Peter Pheasant’s novel Manfishing, completed 40 years after he began writing it as a young reporter, is set at the fictional Brexham Bugle, with the daily life at the paper based on his own experience – though with plenty more drama thrown in.
One aspect inspired by his own experience was the scramble to send finished copy to the contract printers, with junior reporters putting a sellotape-wrapped parcel on the local bus, before dashing back to the newsroom to phone the printer and tell them the bus number and its arrival time.
If the junior reporter forgot to telephone, then it could be 24 hours before that bus next passed the printworks – and the production schedule would be ruined.
“I’ve been desperately trying to tell people it’s not autobiographical, but obviously I based [the setting] on what I know of the industry,” Pheasant told Printweek.
“I was one of those reporters with a little alarm that we set to when the bus would arrive, and then I’d run out with the bundle of copy and pictures to put on with carriage fare. It certainly did happen more than once that I forgot to phone the printers, and the bus would go on its way on its 10-mile circuit.”
The 196-page book, published by JMD Media at £12.99 in paperback, tells the story of Simon Fox, a local newshound seeking out scoops in his community from a colourful cast, including a disabled pensioner being terrorised out of his home, an Auschwitz survivor, a corrupt detective, and a violent skinhead.
To top it all, his paper, the Brexham Bugle, is facing a takeover after a century of independence.
The exciting life of scoop-chasing comes partially from Pheasant’s own time in the newsroom – but his ambition to be an author has been held ever since the classroom.
“I thought I could be a poet or the next Dylan Thomas,” Pheasant laughed.
“My old English teacher was a great mentor, and talked me into trying for the local paper. Very quickly, I loved it and immersed myself in my community and writing for a living. It has been a great, great privilege to get a 47-year career in newspapers.”
