2010. No Edition Remarks. 192 pages. Pictorial paper cover with lettering. Signed by the author with dedication to Geoff on title page. Clean pages with light tanning. Minor dog-eared corners. Binding remains firm. Paper covers have mild edge-wear with slight rubbing to surfaces and curling to corners. Lettering is bright and clear. Minor wear marks to covers.
Brian Dowling, was a journalist and Public Relations Consultant. He was educated at Tonbridge and won a scholarship to Christ’s College, Cambridge. He joined the RAF as a Cambridge cadet pilot in 1944.
Following the war, Dowling returned to university, but was rusticated from Christ’s for declaiming Aeschylus from the clock tower at two in the morning. He had achieved a First in Classics in the initial part of his Tripos but left Cambridge with a Third in Moral Sciences. There were, he declared, “only two degrees worth having – an effortless First and an effortless Third, and I got ’em both”.
Brian began as a journalist for Picture Post, working alongside the famous photographer, Bert Hardy. While Hardy captured many evocative images of 1950s Britain, it was Brian who chose the subjects and locations, including Picture Post's most celebrated Bert Hardy Photograph: “Blackpool Belles”.
Following Picture Post, he became a publicist with the Rank Organisation and a pioneer in the field of public relations. In 1957, he wrote a television documentary series, "The Way We Live", for a subsidiary of the Rank Organisation and Within two years he was head of Rank’s public and press relations department.
On leaving the Rank organisation, Dowling started his own business, becoming one of London's first corporate relations consultants.
Brian Dowling was the last man I knew in London to sport a Bowler Hat (Coke Hat as he would say), a tightly rolled umbrella and a monocle.
As befits his humorous style as a raconteur, this autobiography provides an amusing insight into his life and career at Picture Post, The Rank Organisation and as a consultant for Kleinwort Benson. He certainly lived his life to the full at a time before tick-box appraisals. A most enjoyable read.