Writer Neil Haverson shares his reflections on his 50-year ride through the Norfolk and Suffolk newspaper industry in his new book launched this week. Ink in my Blood was officialy launched at Jarrold, in Norwich, on Wednesday and it sees the EDP columnist and former Let's Talk magazine editor take his readers through his experiences of the ever-changing regional media world – from flongs, hot metal and office cricket, to full colour printing, digital editions and the web.
'As I wrote about my years in print I realised I simply couldn't imagine spending my working life in any other profession,' Mr Haverson said.
'The industry has an atmosphere all of its own. It's hard to put a finger on it but it wraps itself around you. Trawling through my memory to compile this look back at my career has reawakened the experience of the 'hold the front page' era.'
Mr Haverson began his career in the mid 1960s as an advertising clerk on the Lynn News & Advertiser, before moving to Norwich and Eastern Counties Newspapers (now Archant) in the 1970s. For much of his career he worked in advertising, but his talent as a humorous writer was discovered on the in-house Prospect magazine and this went on to lead to wry sporting columns and the famous 'Fortress H' dispatches in the Eastern Daily Press.
In 2002 he became chief writer for Let's Talk magazine and was promoted to editor in 2009, taking the helm of the magazine for seven years before he retired in 2016.
Ink in my Blood features the greatest hits from Mr Haverson's Norwich Mercury, Eastern Daily Press and Let's Talk magazine columns, and his reflections on half a century in newspapers.
He said: 'I consider myself extremely fortunate to have worked in the industry when I did. I saw newspapers move from the centuries-old hot metal production to the state of the art electronic process today. The future does not look bright for the printed word, but for me, and I am sure many others, sitting in the armchair with my newspaper is simply the only way to digest the news.'
• Ink in my Blood is published by Paul Dickson and costs £11. It is stocked at in Norwich at Jarrold, Waterstones, The Book Hive and Revelation Christian Bookshop. It is also stocked at Jarrold's Cromer branch and The Holt Bookshop, and available online at www.allthingsnorfolk.com and on Amazon.
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