Jinx of Fleet Street

I contenuti

From his humble beginnings as a provincial reporter with the Middlesborough Evening Gazette to his time as a political reporter on four national newspapers, Jinx of Fleet Street is the fascinating account of Arthur Butler's long and successful career as a journalist. The memoirs recount his reportage of major political events under various post-war prime ministers, including Harold Macmillan and Edward Heath. The 'jinx' of the title refers to the fact that three out of the four national papers he worked on died under him, after which he began his second successful career as Westminster's leading lobbyist. He provides a veritable who's-who of British politics in the mid-to-late twentieth century, covering topics such as the Suez crisis, Britain's planned entry into the Common Market, the Profumo affair and the scandals that dogged the Wilson premiership. It features a cast of familiar characters including Hugh Gaitskill, Lord Beaverbrook, Barbara Castle, Michael Foot as well as other high-profile journalist colleagues of the era. In a time when the credibility of the profession is at an all-time low, amidst phone-hacking scandals and privacy litigation, Butler's immensely readable and absorbing book is a timely expose into the true workings of the media world in a different age.