Mr Hack 204

 

Now let's see what we have to say this time .... this wonderful image is of  Belfast Central Library with people milling about at the entrance to Berry Street and just across from it was the officies of the Belfast Telegraph which no longer lives there but the place has become the home for raves or whatever other forms of entertainmnent is peformed in the old Press hall. I've been absent around here for a while because the copyboys has been silent with little attention being paid to it by people who used to enjoy dropping in and leaving a comment or two for amusement purposes or maybe because they were angry at something or other and this was a good place to let off steam. A regular contributor here was Mitchell Smyth, a long time ow resident of Canada and bizarrely, I came across his name in Facebook recently and sent him a message or a greeting rather to try and stir his attention because I'm quite sure he recalls my name but, hey, I have received no response so there you go ....Farewell, until my next visit here. Ps ... people can now see that following an excellent comment and stor we have added another photograph to illustrate what was said by our contributor...the headstone at the grave of Jack Sayers in Glenarm, Co. Antrim

Comments

[Michael M]

AS WE Copyboys dwindle and disappear as swiftly as our great industry has disappeared, may I remind you that this month sees the 55th anniversary of the death of that giant among editors, Jack Sayers.

He was the son of a previous Belfast Telegraph editor, John Sayers (1879–1939) who had joined as a reporter and became editor in succession to Thomas Moles, who in between editing the BT each day was also a Stormont and Westminster MP and deputy speaker of the NI parliament – and you thought today’s double jobbing was bad?

When in 1930 the Northern Whig offered to double his salary BT owner Sir Robert Baird asked him to name his price. Sayers settled for a modest increase provided that the Baird family lifted their golden rule and employed a relative of an employee as a junior reporter – to wit, one John E. Sayers.

As war loomed in the 1930s young Jack joined the RNVR and was aboard the aircraft carrier Courageous when she was torpedoed in October 1939. His name was not among the list of survivors until several days later, but the shock was too much for his father who died from a heart attack at the age of 59.

Jack was promoted and spent the war as a staff officer in Churchill’s Map Room in London. Post-war he returned to the BT and became editor in 1953, taking a liberal view in line with his family’s Methodist beliefs and modelling his paper on the lines of the Daily Telegraph, though its rigidly enforced Style Book was based on The Times.

Those who remember him will recall a strict but fair man who struggled with the newspaper’s Thomson ownership from its purchase in 1964. The admen gradually took over, a particular blow being the handover of page layouts so the editorial ran round the ads rather than the opposite. Another was the promotional issue of a J-cloth with every paper that day.

As the waves of civil unrest swelled through the mid-60s, Jack Sayers did his best to encourage tolerance between the communities. His first leader of 1967 spoke of the grim year past, ‘with chilling moments of revelation of hatred and thuggery not far below’. Events took their course, and when the Troubles exploded in August 1969, negating all that he had strived for, he suffered a heart attack a fortnight later and like his father died at the age of 59.

For myself, I remember Jack Sayers as the man who gave me my start in journalism in 1960 and much encouragement thereafter. I owe him a great deal, and tell him so each time I visit his simple headstone among his Methodist forebears in Glenarm New Cemetery.

[John Caruth]

Thank you Michael M.... so mysterious and so interesting. Jack Sayers gave me my start in the Belfast Telegraph with a letter of appointment (still cherished!) sent December 1964 with my start January 1965 as a features/news sub editor under Tom Carson, then Features editor. Sayers was a great editor and all those who followed lived and worked in his shadow. Wason, Lilley, Curran and Lindsay even later Walker didn't leave the same mark. It is a pity you chose to be anonymous but we're pleased you saw a need to put your comment up to draw our attention to something which we are pleased to be told.

[Nevin McGhee]

What a lovely surprise to come across this weblog purely by chance. Delighted to see you're still going strong John and to have so many memories revived with a trawl through some of the previous hacks - photos of the BT cricket team and Peter McMullan's departure to Canada among them. Happy to say I'm still upright and breathing and, weather permitting, still carrying a full set of clubs round the golf course three times a week. I actually celebrate my 80th birthday tomorrow and at the beginning of September I will mark 59 years since I started in the Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, moving to Royal Avenue 18 months later. Like you John I still have my cherished letter of appointment typed by Ann Lawlor and signed by JES. I couldn't agree more about him being a great editor - and at the time I'm not sure we recognised just how courageous he was. All the best to you - and anyone else who might remember me! Nevin

[John Caruth]

My goodness.... what a pleasant surprise. And good to read we share the same age and our memories are working quite well!! Welcome to the copyboys blog started  by Graham McKenzie and bequeathed to me by Billy Simpson before his departure a few years back. Its not what it was since I partly retired it but kept it alive for comments and to let me record departures and pay tribute. Anyway its good to get this text and contribution. Cheers

Sent from my Galaxy

[John Caruth]

Now for the sad news: I received an email which reads: Hello John, Norm Smyth here, Mitchell's youngest son. I'm writing to inform you of my father's passing on Wednesday morning. He passed away peacefully at home. As per his wishes, and he was adamant about this, we are foregoing any formal services. This email address is still valid and monitored by my mother, whom my brother and I are taking care of. Dad left us this list of people to email in this case, and you were on it. Remember him in his best of times, telling a yarn or two. 😀 Indeed it is sad news hearing about the death in Canada of a long time friend and contributor and here's hoping I recieve a copy of an obituary I'm sure will appear in a Toronto newspaper. RIP Michell Smyth.