Serene smile: HRH Express publisher: Sly Bailey
Shy Sly forgets her Mirror role
The great and the good of journalism were presented to Her Majesty
the Queen this week in her role as patron of the NPF- the journalists’
charity, which is launching a £4m appeal to upgrade its care home in
Dorking.
Among them was Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror. But
when the monarch was ushered over, Bailey rather bizarrely introduced
herself, not with her real job title, but as “the publisher of the
Windsor, Slough and Eton Express” – which Dog concedes is technically
true, if a little economical with the truth.
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“Oh,” rejoined Her Majesty, “I read that quite regularly. It is
always full of good stories.” Dog is sure editor Paul Thomas will be
delighted to hear it.
But why was Bailey so coy about revealing her true identity? Could
it be she did not want to be associated with her flagship title, whose
‘Intruder at the Palace’ scoop caused such a hoo-ha at the Palace last
year? ` The Sun editor, meanwhile, was not backwards in stepping
forward. “How are the grandsons, ma’am?” Rebekah Wade asked the Queen
when she was introduced. “I was wondering if either of them is
interested in a career in journalism.”
Given that Harry had been accused two days previously in sister
title The News of the World of cheating in his exams, perhaps Wade
thought he was exhibiting the rat-like cunning needed for a Sun
reporter.
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And perhaps that also explains the Queen’s response: a serene smile
before she moved on to chat with the next person in the line.
And finally, who was the veteran Daily Mirror man who had an
unfortunate accident with a canape´ just as he was approached by HRH?
Answers, or confessions, to Dog’s usual email address.
New offices give the Star boys an excuse to come over all smarty-farty
Hard-pressed (geddit?) Daily Star staff moved seamlessly from their
cramped Ludgate House HQ to Richard Desmond’s beautiful new home at 10
Lower Thames Street in the City onMonday. And so impressed were they
with their new surroundings that members of the art desk teamdecided to
shun their usual blue overalls and replace them with City slicker suits
and ties for the day.
Stopping some way short of bowler hats and pinstripes, the lads were
joined by new recruit Denise Flower who sported pinstripe stockings.
Sadly for Dog and his readers, Denise did not make the line-up shown
here. They are Steve Usher, Ian Angel, Jeremy Bond and Richard Fenn.
More smart desk than art desk…
Book launch hero flies to the rescue
Peter Macdiarmid raced to rescue the launch of British Press
Photographers Association book Five Thousand Days at the National
Theatre on Tuesday.
With just hours to go before the launch party, there were only a handful of copies of the book available.
Macdiarmid sprang into action, arranging with BA to fly to the
Italian city of Verona, where the book had been printed, to collect a
new consignment.
In the end hemade it with moments to spare
Revenge sweeter than rejection for prize-winning Palin
If there’s a journalistic equivalent of turning down the Beatles, as
Capitol Records once famously did, Independent columnist Miles Kington
apparently knows all about it.
Comedian turned professional traveller Michael Palin, who picked up
a special prize at the Telegraph Travel Awards, revealed all at the
Waldorf Hilton onMonday night.
He dedicated his award to Kington, Noel Edmonds and Alan Whicker –
who all apparently turned down Palin’s first BBC travel series, Around
theWorld in 80 Days.
Still, who wants all those millions from numerous lucrative follow-up series and best-selling books?
Paul McLaughlin says he’s not ruling out a return to themusic scene
Hollywood stardom beckons the NUJ’s best-known Prat
It will only be a few die-hards from the punk era that remember a
band called The Prats, an Edinburgh-based outfit that had some minor
success in the late Seventies.
But a quarter of a century after they played their final gig, The
Scotsman revealed on Monday that a Prats’ song called General Davis is
being used as the opening for the Hollywood blockbuster, The Manchurian
Candidate .
The All Media Scotland web site picked up the story and found that
it was Prats guitarist Paul McLaughlin who had taken the call from
Tinseltown.
Having lost contact with the rest of the band, McLaughlin had to
take out an ad in the Edinburgh Evening News and eventually, the rest
of the band- David and Jeff Macguire and Elspeth McLeod- were located.
But surely that couldn’t be the same Paul McLaughlin who is
broadcasting organiser at the National Union of Journalists? It
certainly could.
McLaughlin explains to Dog that he was on a commuter train to
Chelmsford when the call from the LA agent came through on his mobile,
explaining that director Jonathan Demme was a big Prats fan.
That’s the Jonathan Demme who won an Oscar for The Silence of the
Lambs , directed Tom Hanks in Philadelphia and made the acclaimed
Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense .
The agent also mentioned that Demme was making The Manchurian
Candidate with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. “‘You may have heard
of them,’ he said. I thought he was winding me up.”
So is this the cue for McLaughlin to turn his back on his brothers
and sister in the union, restring his guitar and head for the high
life, Dog wonders? “I’mnot ruling anything out at this stage,” he says
enigmatically.
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