‘Shove it in the fudge boys, shove it in the fudge’.
So goes one of the choruses to The Song of the NUJ, which has been unearthed by the union ahead of a major refurbishment of its offices in King’s Cross, played at the biennial conference in Southport.
It provides a wonderfully jaunty snapshot of life for British journalists in 1932.
The lyrics start:
Bung it in the box boys, bung it in the box
The late news, the straight news, the latest news of stocks
With all the latest cases and winners at the races
Scandal that disgraces and sins that no-one shocks.
Rather delightfully there is a long section on boozing:
And we’ll drink its health in beer boys,
In whisky, lemonade,
In teetotal drinks and brandy.
In Burgundy and shandy,
Or ginger pop and sherry,
And as we’re very merry,
And as we’re on the randy,
In anything that’s handy
We’ll drink a toast right here.
For the benefit of younger readers, the “fudge” apparently refers to the stop press panel that used to contain late news on the front of broadsheet newspapers.
Enjoy!
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