In the early 1970s I worked as editorial assistant to Brian Innes at Orbis Publishing. He was unfailingly encouraging whatever I attempted, from my disastrous paste-ups ("Oh God, do you have NO visual sense?"), through proofreading, editing and translating, to finally, in despair, sending me to a Pitman touch-typing course. He was very nostalgic about what he called his skiffle-playing days and had some great stories. I still have the leaving card he designed: a romanticised version of me at the opera (my passion) entitled Madame Flutterby; he appeared in the list of dramatis personae as Alberich, a dwarf.
Continue reading...↧