‘Dog doesn’t eat dog’ goes the old Fleet Street saying. But old dog occasionally feeds an ancient canine ex-colleague, as in this case.
I pinched the hack pack shot from my old friend Ron Morgans (below right), formerly one of Fleet Street’s top picture editors and now successful novelist living the life of Riley somewhere in the sun, who wrote on Facebook:
“My good friend [himself a top ‘snapper’] Stephen Markeson sent me this great Fox Photos picture of ‘the pack’ at the inauguration of Miss India, Rita Faria, as Miss World in November, 1966.
“At the time this was a major press event which annually brought out Fleet Street’s finest. What I particularly like in this shot is the transitory moment in camera tech. Ageing plate cameras, dominant Rolleiflexes and a few new 35mm Leicas emerging. How it would all soon change.”
Stephen Markeson himself added: “. . .and thats me on the back row, third from left, focussing my Rollie (which I still have!)”
Those were, indeed, the days. Everything’s digital now!
