File 41 - Brian Jones

1 minidisc, 1 cd, 1 file, 3 AIFF files (769.9 MB)

Interview with Brian Jones, deputy editor for the Guardian. Conducted by David Ward on 11 July 2001. Also includes a data sheet containing biographical details about the subject and information about the recording and a detailed track guide.

Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):

Disc 1:
Track 1
Test

Track 2
09.03 Atmosphere at the Guardian was masculine without being macho

12.00 Guardian editors and the relative youth of Alastair Hetherington
16.00 The move to London from Manchester
19.30 The chain of command between London and Manchester after the move

21.00 No cross fertilisation of ideas
22.00 Hetherington moving to London
29.00 Felt the paper went downhill quickly in its early days in London

30.00 Strict division of Labour - Muirfax and TTS
35.00 Changing stories because of the influence of the Times
37.30 Hetherington guaranteed the life-expectancy of the paper as being at least 5 years

41.00 Merger plans and Jones' car crash
42.00 The 1968/9 revamp - no longer such a "bits and bobs" paper
46.30 Open line to news stories
48.00 Sharp focussing and getting to the story
48.30 Starting to have 'foot-in-the-door' reporters
49.00 Horse racing in the paper

50.00 Loosing readers in parts of the country to gain them elsewhere
52.25 Circulation in different parts of the country and people 'buying the paper for the wrong reasons'
56.40 1976 significant move to London with Manchester becoming an 'outpost'

Track 3
02.00 Describes Peter Preston as a 'marvellous ideas man...great innovator"
04.14 The downside of the London move
08.30 Summing up and discussion on late 1960s innovations

Access to recording via GNM Digital Repository

Copyright: Guardian News & Media Ltd and Brian Jones