My sister Margaret and I both worked with John Shirley in the years around 1960, as junior reporters on the Middlesex County Times, in Ealing and Southall. Council meetings and court cases were complemented by stories about the many show business residents. We were often told that if we did not appreciate the low pay on offer, then others would, and John later reminded us how the editor threatened to sack Margaret if she went on an Aldermaston ban-the-bomb march. Our shared interests included jazz, and sometimes we went to hear the Chris Barber jazz band perform at the White Hart pub in Southall.
