As a Guardian correspondent I had editorial freedom. Readers could disagree..
If you ever forgot which side of the political fence a newspaper was on, readers were quick to remind you. Fifteen years’ writing for The Guardian and The Observer was no reflection on my broad-minded objectivity. I was a feature writer but wanted to cover motor racing. In the 1960s The Guardian enjoyed a big student readership. Sports editor John Samuel wanted its motoring correspondent to cover motor racing. Adam Eliot Geoffrey Raphael thought writing about cars only a stepping-stone to political journalism and said no. On his way to Washington Correspondent and a distinguished career Raphael searched for a recruit. Barrie Gill, motoring writer on The Sun, suggested me. Regular coverage of motor sport was new for a quality broadsheet. It was not like golf, football, tennis or athletics but maybe like bobsleigh or sailing it merited the sports pages. Hitherto motor racing reached newspapers only after accidents, or if Basil Cardew wanted to trumpet “another winner for Britain” in the Daily Express. My scope at The Guardian extended to motoring columns, industry, business, detailed motoring supplements and following the great oil crisis of the 1970s government speed limits.
