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BlyBlyBabes

That headline. Yes, that one.

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Who wrote it? Anybody know?

Find that man and honour him.

He has a place in Canary folklore - just like Terry, the eleven others and Archie Macaulay.

OTBC

 

 

 

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Agree, although I''m waaaaay to young to have ever seen him,  from what I have read and seen from the archives he was truly one of our best ever.

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Not me.  I think I''d just made it to the Essex Weekly News by then.  Whoever the Sports Editor or Chief Sports Sub was is the likely answer.  Can''t think there would be anyone at Archant nowadays who would know. 

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Didn''t think you were that old Cam[:P] I take it that the person who wrote the article didn''t come up with the headline? Would that be the editors job?

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[quote user="Herman "]Didn''t think you were that old Cam[:P] I take it that the person who wrote the article didn''t come up with the headline? Would that be the editors job?[/quote]

 

Yes I am that old.  Headline would have been down to the chief sports sub of the day or the Sports Editor (who might have subbed it himself).

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"]I think, without being sure, that the sports editor at that time was Ted Bell (father of Martin???). But it is a very long time ago.
[/quote]

 

I think you might be right.  One person who would probably know is Keith Skipper.

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[quote user="Pablo Pickarsole"]Are headlines always the responsibility of editors or sub editors then, Cam, or do journalists sometimes get involved in that process?[/quote]I''m sorry but that made me laugh out loud. Editors and, yes, even sub-editors, are actually journalists. Or, at least, they should be...

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Pink Un headlines were one of the highlights of a Saurday evening back in the 60''s and 70''s. There were loads of good ones that were always topical to other events. I remember waiting for the Pink Un after we''d beaten Portsmouth away back in the 60''s. We won 4-1 I think but I know that Albert Bennett scored a hat-trick. It was Grand national day and Gay Trip had just won. Clever people would have predicted the headline was "Bennett makes it Gay Trip for Canaries".

"Hot Cross Bone Day" was another.

 

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Pablo Pickarsole"]Are headlines always the responsibility of editors or sub editors then, Cam, or do journalists sometimes get involved in that process?[/quote]

I''m sorry but that made me laugh out loud. Editors and, yes, even sub-editors, are actually journalists. Or, at least, they should be...[/quote]

All I can say is it doesn''t take much to tickle your chuckle muscles then, PC. Lucky old you! Of course, I was quite aware that editors and subs are senior journalists, but how else was I supposed to pose my question in order to satisfy a pedant like you?

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[quote user="Pablo Pickarsole"]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Pablo Pickarsole"]Are headlines always the responsibility of editors or sub editors then, Cam, or do journalists sometimes get involved in that process?[/quote]I''m sorry but that made me laugh out loud. Editors and, yes, even sub-editors, are actually journalists. Or, at least, they should be...[/quote]

All I can say is it doesn''t take much to tickle your chuckle muscles then, PC. Lucky old you! Of course, I was quite aware that editors and subs are senior journalists, but how else was I supposed to pose my question in order to satisfy a pedant like you?

[/quote]Actually, Pablo, it normally takes quite a lot more than that. However in this case I just had this mental image of the withering Antipodean sarcasm that would be provoked if you told the editor of the Wall Street Journal that he wasn''t a journalist, or the rather more earthy comments you might get from the very British editor of the Daily Telegraph, and was accordingly provoked to a bit of gentle weekend leg-pulling.

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[quote user="Pablo Pickarsole"]Are headlines always the responsibility of editors or sub editors then, Cam, or do journalists sometimes get involved in that process?[/quote]

Reporters, until recently, rarely got involved in actually writing the headlines.  Exceptions were some country papers - one I can think of in my time was the old Halstead Gazette where Geoff Root was the reporter.  He then set his own words in type, operated the printing machine, and delivered the paper by van each Thursday.

Headline writing is a special skill and headline writers are still maintained by the nationals - it''s particularly important to the tabloids.  All of them as far as I know still have a Splash Sub because the impact of Page One can be a seller, Sports back page ditto.

What has happened in recent years in the regionals is that many of the subs have been made redundant and reporters directly input on to a page.  It varies from organisation to organisation but sometimes reporters now have to think up the headline and also write the xheads (the break words that prevent an article from just being a sea of words).  But someone still has to have an overall design of the pages and to prevent similar headlines sitting side by side.

Top subs on the nationals  - news and sport - can be very highly paid for their skills.  Headline writing on regionals and locals is easier usually because you are not so constricted by a house "style" usually but it still takes skill to make sure it''s a good fit and isn''t shy (which also looks bad on the page) and it should also "interest" someone into reading it.

Bly, Bly Babes was a smart headline.  It might have been suggested in the reporter''s copy but, if not, whoever thought up the headline would have changed the first few pars of what the reporter wrote to suit his moment of inspiration.

All those in the various tiers of journalism need real skill to be top at their job whether it''s reporting, subbing, designing or rewriting.*  Rewriting is my special skill and I was called upon many times at The Sun to exercise it.

* In the hallowed tradition I have deliberately avoided mentioning the snappers.  The best of those also have their own very great skills of course but I am merely paying homage to generations of reporters sent on a story who traditionally asked: "Whose my monkey?"[;)]

I had the honour to work on the road with some very great "monkeys", the Sun''s legendary Royal "Arfur" and later at Today his son John among them.

 

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[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

Who wrote it? Anybody know?

Find that man and honour him.

He has a place in Canary folklore - just like Terry, the eleven others and Archie Macaulay.

OTBC

i li

 

 

 

[/quote]

i like the bit underneath "spanked by great city" brillant!

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[quote user="CANARYCHARGE"][quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

Who wrote it? Anybody know?

Find that man and honour him.

He has a place in Canary folklore - just like Terry, the eleven others and Archie Macaulay.

OTBC



i li

 

 

 

[/quote]




i like the bit underneath "spanked by great city" brillant!
[/quote]

The technical name for the "bit underneath" is the first subdeck in a three deck headline.[;)]

Both the EDP and the East Anglian Daily Times once went for three deck headlines - the Anglian with them sometimes separated by a "diamond rule" - but that was long ago and far away.

U, U/l, U condensed.

 

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[quote user="Camuldonum"][quote user="CANARYCHARGE"][quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

Who wrote it? Anybody know?

Find that man and honour him.

He has a place in Canary folklore - just like Terry, the eleven others and Archie Macaulay.

OTBC

i li

 

 

 

[/quote]

i like the bit underneath "spanked by great city" brillant![/quote]

The technical name for the "bit underneath" is the first subdeck in a three deck headline.[;)]

Both the EDP and the East Anglian Daily Times once went for three deck headlines - the Anglian with them sometimes separated by a "diamond rule" - but that was long ago and far away.

U, U/l, U condensed.

 

[/quote]

go play with binners!

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[quote user="Herman "]Didn''t think you were that old Cam[:P] I take it that the person who wrote the article didn''t come up with the headline? Would that be the editors job?[/quote]As it goes he is also the ''live-in'' DJ on Colchester Hospital Radio

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