A Scottish journalist's tales from another time

 

BOOK REVIEW:

A grain of truth: A Scottish journalist remembers by Jack Webster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up the book A Grain of Truth at a charity shop, not knowing anything about Jack Webster, but having an interest in the story of a local journalist whose career started in the north-east of Scotland and eventually led him to roles at one of the most prestigious national newspapers of the day.

The back cover of this 200-page book states that Jack Webster was one of Scotland's best known journalists. His career began in the later 1940s, and this autobiography was printed in 1981, when he would have been 50.

It's a well-written selection of memories of his childhood and youth in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, rich in colourful descriptions and tone to capture a way of life that, even then, was fading as modern ways changed the world.

The breadth of Webster's stories take in the pre-World War II years, the war, and the post-war world. The reader encounters stories that include brushes with such illustrious folk as Bernie Forbes, Charlie Chaplin, Mohammed Ali, and John Paul Getty.

The way Webster recalls these assorted tales is evocative and 'unshowy'. He writes with a journalist's eye to detail and with conciseness. There is room for Webster to ponder life and the march of time, which he does most powerfully in the final chapters, including a touching farewell to his parents.

At a distance of more than 40 years since these recollections were written - and with Webster himself no longer around - it is an interesting snapshot into a past world, with its values, characters and exploits. There are many surprises to be found within its pages.

Webster wrote subsequent books of memoirs, including an autobiography, which I hope to read one day having now had my interest piqued. However this, his first venture as a book writer, is a satisfying entry point to learn about the life and determination of a young journalist from a far-flung corner of rural Scotland, who went on to travel the world and meet some of its most famed personalities.

View all my reviews

Ice Cold in Alex - a classic for the ages

Memorable scene: the four main characters, played by John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle 

and Harry Andrews, enjoy a drink in Ice Cold in Alex.

Sylvia Syms, the last living star of Ice Cold in Alex, has died.

The 1958 movie is in my top ten films of all time, and has been since I first watched the black and white classic on television sometime in the 1980s. I was a teenager then and, across four decades, I’ve returned to the movie through repeat screenings on TV and DVD viewings.

Set during the Second World War, it is mesmorising from start to finish. The scene with the four main characters at the bar in Alexandria, Egypt, is impossible to forget. It captures the end of an adventure, and a bond between four people who shared a gruelling, testing journey and the sacrifices it entailed - an experience that would be a defining moment in anyone's life.

 
The photograph of the quartet at the bar also embodies standards, morals, dignity and service to oneself and others, displayed at a level and in ways that now seem heartbreakingly distant. When I last watched Ice Cold in Alex I wondered if any of the four in that memorable bar scene was still alive. At the time, Syms was the lone surviving link to the classic.
 
Now they are all gone. However, the beauty of the film they made and the story they told lives on. I highly recommend a viewing of this film.