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June 2, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:36pm

Dog watches dog 03.06.05

By Press Gazette

IS LITTLEJOHN’S COLUMN TURNING INTO A SAGA?

With his new Mail contract tucked firmly into his pocket, Richard
Littlejohn has no need of the kennel’s help in adding to his bank
balance.

But we still can’t help pointing out how a piece he wrote for The Sun last year appears to have acquired a life of its own.

Last
year, this column revealed how a Littlejohn piece in October headlined
“Rum, Sodomy and the Lifejacket” had been sent in to the Daily Mail’s
Peterborough column (“the column that belongs entirely to you, the
reader”) and printed there, word for word, as the work of a Bruce Baker
from Pinner.

Since then, it’s spread like a particularly ugly
virus on the internet – and pops up, again word for word, as a full
page in this month’s edition of the estimable monthly Saga, along with
a full-page illustration by cartoonist Maclachlan. This time it’s
credited to an “anonymous author”.

I bet Saga editor Emma Soames pays a decent word rate, Richard. Dog will be happy with a 10 per cent finder’s fee.

Dog
first revealed the story of Richard Littlejohn’s ‘stolen’ column last
November (far right) which has now turned up word for word in Saga

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Becks’s new look is met with approval from the wife

A rather sad sign-of-the-times internal e-mail from Ipswich. It seems the kids want Becks and not Sir Bobby these days.

“We have run a competition in the Evening Star for children readers
to enter to win a day with Bobby Charlton’s Soccer School at
Gainsborough Sports Centre, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough
entries and have 22 places to fill.

“If there is anyone who knows of a child who would be interested in coming along for the day can they please let me know.”

WILBY: ‘I AM A DEAD PARROT’

The departure of Peter Wilby from the editor’s chair at the New
Statesman brought forth the predictable “did he go or was he pushed?”
speculation, eventually confirmed as the latter by the man himself.

The morning after his assisted departure (as The Times would no
doubt have called it), he had the excellent grace to fulfil a
commitment to speak to a conference of headmasters. “I am the late
editor, a dead parrot of an editor,” he told delegates, before
suggesting they write to Geoffrey Robinson, the magazine’s proprietor,
to tell him: “Well done in firing that man.”

Still, it seems
there is no animosity between him, his former boss and his replacement
John Kampfner. That’s because the two of them are hosting a party at
The Atrium in Millbank to celebrate Wilby’s seven-year stretch – the
invite is pictured on the left. Very gentlemanly all round.

Meanwhile, word reaches the kennel that one of the senior Statesmen team is also looking around for pastures new.

 

From the Evening Standard. The caption reveals a surprising perk for shop assistants if there is a retail downturn.

O’NEILL’S FINAL SHOT HITS TARGET

Graham Spiers, the pugnacious chief sportswriter of The Herald,
isn’t too sure if departed Celtic FC manager Martin O’Neill, damned him
or praised him at his final press conference after winning the
Tennent’s Scottish Cup on Saturday.

The Scottish soccer hacks showed their appreciation for O’Neill by giving him a round of applause.

However, one of O’Neill’s final remarks was directed towards Spiers.

Said
O’Neill: “I save my final parting shot for Mr Spiers. I don’t always
agree with what you’ve said but that doesn’t really matter. You’ve
shown great courage.”

Spiers has been a fervent critic of O’Neill
(he once said he looks like he “should be a librarian in Newport
Pagnell”), who has left to look after his wife who has cancer.

The
manager had a love-hate affair with the Scottish media, and once
described one or two of his tabloid tormentors as “semi-literate”.

Construction
News was preparing to display the Highly Commended certificate that its
CNplus website won at last month’s PPA Awards for Editorial and
Publishing Excellence when it was noticed that the upholders of
editorial values at the Periodical Publishers Association (“25 years
celebrating excellence”) had forgotten to apply them to their own
proofreading…

 

An intriguing juxtaposition of headline and picture from the front page of the East Anglian Daily Times.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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