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Records relating to Gemini News Service, September 1976 - June 1984.

Includes: a draft memorandum of agreement between Gemini and William Collins Sons & Company Ltd (publishers) for the printing and publishing of 'The Guardian Nigerian Handbook 1982', nd; correspondence between Ian Wright, Betty Jerman and Gerald Knight concerning proposals for the publication of Guardian books, December 1982 - September 1983 and correspondence between Ian Wright, Brenda Polan, Jane McLoughlin, Gerald Knight and Jim Markwick concerning a quarter page 'cool summer knit kit' offer, June 1984.

Also includes a copy of page 10 of the Guardian, 15 September 1976 which contains an article by Richard Scott on the Scott Trust and adverts wishing the Guardian well in its move to Farringdon Road.
Creator: Guardian Newspapers Limited; Editor's Office; Ian Wright

Correspondence, primarily between Ian Wright and Betty Jerman, concerning the publication of 'What's on for children' for school Easter, summer and Christmas holidays, compiled by Betty Jerman, 1978-1987 and the possibility of launching a Guardian for children, 1980-1981.

Also includes: contributors payment forms , December 1984 - July 1987; draft copy of Betty Jerman's 'What's on for children' in the christmas school holidays, nd, [c1984] and cuttings from 'What's on in the holidays' 18 July 1978.
Creator: Guardian Newspapers Limited; Editor's Office; Ian Wright

Interview with Betty Jerman, journalist for the Guardian. Conducted by Sue George on 2 October 2001. Also includes a data sheet containing biographical details about the subject and information about the recording and notes made after the interview.

Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):

Disc 1:
Track 1
Introduction

Track 2
Test

Track 3
Biographical information on Jerman by Leslie Plommer

Track 4
00.00 Joined Guardian from Foreign Office as secretary
03.00 Asked to write on women's concerns
03.00 Went to couture shows with established fashion journalists from Harpers & Queen and Vogue
04.48 Dismissed the bikini as passing fashion
07.12 Officially a secretary, not a journalist, paid as freelancer for journalist work
08.30 Highly intellectual atmosphere
09.40 Rennaissance of textiles

10.00 Truly exciting place to be, high calibre people
10.40 Writing for women's page, run by night editor in Manchester - no women's editor
14.00 Interviewed Norman Hartnell before the Queen's coronation
15.00 Leading up to the coronation
17.15 The Queen's coronation

22.00 Garden party in Birmingham
26.00 Discusses a couture party
28.50 Revival in household safety designs

30.20 Later specialised in children and parenting
30.33 No one to guide the woman's page until Mary Stott started, by which time Jerman was freelance
33.40 Guardian offices rather basic
34.40 In Manchester not interested in looking smart, more interested in the brain
35.50 Work was frivolous and focused on light-hearted topics
37.00 Social life of London office
39.50 Upstairs office was Baltimore Sun

41.00 Normal working day
42.00 Writing Richard Fry's piece a day when he was ill
43.30 Could have spent all time going to events
46.00 Jerman once had a hospitality perm/hair cut
47.50 Safety issues: campaign on safe toys, campaign on lead in paint

51.00 National housewives register borne out of intellectual 'wilderness of living in suburbia'
52.00 Mary Stott was astonishing, changed women's journalism
53.00 Space for children to play, early adventure playgrounds, national play scheme movement

Track 5
00.00 Interviewer thanks Jerman

Track 6
Test

Memoir of Betty Jerman. Topics covered include: joining the Manchester Guardian in 1950; travelling to various shows as part of her fashion column, which she wrote under the name Clair Wilson; her attendance at the Coronation Night Ball at the Savoy and her encounter with the Queen of Tonga.

Administrative/Biographical history: Betty Jerman was the first post-war Guardian fashion and interior design writer. She was recruited from the Foreign Office by Richard Scott and worked first with Richard Fry and Gerard Fay in the London office. Her first fashion items on hats appeared 19 July 1951. She left the paper in 1956.