stretch of the A1Z as his large Ford hit its stride; and waiting on a
cold, open-air Tube station in East London for the earliest train of the
day.
The BBC’s five o’clock bulletin had not cheered him. It had had all his
attention as he drove, for the route was so familiar that he negotiated
the bends and roundabouts automatically, from memory. The lead story
came from Westminster: the latest industrial relations bill had been
passed by Parliament, but the majority had been narrow.
Cole had caught the story the previous night on television. That meant
the morning papers would certainly have it, which in turn meant that the
Post could do nothing with it unless there were developments later in
the day.
There was a story about the Retail Price Index.
The source would be official government statistics, which would have
been embargoed until midnight: again, the mornings would have it.
It was no surprise to learn that the car workers’ strike was still on it
would hardly have been settled overnight.
Test cricket in Australia solved the sports editor’s problem, but the
score was not sufficiently sensational for the front page.
Cole began to worry.
He entered the Evening Post building and took the elevator. The newsroom
occupied the entire first floor. It was a huge, I-shaped open-plan
office. Cole entered at the foot of the I. To his left were the
typewriters and telephones of the copy takers, who would type out
stories dictated over the phone; to the right, the filing cabinets and
bookshelves of specialist writers–political, industrial, crime,
defense, and more. Cole walked up the stem of the I, through rows of
desks belonging to ordinary common-or-garden reporters, to the long news
desk which divided the room in two. Behind it was the U-shaped
sub-editors’ table, and beyond that, in the crosspiece of the I, was the
sports department semi-independent kingdom, with its own editor,
reporters, and subs.
Cole occasionally showed curious relatives around the place: he always
told them: “It’s supposed to work like a production line. Usually it’s
more like a bun fight.” It was an exaggeration, but it always got a
laugh.
The room was brightly lit, and empty. As deputy news editor, Cole had a
section of the news desk to himself. He opened a drawer and took out a
coin, then walked to the vending machine in Sport and punched buttons
for instant tea with milk and sugar. A teleprinter chattered to life,
breaking the silence.
As Cole walked back to his desk with his paper cup, the far door bumped
open. A short, gray-haired figure came in, wearing a bulky parka and
cycle clips. Cole waved and called: “Morning, George.”
“Hello, Arthur. Cold enough for you?” George began to take off his coat.
The body inside it was small and thin. Despite his age, George’s title
was Head Lad: he was chief of the office’s team of messengers. He lived
in Potters Bar and cycled to work. Arthur thought that an astonishing
feat.
Arthur put down his tea, shrugged out of his raincoat, turned on the
radio, and sat down. The radio began to murmur. He sipped tea and gazed
straight ahead. The newsroom was scruffy–chairs were scattered
randomly, newspapers and sheets of copy paper littered the desks, and
redecoration had been postponed in last year’s economy drive but the
scene was too familiar to register. Cole’s mind was on the first
edition, which would be on the streets in three hours.
Today’s paper would have sixteen pages. Fourteen of the first edition’s
pages already existed as semi cylindrical metal plates on the press
downstairs. They contained advertising, features, television programs,
and news written in such a way that its age would–it was hoped–be
overlooked by the reader. That left the back page for the sports editor
and the front page for Arthur Cole.
Parliament, a strike, and inflation–they were all yesterday stories.
There was not much he could do with them. Any of them could be dressed
up with a today intro, like
“Cabinet Ministers today held an inquest on the Government’s narrow
escape …” There was one of those for every situation. Yesterday’s
disaster became today’s news story with “Dawn today revealed the full