Print In London and the rest …
I arrived in Clerkenwell Green EC1 one Monday morning ready to start my new job as Assistant Manager ~ with nowhere to live and just a few bags of belongings. My new employers allowed me to spend the day on the phone trying to get myself somewhere to live ~ it's an enormous city, so there should be plenty of places, thought I. Although I scoured every page of the Evening Standard's rental section, unfortunately, the reality was somewhat different. Most places wanted a hefty deposit and a month's rent up front ~ money which I didn't have.
By the time the night shift arrived I was still homeless. Luckily, though, one of them had a partner who was in the West Indies building a home for them, so she had room for me to stay (for a small price) while I found somewhere permanent to live. I stayed at her place in Manor House for a week or so before finding a room the size of a small toilet in Willesden Green. (I found out later her partner had spent their money and done a runner … there never was a house.)
The company I was working for was called ECM2 (ECM meaning Electronic Communications Matters ~ part of the larger I.T. Matters Group), alongside ~ or at least a few doors away from ~ their sister company, ECM1. The main work was setting articles and display advertisements for such magazines as Construction News, Melody Maker, New Musical Express, etc.
I developed a knack for setting display ads on the Linotron 202 system ~ rarely ever making a spelling mistake, while being able to judge setting the ad to fit exactly in its box. This may sound easy-peasy nowadays, but you weren't working with a WYSIWYG system then ~ all you could see were the text and codes in alpha-numeric format. It went something along these lines: 
Type intro code | type file details | track an advance space | put in parameters for box (width, length, rule weight) | then code to take you back to the top left hand corner | then place a small advance to take you to the first line | set typeface, size, leading, set left/right/centre | type your heading, then (changing fonts and sizes as you go) set the rest of the ad. | then another small advance, type initials | enter code to close the file.
Nothing at all like being able to see what you're doing as you go along!
Shortly after I started the Manager left the company and I was left running both shifts ~ then both shifts at ECM1 as well (while still being paid as an Assistant!).
They employed office girls who could type, but had no experience, knowledge of, or training in how to use the equipment properly. This led to a lot of wastage ~ particularly of the expensive photo-sensitive paper we had to output onto, even when proofing ~ when articles and ads were having to be runout several times before they were acceptable. Moreover, it led to the staff being upset when they were told their work wasn't up to standard.
So, I changed the system so they simply named files, set the text in basic format, then put an end code and saved it onto a floppy disc. Then I got the two staff members who were trained in the equipment to take the files and format them correctly before outputting them. This saved a fortune in waste paper, made the entire process more efficient and cheaper, while taking the pressure off the girls, leaving them to do what they did well, which was to produce good, clean copy.
While I was there they also took on the setting for the short-lived relaunch of the London Evening News and the small ads section of Motorcycle News, the latter reuniting me for a short time with some former colleagues from Kettering EMAP.
I had to organise a small army of freelance typesetters to work through from late Friday afternoon to mid-morning on the Saturday. With the rates the company were paying, this soon became a full weekend task. There were around 50+ pages of these adverts ~ so I came up with the idea of turning-in some of the previous week's adverts ~ especially when the only change to them was the descriptions and prices for second-hand bikes on sale. Only some of our freelancers were good enough to handle this system though, and many of the files soon became useless.
Come Monday morning the MCN boys would be there to supervise the final layout paste-up before it head off for press around noon to the early afternoon.
None of these projects lasted that long, because although it was the parent company's plan to take over the production of every single newspaper and magazine in the country, they never threw enough money at the projects.
I was next asked to move to another part of the group about half a mile away again as Assistant Manager. These were called Computer Graphics and were the group's flagship. They did all the pre-press work (at least to finished artwork stage) of The Times' Education, Higher Education and Literary supplements (among others) ~ very prestigious titles. However, the work itself was quite boring ~ just simply marking-up copy ready for setting by their cohort of well-qualified typesetters, then allocating the workload to ensure a constant flow of articles for each publication.
By around midday, we were usually all down the pub with the director, Vinny, who, along with many other managers and directors of this group, would easily have fitted into the role of “dodgy geezer” in any Guy Ritchie movie. Apart from the occasional return to the office to top up the work baskets, these sessions would last most of the day, and sometimes well into the night. We drank like fish, gambled, and did the bare minimum necessary to get the work out. It was an enjoyable time, but I knew if I kept it going the pace would either turn me into someone I didn't want to be, or would kill me!
I left, joining a former colleague at a small print company who were promising large investment in the photosetting side. Unfortunately this investment was never forthcoming, so I sought another position very quickly. This quickly materialised through a company called Transcript, who were part of the over-large Conway Group, who I joined working night shifts for the first time. Here I learnt how to expand my skills into design typesetting, with the emphasis on meticulously kerning type for discerning high-end design agencies.
I did work for some really well-known names, such as Ernst & Young, Saatchi & Saatchi, etc., as well as smaller design companies. My ability to visualise the end product ~ along with my own system of putting kerning instructions into single-keystroke programmable keys ~ meant my services were in high demand, and the company revelled in how much they could hire them out by the hour.
Transcript also got in quickly with the new Apple Mac technology, setting themselves up as an outputting bureau as a side line. I ended up as night shift manager when the last guy left following a management buyout (the Conway Group was considered by the powers that be to be too large and forced to downsize). Over the next six months, their staff numbers went from 30+ to less than 10 ~ including the new boss's family members. It was clear the future wasn't going to be bright here!
A freelance designer who rented desk space from Transcript in exchange for handling much of their artworking came up with the idea of the company's other artworker, plus myself and another typesetter joining him to form a company of our own. He had his bank's backing for the project and a basic client base to start with. We all went for it and Panic Graphics was born ? with a suitable logo for the time, in Roy Lichtenstein style.
I worked myself stupid for them ~ helping with work for NGOs, quangos, alongside agency work. But by this time, the big design agencies had taken the decision to stop paying expensive intermediary companies and invest in Apple Macs themselves for their design staff. The result was their high-held standards for beautiful type went completely to the wall for the sake of “doing it all in-house”. For some time the results were grotesque, but they eventually got the hang of it, and companies like ours began a slow decline.
The bank we were using (Lloyds, Battersea) also got a new manager with a remit to reduce the size of working loads for small businesses. Our overdraft was continually cut, forcing us to do work at drastically lower rates in order to be paid quicker (the usual payment terms in print at that time were anything from 90-120 days). The situation became unmanageable, and wasn't helped when the other typesetter ~ who had taken on the additional role of salesman ~ was not only failing to get any work in, but hardly seemed to be doing any other kind of work, leading to the two artists deciding it was time to knock it on the head.
I went freelance for a while after that ~ I did some work for the smaller agencies, and even did the core design and initial production for a motor trade magazine ~ but I've always preferred the security of a wage, so I sought another position … after all, the bills had to be paid!
But that was easier said than done ~ London was now strewn with typesetters all seeking employment due to the changes mentioned above. However, I was given a (poorly paid) job by a publishing house on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge, doing mostly advertorials for in-flight magazines. This was a 9-5 job, which I commuted to 9-4 by working through my lunch, so I could then get to the second job I'd secured ~ a part-time job working around 3hrs every evening at another typesetters producing trade magazines for the Far East and Oriental markets. So ensued a period of very hard work, but at least it got me back on my feet.
Eventually, the night job company offered me a day post, so I took it and left the other. This at least cut my hours down a bit without seriously affecting my income. I was one of three setters there, the other two being two easy going fellas, so all was well. The boss was a bit of a maverick, with a strange set of friends. One day we were joined by two members of The Stranglers, and another time we met with a South American native who was in London to ask Sting (in his words) to f*ck off out of the rainforest, as he was doing more harm there than good! His all-body tattooing was amazing.
The rest of the staff there were highly-paid tele-salesmen (most high as a kite a lot of the time) pitching for ad sales day in, day out. We all went out one night (near Christmas) to the bar at the top of Quaglinos ~ a posh restaurant in St James's ~ where his salesmen started quaffing £300 bottles of champagne, straight from the bottle! In a few hours his bar tab had reached over £3k … he was livid once he found out! (The next do we went to, he handed me the booze vouchers ~ as he said I was the only one who could handle his drink!)
One in particular, known as “JC” was into the rave scene, particularly at a Kings Cross nightclub called The Cross. i did various artworks for him for acts they had on there, including a series of posters based on famous movie posters, but adapted to suit the designs for their main crew ~ The Glitterati. These won an award in Time Out magazine … I saw nothing of these, but then, JC was the one with the ideas. They were just fun for me to do. (I still have a few hard copies of the posters, etc. … somewhere, but the original files are all lost on a very old computer.)
Eventually the work began to dry up, and expecting them to adopt a policy of last-in-first-out, I started looking around for another job. This search proved fruitful, and I was offered a job as studio manager with a publishing company founded by a holidaying hippy ~ Apa Publications ~ whose ethos was not as money-grabbing as many others I'd seen. Apa were based in a multi-storey building on The Cut, just along from the Young Vic, which was more of an enormous house than offices. Apa had just been taken over by the Langenscheidt Group, who were another family company of centuries standing, who produce THE German dictionary (unlike us, the Germans only have the one).
They were investing heavily in the company and seeking to move us into new premises where the set-up could be brought into the 21st century, rather than the ragtag bunch of freelancers and maverick operators … though that had worked well for them for many years.
The main publications were Insight Guides, Pocket Guides and Compact Guides ~ travel guides with maps, many excellent illustrations and pictures, all accompanied by commentaries by experienced travellers. I held them all in the highest regard ~ they were nothing less than authors in their own right … with the bonus of travel on top.
My standing in the company accelerated ~ many there were experts in their own fields, but had little knowledge of anything outside their own disciplines. With my wider experience, it felt like I had arrived there at there at just the right time for them … and me. Ultimately, I was tasked with arranging the company's move to new premises on Borough High Street ~ a building with a Grade II listed three-storey frontage, with a four-storey office building attached to the rear. I had to plan, design and implement everything ~ from door entry systems, to layout, decor, lighting, air-conditioning, power and internet connectivity (with the future in mind), furnishing, etc. … the lot!
I was sharp enough to know I couldn't handle all this myself, so engaged a company to do much of the work, then outsource the remainder to sub-contractors or separate companies. The job came in on time ~ and within budget ~ to such an extent that staff left the old building on the Friday afternoon, then arrived at the new one on the Monday morning to find their place, computers, belongings and other materials, all there waiting for them. All they had to do with sit down and switch on. The only hiccup was a break-in on the Saturday night, when around £26k of computer equipment was taken. One small section of security grills couldn't be installed in time for the move, so I asked the M.D. to pay for security staff to be there over the weekend, just in case (costing around £250), but he said it wasn't worth the cost! I had all the equipment replaced within 24 hours.
Langenscheidt thought the sun shone out of my proverbial ~ which wasn't so much the case for some of the other managers there. They were more than a little upset at the progress this grammar school educated oik was making, ahead of their privately-schooled and university educated selves.
I was now handling the production of all the guides, which were printed in Singapore in multiple languages ~ with the colour plates remaining the same for each language, and the black text for each fitting within the gaps … a feat in itself ~ and they were being done more efficiently than ever before. I also helped instigate the production of the company's website ~ meant to reflect its colourful nature with pictures abounding. I discovered a way of using low-res images temporarily produced by our page layout software, Quark XPress, which reduced both the cost of picture re-imaging and the time it took to produce them by around 90 per cent. Another feather in my cap … but not pleasing for the manager of the photo production department, who felt usurped. Hell, it was more cost-effective and time-saving, so why should they complain? It was nothing to do with “empire building” or anything so crass. But the tide against me was building.
Any time any error occurred, other department heads tried to either blame it on me or my staff. At a team meeting, I was accused by one of the other managers of running my department “like a boot camp” ~ a quote she had heard, allegedly, from one of them. While we remained in the room, I asked the M.D. to get his secretary to speak individually to each member of my team and ~ if any of them expressed such an opinion, I would resign on the spot. I knew I was sticking my neck out, but what the hell! She was gone for 45 minutes or so, but returned with a stunned look on her face. Her conclusion for the meeting was: “His staff would throw themselves under a bus for him!”. At least that kept the M.D. on my side for a time.
The reason I was less worried about this was because I always looked after my staff. I ensured they got the best of training, were allowed to express themselves in their work, giving credit where due and not taking any credit myself for their endeavours. And when work was slack, I let them take it in turns to have an odd afternoon off. I had one Muslim member of staff ~ who had brought complaints of racial discrimination against his last two employers. When designing the layout of the building, I had incorporated a space for him to pray during working hours, where he could lock a door behind him and have complete privacy. And the previous year, when Apa changed tradition and only gave managers a bonus at Christmas, while the others simply pocketed theirs, I spent the majority of mine on presents for staff and a lunchtime drink just before we broke up for Christmas. So, you see … I looked after them and they looked after me!
However, this witch hunt unfortunately coincided with the worsening of my (then as yet undiagnosed) sleep apnoea, leaving me ever more vulnerable to attack. This came to a head when I attended a meeting with the M.D. and editorial director in Munich. I couldn't stay awake during the meeting, and the M.D. put this down to my having been “out on the town” with a friend the night before, who I'd gone over early to meet up with. But even I thought it must have something to do with the drink, not knowing how much the apnoea was affecting me.
Without his backing the vultures began circling. The production set-up was altered and some of my staff moved to work specifically for other departments, removing my security. For the last half of 2000, I went through a period of what can only be described as a breakdown. I managed to keep working, to a degree, but still can't figure out how I did that … or remember, other than I was downing around a dozen cans of Red Bull every day just to keep myself awake. Eventually, I handed in my three-month notice, just not being able to stand it any more.
One day I suffered what the GP considered to be either a mild stroke or heart attack. I was in my computer room ~ with mirror glass, so I couldn't even signal to anyone ~ held in the same position for at least two hours … I couldn't move, the pain in my chest was so bad. When it finally eased, I went to the front office, ready to head off to the shop for a snack, only to find a letter from the M.D. in my pigeonhole saying that although he sympathised with my circumstances (this was when I had just split with my wife ~ see other pages), when would I be back to work permanently. I was understandably upset by this, and when I went to see my GP after the attack, he too was disgusted and asked how long I had left of my notice period … then wrote me a sick note to cover beyond my final date. So, I went back to the office, packed a few things and left a message with a copy of the sick note for the M.D. to say I wouldn't be back. (I also left them a list of the necessary 50-or-so passwords for all the systems, but omitted to pinpoint which each was for!)
I absolutely loved that job. It was the best I'd ever had ~ and the best I had ever been in a job. It should have been my future, but between the bullying, the ignorance, my undiagnosed illness and my wife leaving me, it wasn't to be.
Other than a short period as an advertisement setter at the Chronicle & Echo in Northampton a few years later, I have not been back in the trade I loved so much.
From hand typesetting with a comp stick and metal type ~ through various forms of “new technology” ~ ultimately to the higher end of Apple technology, I have done it all. And this knowledge held me in good stead when, a few years ago, I took on the editorship of the Rothwell Heritage Magazine ~ not a paid role, but simply to help with the town's heritage centre's funding. I still use Quark XPress, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more ~ either for pleasure, or to enhance the appearance of documents I produce for the housing charity I now work for.
You never lose it …