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.

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Farewell to the Bermuda Sun

And then there was one. One newspaper in Bermuda, that is.

When I first arrived there were three. But the global recession, coupled with falling revenues and changes in the way people, especially the young, acquire their news, sadly led to the closure of the weekly Mid Ocean News in 2010, and now the shuttering of the twice-weekly Bermuda Sun.

On Wednesdays and Fridays the routine was pretty much the same. In the morning I'd pick up a copy of the Bermuda Sun and retire for an hour to a comfortable seat, either outside on the patio enjoying the fresh air or, if it was too hot or too breezy, then indoors on the sofa in the lounge or in the quiet sanctuary of the den.

And there I'd sit and read the latest news from 'the competition'. It was always a treat, a small block of time when all other distractions were ushered from the mind to allow undivided attention to be given to the newspaper at hand, with coffee and chocolate chip cookie in the other.

Oh, the chocolate chip cookie. Well yes, a rare indulgence that always accompanied the ritual of flicking through the newspaper where I'd particularly enjoy the more offbeat, community-driven news, together with a raft of social opinions and commentary acting as a window on the patchwork of differing views and issues of the day.

When news broke that the Bermuda Sun was to close, it was sudden. The farewell edition of the 50-year-old newspaper rolled off the presses just a few days later.

Now, less than two weeks later, I am missing those twice-a-week relaxing mornings when I could quietly sip coffee, munch on a reward cookie and read what the island's other newspaper voice had to say. That voice is now silent.

Often, it is only when something we had taken for granted is gone that we truly appreciate what it meant to us and the pleasure it brought. The Bermuda Sun has set. My thoughts go out to those who lost their jobs. I salute all who worked there and did so much to make it an eagerly anticipated treat to read.