BOMB SCARE AT THE TOWER OF LONDON

By Terry Walker 03032024 8 minute read from My Life, in Words An historic moment, for surely the mighty fortress Tower of London has never been abandoned to its fate? An act of chivalry, becomes a bomb scare and a unique moment in family history with repercussions that stopped short of a hanging… Two American […]

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Two feet on jobs ladder and the timing was good

A career in journalism requires basic skills, plus a nose for news and untold good luck

A family’s history can take many different turns down through time. My “turning” was already mapped out when, as a determined 16-year-old I arrived at the crossroads and changed direction without any hesitation. I was on the road to a career I had dreamed about for a long time… I had converted a summer office […]

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Hitler spoils big day for the runaway bride  

First WW2 wedding in England as Germany's blitzskriek starts the war

It was a Friday like no other in the history of a family and in the history of the world. A peaceful village wedding and the biggest military bombardment in history, taking place simultaneously… The first wedding bells and the first shots of World War II ringing out as Hitler invades Poland and spoils a […]

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Samaritan Sea Captain

Rescue, then false papers for fleeing ancestor

My grandfather, Soloman (Saul) Barnett was born in Britain in 1895, almost 24 years after his Jewish father, Jacob had arrived from Russia. Jacob, who was 22 at that time, brought with him his 12-year-old wife to be, Rachel and her daughter Leah, a baby in arms not yet a year old. They arrived in […]

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A night out on the tiles with a Sicilian corker

When Italian business people go for an impromptu night out in a famed gastronomic city, you would feel confident the food would be good and the wine outstanding. However, what happens after the meal can sometimes provide “la ciliegina sulla torta”. In the 1970s, I had PR and marketing clients involved in the Italian ceramic […]

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Snatched alive from 5,000 year-old tomb

Archaeologists shocked by desperate calls

Did you ever have a bad day? I mean, a really, really bad day? In western Cyprus, one particular September day turned out to be not only bad but could have been fatal…except for a bit of luck and happenstance. Here’s the true story of a lifesaving tomb rescue from a prehistoric necropolis. There are […]

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GONE TO THE COSTAS

Fairies and Vikings help a fading tourist island

One of the objectives of the media and marketing work Grafton PR was doing for the Isle of Man Government in the 1970s was to emphasise the “differences” between that place and the rest of the British Isles. Press releases to travel and general media and TV holiday programmes, like Wish You Were Here, always […]

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Bombed out of Cyprus as Turks go to war

Tourism abandoned - top resorts sealed off 

The Troodos mountains in Cyprus had been the favourite hideaway of EOKA rebels fighting the British in the 1950s and the established battleground for regular rumbles involving ethnic and local political differences. When staying at the Pinewood Valley Hotel just below the summit of Mount Olympus, we had seen locals drive away looking all military. […]

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Stargazer soars into his nation's rich list galaxy

Rise and fall and rise again to great wealth

The Pathos Beach Hotel was in the last stages of construction on land above a sandy beach that curved around the bay to the small harbour of Paphos, guarded by a 13th century Ottoman fort. A string of local bars and restaurants lined the harbourside. It was unspoilt; it was idyllic because Paphos was the […]

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Our gun-toting chef's night manoeuvres

Unrest, then invasion divides paradise island

After the successful opening of the Paphos Beach Hotel in Cyprus, Grafton partner Geoff Walkden and I were contacted by Colonel Richard (Dick) Richards, at one time the youngest colonel in the British Army. He had put his savings and pension into a hotel, in the Troodos Mountains. Just below the peak of Mount Olympus […]

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