Interview with Terry Coleman, journalist for the Guardian. Conducted by Stephen Moss on 5 March 2002. Also includes a data sheet containing biographical details about the subject and information about the recording.
Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):
Disc 1:
Track 1
00.20 Began working at the Guardian in 1961
00.43 Originally joined the Guardian as a designer for the features page/women's page
01.08 At that time the Manchester Guardian was aiming to move to London
01.46 'It's a really rather restless newspaper'
02.02 Interview with Alastair Hetherington only lasted 3 minutes - 'I called him Sir of course'
02.53 Didn't think of the Guardian as a radical paper
05.05 After about 18 months in Manchester there was great shift to London
06.15 New features editor John Rosselli arrived
07.34 Rosselli got him a job as reporter in 1964/5, based in London
07.59 The move to London was disliked by many
09.51 Discusses John Rosselli, Mark Arnold Forster, John Anderson and Gerard Fay
15.31 Put in charge of the Miscellany column - wrote a good half of it for about 2 years
17.08 Discusses Philip Hope-Wallace
18.55 One perk of being a theatre critic was seeing D.H. Lawrence plays in London in the 1960s
20.20 Interviewer asks if good writing the essence of the paper?
20.56 Worked for 18 months in the mid seventies for the Daily Mail
22.48 Covered the 1970 and 1974 General Elections for the Guardian
23.22 Two month trip to Australia in 1974 'to report anything that took my fancy'
26.26 In 1974 David English offered Coleman £11,000 to work for The Daily Mail
27.50 Describes his transition from news reporter to feature writer as informal
29.12 The system of 'starred pieces' and how stories were displayed inside the news pages
30.38 Interviewer asks Coleman about 1966 and the uncertain future of the Guardian
32.32 Back to 1974, Coleman agreed to take David English's offer
36.56 Hetherington sent Coleman off with a simple note saying: 'Good luck, you have been good value'
37.50 Returned to the Guardian within two years
40.46 How he asked Peter Preston, then editor of the Guardian, for a job
43.26 There were no formal brainstorming meetings at the Guardian
45.54 Guardian projecting Coleman as a star writer in 1970s with quirky picture by Abu [Abraham]
46.40 Published a book containing various newspaper articles in 1969
48.09 Began to cover larger interviews
51.55 Discusses what changes Peter Preston made
52.19 'Only time I ever found Peter sticky was South Africa'
55.14 Discusses Live Aid piece
58.16 Had you become the politically incorrect figure on the paper?
59.24 Was your job not made easier or harder by abuse?
60.55 Were you writing books by this stage?
63.37 Wrote the history of transatlantic migration in 19th century but always needed the journalism stimulus
64.27 Left England
65.23 After a year in New York he wrote a second novel. Came back in 1981/2 for third stint.
66.42 Harry Jackson was features editor in 1981. Discusses Christopher Driver
70.34 What prompted your third and final departure?
73.40 Went to the Independent expecting it to be independent.
Disc 2:
Track 1
00.22 Differences with Andreas Whittam- Smith
02.05 Feels he should have stayed with the Guardian
02.15 Worked a lot for Night and Day supplement for Daily Mail - big interviews
02.55 Did he ever regret leaving?
04.15 Book writing
05.28 Ever wondered what would have happened if hadn't left paper in 1988?
05.52 Would he have fitted in the nineties Guardian?
06.03 Matthew Engel and Martin Woollacott
