NIGHTCLUB WAG LEAVES A MESSAGE FOR MEMBERS
The Journal’s story about a new computer system to combat underage
drinking in a Newcastle nightclub was illustrated with this
three-quarter page picture of a suitably glamorous young lady
demonstrating how it works. The system captures information about
visitors to the club, which can be accessed using a thumbprint on
future visits.
Unfortunately, neither the photographer nor the subject of the
picture – nor the page sub for that matter – noticed that some joker
had entered a rather ungentlemanly message in the “Members info”
section of the computer screen. The size of the picture was enough for
eagle-eyed readers to pick out the words.
Tindle’s ‘hear here’
Who says proprietors don’t keep a close eye on what’s in their
newspapers? Sir Ray Tindle stepped in to help a 92-year-old war hero
whose plight he read about in The Sunday Independent, one of the titles
he owns.
Ralph Tucker, of Exeter, had become deaf and was facing an 18-month
wait on the NHS to have a hearing aid. He is the last surviving member
of Wingate’s Chindits, the largest of the Allied special forces who
fought deep behind Japanese lines in North Burma.
Sir Ray, owner
of 215 newspapers and radio stations around the country, offered to
help and discovered that he and Tucker served in the same Devonshire
Regiment during the latter stages of the war in the Far East. He agreed
to pay the private cost of sending Tucker for a hearing aid immediately.
Sir
Ray said: “I am very pleased to be able to help Mr Tucker. I met a good
number of the Chindits towards the end of the war and have a great
respect for what they did and what they achieved.”
CULT LEADER SEEKS A CAREER
Vincent Flood, a journalism student at the University of
Westminster, has found a rather unique way to promote himself in the
job market.
First of all he registered one of the Pope’s supposed Hotmail
accounts (benedictxvi@hotmail.it), and sold it on eBay, getting himself
a decent bit of press coverage in the process, including a story on the
BBC News website.
Now he’s following up that stunt by starting a cult blog called Cyber-Pope.
The
story has gained international media coverage and the site is already
number 85 in the top 100 blogs, according to Blog Patrol rankings, even
though Flood only set it up a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m hoping the publicity will help me to find a job when I finish my MA in five weeks’ time,” says Flood.
“Though I’m not sure which newspaper is looking for a cult leader on their staff.”
Dog will leave readers to add their own punchline here.
where it’s really difficult to imagine how the conversation must have
gone.
Dog was barking up completely the wrong tree by writing in the
column of 24 April that freelance journalist Viv Groskop owned a second
home with her husband in the South of France – and implying that as
such it was hypocritical of her to write about the difficulties of
being a working mother in the New Statesman. Viv tells us: “We don’t
have a second home in Bordeaux or indeed anywhere else. If only.
If anyone had contacted me, I would have been happy to tell them this.” Our apologies.
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