It's time to pull back the curtain on Britain in the 1980s once more, and peer into into the peculiarly provincial lives of EMAP's employeess in December 1985. Then based in Peterborough, the magazine publisher churned out titles by the shelfload before being carved up and flogged off to assorted corporate venturers in the late 2000s. Back in the frosted last month of 1985, however, the staff at EMAP were proud to fly the EMAP flag as demonstrated by this company newsletter.
In the modern age, email has made the need physical company newsletters redundant. Why pay for ink and distribution when you can cobble together a PDF between Pret and the train home? But, back in the mid-1980s, email was still a sci-fi luxury for most, and it wheezed at the mere thought of handling graphics. And it also helped if you were a publishing company who had the relevant printing presses on hand to knock one out dirt cheap.
(Click on the images for hi-res versions)
Splash contains all the "news for EMAP people" they could ever need, in that particular month. So, what was front page news in December 1985? Well, lucky old Mick Rouse was lucky enough to win himself a rather fantastic Porsche 924 (I've checked and it hasn't been taxed since 2002) in a photography competition. And there's another win, although slightly less exciting, for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph's classified advertising team, who have emerged victorious in the Adverkit Award competition.
Halloween has recently been and gone, so it's a true delight to delve into the delights of the West Suffolk Newspapers fancy dress Halloween party held at the Ripley House Hotel in Bury St Edmunds. Compared to the incredibly intricate costumes of the modern age, these rather primitive outfits possess a certain charm due to their simplicity, although some are so primitive that they're more unnerving rather than spooky. Regardless, it looks like a grand old knees-up and I'd give anything to go back there dressed as a manic, killer ape.
Being involved heavily in the media, the EMAP staff were lucky enough to regularly run into various celebrities, so this is why we get to see Brian Blessed arm wrestling, Linda Lusardi cosying up to a pleased as punch advertising manager and Bernard Cribbins surrounded by adoring women. Celebrities and the media go hand-in-hand, so this sort of hobnobbing with the stars still goes on, but they were a much a rarer commodity in 1985 and the excitement of the staff is still palpable 40 years on.
Finally, we get to take a quick look at the story of Wendy Blandford, an advertising rep who's discussing her entry into the world of Karate and subsequent journey. It's demonstrated with an action-packed high-kicking photo and makes me wonder how her martial arts has served her over the intervening decades. Wendy would be 63 now, so I like to think she's kept herself safe and can still deliver a kick with the same panache.
Much of the newsletter is padded with corporate fluff and promotion, which is too dull to linger over. But the highlights above catch something more precious: the texture of ordinary office life in a publishing company in the mid-1980s.
As ever, if you hold something similar in your possession, please get in touch as I'd love to preserve it on here and see what the country was getting up to.
Much of the newsletter is padded with corporate fluff and promotion, which is too dull to linger over. But the highlights above catch something more precious: the texture of ordinary office life in a publishing company in the mid-1980s.
As ever, if you hold something similar in your possession, please get in touch as I'd love to preserve it on here and see what the country was getting up to.
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