Journeyman: Diana, Heysel and the Hand of God... a life in newspapers

by Paul Fry

The eclectic life and crimes of a British journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in Fleet Street and who has seen a revolution, from hot metal to digital. Paul was adopted from birth, given up by an Irish woman - a domestic who lived in central London, who already had two children – and describes his efforts to track her down, and his struggles to come to terms with being different. His journey takes in growing up in the country’s first New Town, built after many were bombed out of London in WWII. He works hard to get to grammar school, but then fails his O-levels and is given a second chance that he grabs in both hands. His career in newspapers begins with his local paper, and takes in times as a freelance, including working on the first editions of the new Mail on Sunday, and then a staffer on The Sporting Life. He worked on the technical side, on equipment that empowered journalists after the stranglehold of the print unions in Fleet Street was broken. Paul also had five years living and working in New Zealand, offering a different perspective on life, before returning to work in provincial newspapers. Along the way, he worked with so many colourful characters – as well as for the disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell. It is a remarkable journey in a fast-changing world. And the tale ends with the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Britain’s newspaper industry.

211 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 29, 2020

Reviews

[Andy Pikesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Stevenage to Fleet Street

A cracking read about a life in newspapers. Most enjoyable, but then I also come from Stevenage and have met the author! Well done, Paul. A fantastic read.

[Richard Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stop Press - the triumphs and travails of a Journeyman

In this eminently readable autobiography by Paul Fry, the quintessential newspaper man, we intersect his deeply personal journey with major global and UK headlines from the past 40 years. In so doing we travel along with ourselves.

From adopted orphan, to schoolboy life in Stevenage new town, (where we shared the same form class together for 5 years) to junior staff member in a local newspaper, and then onto the hustle and bustle of Fleet Street during its convulsive reorganizing era, Paul writes with lucid engagement.

The personal narratives and his intimate engagements with mega global events such as the World Cup, the death of Lady Diana and stadium crowd tragedies are intertwined with Paul's adult search for his birth mother and family, deep loyalty and love for his local struggling Stevenage football club and life adjustment during 5 years in New Zealand.

Here is a professional writer who is reconciling the journey of his life, one uniquely positioned to retell the noble journalism vocation, and in so doing we pause inwardly and reflect on the large and small turns in the road that mark our own sojourn.

I especially enjoyed the opening chapters that detail the search for a birth mother, the description of the print union conflict with the press barons, and the last profound chapter on the future of print in a digital age.

Write on, Paul - I look forward to your next book.