Somebody Had To Do It
The story of notorious 'Union Buster' Christopher Pole-Carew
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
ONCE in a while, but rarely, life throws up a genuinely unique character; a truly exceptional one-off personality of whom it can properly be said, they broke the mould ; to whom the word genius can be applied without exaggeration; whose contribution to the field of their choice can be described, legitimately, as immense.
One such is Christopher Pole-Carew.
The other was the late and truly great Brian Clough. These two giant personalities strode their respective domains with colossal impact. Pole-Carew on the Nottingham Evening Post and on the UK newspaper industry in general; Clough on Nottingham Forest FC and on British football in general. To say that both these men could be difficult would be a masterpiece of understatement. Some who knew both mused that they would love to lock them in a room together, throw away the key, then watch the feathers fly. It would have been a verbal fight of gargantuan proportions for which, in Nottingham in the late 70s/early 80s you could have sold tickets and packed any local arena… In the Red Corner, Brian Clough - the working class Socialist ,wearing his humble roots on his sleeve - with his strong Teesside accent, natural intelligence, withering wit, wind-up wizardry and fierce, inherent hatred of anyone even remotely `posh.' In the Blue Corner, Christopher Pole-Carew - the proud aristocrat, oozing good breeding - with his clipped upper class tones, superb intellect, scathing satire, mastery of the acerbic put-down and intense dislike of anyone prone to prejudice. What a brilliant battle it would have been! What an epic bout of verbal fisticuffs! In the event, they never even met- which is a shame because Clough might have explained why, without ever bothering to consider the other side of the story, he had boycotted and ` blacked ' the Nottingham Evening Post during the 1978/79 national strike by journalists, giving his high profile support to the breakaway newspaper launched by the Nottingham strikers sacked by Pole-Carew and never wasting numerous public opportunities to berate Pole-Carew and his company, while for his part, Pole-Carew would probably have left Clough in no doubt whatsoever what he thought of all that and delivered a barrage of home truths of his own! I ( Barrie Williams ) was exceptionally fortunate to know both men well and I admired both enormously, so I like to think that at the end of their verbal punch-up they would have been left with a lot of respect for each other. These two giants of Nottingham were poles apart on the surface but they actually shared more in common than either of them ever knew. Neither suffered fools and both liked people with strength of character. Both could be much more intimidating, positively frightening to some, than either of them realised but both had a high regard for those with the balls to answer back and stand their ground. Pole-Carew would have respected Clough because he is emphatically not a snob and readily recognises talent and self-belief in others, enemies or not; Clough would have respected Pole-Carew because he admired a fighter and always appreciated skill and depth of character in others, opponents or not. These two men, both enormously successful and charismatic, epitomised the vibrant, exciting, argumentative scene that was Nottingham in those days. Both, full of supreme self-confidence and self-esteem, could infuriate you with their arrogance, stubbornness and occasional rudeness; Both, renowned for shooting from the hip, could be dreadfully indiscreet; Both could belittle a verbal target ( who always deserved it ) with one blistering broadside; Both could appear to be callous. Clough could confine a troublesome soccer star to life's scrapheap with the same apparent nonchalance with which Pole-Carew sacked strikers. Yet both were capable of great human kindness and deep compassion; Both could show care, thoughtfulness and consideration for others; Both, hard men on the surface, could be moved to tears by the plight of others and frequently performed spontaneous, selfless and private acts of charity. And both could charm the proverbial birds from the trees and have people proverbially eating from the palms of their hands. Enigmas, both. It is also interesting to observe that neither was given full reward for their tremendous respective achievements - both with previously dull, under performing, unfashionable Nottingham organisations. Clough should have been appointed manager of England after twice winning the European Cup with Forest and Pole-Carew should have been offered a comparable position at the pinnacle of the UK newspaper industry after leading Europe in pioneering progress with the Evening Post. That neither gained their just rewards was, in both cases, almost certainly due to their blunt, outspoken manner; to their refusal to suffer fools; to their contempt for pompous authority and to the controversy that both attracted. In both cases, that controversy discomforted lesser men in higher places who preferred the quieter life that comes with mediocrity - that latter condition being anathema to Pole-Carew and Clough alike.They were so similar in so many ways - not least in the enormous respect that both commanded and that word respect recurs more than any other when people who know him properly discuss Christopher Pole-Carew. Like all larger-than-life characters he provokes strong feelings; he's never occupied the middle ground and rarely do opinions of him. But love him or hate him, you'll be hard-pressed to find anybody who, having known him and/or worked with him, does not respect him.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
IF you're looking for the archetypal villain in a tale of class hatred, they don't come any more tailor-made than Christopher Pole-Carew. The roots of his aristocratic family tree are 32 generations deep and he exudes the aura of the upper class. So when, in the trades union dominated 1970s, he became the newspaper industry's notorious 'Union Buster' his role required no embellishment. In the '70s and '80s, as the maverick boss of T. Bailey Forman Ltd, publishers of the Nottingham Evening Post, he tackled the enormous issues of union power and new technology a decade before anybody else dared to try. Then he went on to mastermind much of Press mogul Rupert Murdoch's seismic move from Fleet Street to Wapping, smashing the national newspaper unions. The battles involving Pole-Carew were among the bloodiest industrial conflicts of the 20th Century. When the revolution he started had run its course, thousands of jobs had been wiped out. To this day, he is a hate figure in union folk-lore, despised as a callous capitalist ogre; an evil enemy of the working class; ruthless in crushing workers'rights;a name to be spat out with revulsion. Yet those, the comparative few, who have seen beyond the myth tell of Pole-Carew's compassion and sensitivity; a kind, considerate, generous employer; a surprisingly multi-talented, creative and artistic man; a loyal, fun loving friend; a devoted and loving husband and father. 'Somebody Had To Do It' tells, for the first time, the full inside story of Christopher Pole-Carew's hugely controversial business exploits and conflicts; highlights his great successes; examines his enlightened management techniques, from which lessons can still be learned today, and reveals the inspiring and moving human elements of a truly remarkable man's extraordinary life story.
About the Author
BARRIE WILLIAMS is a journalist and author who spent more than 40 years in the newspaper industry. His successful newspaper career began in 1961 when he joined the Shrewsbury Chronicle as a 16-year-old trainee reporter. He then worked for national newspapers before returning to regional journalism as the News Editor of the Shrewsbury Chronicle. He went on to become a Sub Editor on the Wolverhampton Express & Star; News Editor of the Stoke-on-Trent City Times and Diary Editor of the Nottingham Evening Post before moving to the Kent Evening Post , where he was News Editor and Associate Editor before being appointed Editor. After five years as Editor of the Kent Evening Post, he was appointed Editor and Editorial Director of the Nottingham Evening Post. Fourteen years later, he moved to the West Country as Editor of the Western Morning News, a position he held for 10 years. In nearly 30 years as a top regional newspaper Editor, Barrie Williams established a reputation as a formidable campaigning journalist, winning countless awards, including the coveted Newspaper Of The Year title four times. His exceptional newspaper career is described in outspoken and entertaining style in his autobiography 'Ink In The Blood' published by Woodfield - www.woodfieldpublishing.com Barrie Williams lives in Cornwall with his wife Pauline.