Scoops and Swindles

Memoirs of a Fleet Street Journalist

by Alfred Draper

Buchan & Enright, Publishers, 1988, [First Edition], b/w photographic plates, hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0907675735

Near Fine Condition, minor edge and shelf wear

'Here are the fiascoes and triumphs of reporting. both at home and abroad; the engaging eccentricities of some of The Street's greatest journalists, as well as the less engaging eccentricities - and egocentricities - of the ruthless press barons - notably Beaverbrook; the underhanded behaviour of picture 'snatchers'; and skulduggery and honour among rival reporters.
It was a time of contrasts, the tragedy and senselessness of the Biafran War and Northern Ireland's terrorism set alongside a Keystone-Kops-like chase through Spanish orange groves, with Christine Keeler in tow; the case of the 'Jersey Monster' alongside antics of a runaway vicar; the frustrations and muddles of foreign reporters obliged to communicate in 'cable-ese'.  It was a time, too, when British papers were still the best in the world, Fleet Street known not only for the quality of its reporting but also for its own brand of integrity.'