at 09:14 PM
DAVID DAVID DUNSEITH
I am sad to have to record the death of David Dunseith. A fine journalist, and a gentleman.
He was a powerful force in bringing all sides of opinion together in a forum where they otherwise might never have met.
David was the heart and soul of Radio Ulster's Talk Back programme for many years. In very recent times he moved to a Sunday lunchtime programme. His wife, Roisin Walsh, died quite recently.
David himself was on the airwaves until only few weeks ago. For him, a short retirement indeed. He will be long remembered.
Posted by: Graham | June 30, 2011 at 09:41 PM
that is really sad about David Dunseith, he was as you say Graham a gentleman and a great journalist.
Posted by: jacqui | June 30, 2011 at 10:02 PM
David Dunseith. More sad news. An irreplaceable broadcaster. His style and skill was unique and suited to our troubled times. He was alsoan inspirtation to many in the profession. A legend indeed.
Posted by: Chris Ryder | June 30, 2011 at 10:54 PM
Did Ottilie Patterson remain married to Chris Barber? She was about one third the size of the great Bessie Smith, but she sang Young Woman's Blues (and many others) just like the Empress. Where that voice came from in such a small frame is a mystery. Last I came across her was singing Let Him Go Let Him Tarry on an Irish come-all-ye tape a couple of years ago (well, maybe more: it was a TAPE after all). I interviewed her about 1963 when she appeared at Sammy Barr's Ballymena ballroom (the Flamingo??) and I remember she talked glowingly about this new group that I hadn't yet heard of: a Liverpool group called -- that's right -- The Beatles. Anyone seen an obit?
Posted by: M Smyth | July 01, 2011 at 12:54 AM
Lonnie Donegan played banjo with the Barber band when I first heard it (at the Arcadia in Portrush, I think). Later he introduced something called skiffle (I think that's the word) which was allegedly one of the roots of New Orleans jazz, and it took off in a big way for a while (Rock Island Line etc). So he left the band and made millions. The front line in those days was Barber trombone; Pal Halcox Trumpet; and the great Monty Sunshine on clarinet. I remember things like that and I can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday. I could also give you the full line-up of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars that Cyril Troy and I went to Dublin to hear in 1955 (there was some sort of tit-for-tat thing that meant Satchmo couldn't play in Britain so Dixieland -- we called it trad -- fans from all over the UK flocked to Dublin.) Ah, nostalgia . . .
Posted by: M Smyth | July 01, 2011 at 01:19 AM
Ignore note about obit: I found her obit on the BT website. Some nice tributes there, too.
Posted by: Smyth again | July 01, 2011 at 01:55 AM
A great collection of tributes to our friend David to be found around the internet, including a fine piece by Eddie in the Telegraph. There's a picture with Eddie's piece which would have amused David greatly. It shows him with his wife. The caption says it's David Dunseith and Robin Walsh.
Posted by: KB | July 01, 2011 at 07:53 AM
TRIBUTE:
David Dunseith: Former policeman who became an arresting interviewer
I remember David Dunseith as the ex-policeman who left a top job in the RUC drugs squad to become a brilliant broadcaster, first with UTV and then later the BBC.
And it all came about almost by accident. David was a regular police interviewee on television news programmes in the late 60s and made such an impression that someone suggested he would be just as good on the other side of the mic.
So Dunseith took a chance, threw up a promising career in uniform, cut his long streaming hair and donned a suit to become the successor to Gordon Burns on UTV Reports. He once asked me if he had made the right decision, and I was able to confirm that he was a natural on screen.
In fact, he was a formidable interviewer of the politicians of the time in the early days of the Troubles.
So I wasn't surprised when Dunseith eventually made his way to the BBC where he turned Talkback into Radio Ulster's greatest success.
The secret of his long career as a broadcaster was the fact that he never lost his cool especially in some of the heated arguments that happened on his daily programme. He was always willing to listen to both sides, or even three sides, of the argument.
Away from the mic David was a music lover, along with his late wife Roisin Walsh whom he met at UTV, where she was also a presenter.
Some of the urgency and fire that were characteristics of the man went missing with the death of his beloved other half a year or so ago. He never lost the common touch and when listeners called in to tell him he had got something wrong, he was always willing to listen.
He did indeed give the good folk of Northern Ireland an opportunity to talk back - and became a well-loved and favourite TV and radio personality in the process.
Eddie McIlwaine
Posted by: Blogmaster | July 01, 2011 at 08:34 AM
Didn't Roisin Walsh work for BBC NI presenting radio news at the start of her career? I seem to recall her presenting the 12.55 NI news when I was still on the BT in the mid to late Sixties - or am I confused?
Posted by: A.McQ. | July 01, 2011 at 08:44 AM
That was Roisin McAuley, Alastair
Posted by: Graham | July 01, 2011 at 09:42 AM
Just spotted a piece on today's BT website - a feature with the headline...
What If Diana Had Of Lived?
Posted by: KB | July 01, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Private Eye used to dub the Daily Express the Daily Gets Much Worse. What should I call the BelTel these days?
Posted by: Graham | July 01, 2011 at 10:11 AM
I now see, as pointed out by Graham, that the Diana headline has been fixed, which I suppose is reassuring. But honestly, I didn't make it up. And anyway - who the hell thought that would be a good feature?
Posted by: KB | July 01, 2011 at 10:29 AM