Compositors & Journeymen
I worked in the Composing Room, where all the type and pages were assembled for various publications. Everyone there was a member of the NGA (National Graphical Association) — it was a closed shop, so joining wasn’t optional. You’ll notice the list below doesn’t include any women. In the 1960s, they weren’t permitted to join the union, and therefore couldn’t work in the composing room. That only changed later with wider workplace reforms.
Everyone had to serve an apprenticeship — five years if you started at sixteen, or six if you began at fifteen. Below is a list of the men I can remember from those years. I’ll add the fellow apprentices in a separate section.
Albert Fenton
– “Cap’n Pugwash.” Claim to fame: his wife won the MEN Spot the Ball competition.
Alec Ridley
– FOC (shop steward when I started in 1966). A really nice guy.
Charlie Penny
– Red‑headed, took over as FOC from Alec. Always able to get a rise out of me when I was still wet behind the ears.
Bill Merrill
– Tall, blond — he could have been a poster for a German soldier in World War II. Had a problem with his neck.
Tommy Hampson
– Another nice guy. Later worked with me again at the Daily Express in Manchester.
(Nutty) Norman Stuart
– Showed me how to use the Elrod type‑casting machine — very useful knowledge when I went to the Express.
Paddy McGinty
(Patrick Murphy) – My bane. Terribly ignorant in every sense of the word.
Joe Ogden
– Salford councillor. Had one magazine to look after (Poultry). Spent much of his time on council business.
Robert (Jod) Carr
– Clicker (foreman) on Textile Weekly. Fancied himself as a member of the Rat Pack. Another joker, especially at the expense of newbie apprentices like myself.
Sammy Chapell
– Resembled Arthur Askey, very sensitive to the suggestion. Enjoyed a drink with his pal Ossie in the Barley Mow pub off High Street. Very funny man. Said he’d been in World War II “out East.” His daughter won beauty contests, but he wasn’t happy she was seeing Red Hoffman, lead singer of the Manchester group The Measles.
Joe Turner
– Small and extremely cantankerous. Once involved in a fight when he had pushed someone over his limit. The perpetrator was sacked
Sammy Wood
– “Put the brake on, pal.” In his Northern Ireland accent, this meant: slow down so we can get some overtime.
Frank McCormick
– Clicker on Our Dogs. An old chap, soon to retire. He knew my granddad, Bob Cummings.
Zoli Tamasics
– Hungarian refugee. Said he had to leave because he was forging passports. Always chasing the girls from the Folding Room. Strange eating habits — insisted on opening crisp packets from the bottom. I developed the habit for a while.
Apprentices
Geoff Lyons – Later joined me at the Express. I once trapped his hand in the sliding door to the washroom in the lino room. He went ballistic despite my protestations that it was an accident. Spent time in hospital with an ingrowing toenail.
Barry Stuart Cole – Tall, fair hair. Dated one of the girls in the Folding Room, later married her. Had a brother who was his spitting image — not sure if they were twins. His brother was a bus conductor.
Bob Dickson (“Bob Dickie”) – Married one of the girls from Our Dogs. Joined me at the Daily Express. Nice lad. Politics: left, definitely.
Raymond Blaine – A strange chap — we all thought he lived in a world of fantasy. Sold me my first car: a black Triumph Renown for £15. Turned up at my house at midnight after I’d given up. The car was “a project” that never got off the ground. Worth a fortune today, naturally.
Ged White – Nice lad. Started out as a bit of a skinhead — Levis, white jean jacket. Heart in the right place. Joined me at the Daily Express as a Linotype operator.
Dave xxxx (Stockport) – Known as the most miserable apprentice for some reason.
Pete Bradshaw – Very tall, blond. One of my favourites — didn’t have a bad bone in his body. Engaged to a policewoman and emigrated to Australia, sadly missed. Had an Isetta bubble car — marvellous. We once went fishing straight from work: me on my scooter, he and Colin Palmer in the Isetta. No idea where the tackle went. We fell asleep by a lake near Chester. I caught the only fish — a Crucian carp — but it didn’t count as it was foul‑hooked.
Colin Palmer – An enigma. Dark hair, glasses, Manfred Mann beard. Crazy about jazz. Used to come to my house to watch Jazz 625 because his TV didn’t have BBC2.
Pete Freeman – Mr Cool. Quite acid in his remarks. Before a coach trip to Blackpool he said, “Is that what you’re wearing” — gutted me at the time. Went on to become a book designer for Penguin Books. Good for him.
Dennis Leckey – I had to think hard about including this name, but decided to go ahead. Worked with Fred Holcroft, foreman on Church Weekly. Came to the Hotspur Press as a quite old apprentice. More to follow.