The Year was 1968. I was completing my composing apprenticeship with the Griffin Press, Marion Road, Netley.
My foreman was Alf Freeman, a bald Englishman who had come from England to originally work at the Government Printing Office.
Alf had left after a couple of years for the Griffin.
There I met Nick Penn, Colin Rawlings, Rod Baker, Ted Powell, Ken Simpson, Doug Long and Norm Morcombe all who went on to work at the Old Guv from the 1970s onwards.
However, the point of this tale is to get you to look at the above typecasting machine, the Nebitype.
It was made by the Nebiolo Company of Italy. The Nebitype was a line casting typesetter that spewed a single lead printing slug around 40 picas in length.
It was vaguely similar to the Ludlow Typesetter.
But there the similarity ended, unlike the Nebitype the Ludlow was a very reliable American typesetting machine.
But there was a problem with the Nebitype during its casting cycle and I suspected there was something up when the tradesmen refused to work it.
It was left up to the apprentices, especially the new ones, like me!
The Nebitype had a mind of its own and would often spray molten lead into the air.
Luckily, there was a comp. called Ken Costello (a ballroom dancing champion) who showed me the Nebitype survival plan.
You would place the setting stick in the jaws of the machine and then everyone would scatter.
Ken Costello had a rope tied to the casting handle and the other apprentices would hide behind a typesetting frame for safety.
Oh, you remember all THOSE people you met at the Griffin – but not little ol’ me! I do remember meeting ‘Boof’ there.
I worked on making up ads for the Yellow Pages for one week. On the Wednesday – my third day into the job – I received a telegram (remember those?) stating I was accepted as a hand-comp at the Guv in KWR, so I handed in my notice – much to the disgust of Alf the foreman!
How could you forget little ol’ me – you presented me with a magnum of Cold Duck I won in the Friday raffle – my last day there! Cheers!
By the way, Alf gave me a lift to and from work for my solitary week there, as he lived out my way – what a nice chap!
LikeLike
Dearest Biro,
My heartfelt apologies my friend. See above. I liked ‘Cold Duck’.
Rodney (did you like the story?).
LikeLike
Yes, I liked the story – however, I don’t remember it.
You can place me in caps and lower-case, like the others now!
LikeLike
DONE!
LikeLike
Amend the first para in my last comment to read “…however, I don’t remember the machine” – please, Rodley.
LikeLike