Page 41 - Phonebox Magazine August 2007

An Old Codger's Commentary
Four men sat in a corner
About ten years ago four of us used to occupy our Phonebox may have owed the early success to
regular corner at the Two Brewers each Thursday evening. My companions were every one of them interesting indeed.
Michael Revitt's family had lived in Olney for over a hundred years and he was and remains a mine of recollection of the changes he has witnessed to, indeed he has sometimes been party to those changes. Clive Barnett flew right through the Pacific war with the fleet air arm; that was a different war and it was good to be reminded that Hitler's Nazis were only one of the horrors of the age. Especially enjoyable were the tales of airmen looking through windows as sailors looked through porthole. The fourth man is my reason for writing now.
Frank Taylor would be eighty were he living still, but in some way perhaps he does. Frank had long and detailed memories of Fleet Street, memories of papers and journals since forgotten, of their editors and proprietors and of the eccentric types who write copy for our daily press. Frank was great company with unkind words for no one. I was only just beginning to take a serious view of writing and found his advice more than a little helpful. Frank's field was art work and he left his mark on Olney two ways round, it was he who painted the Inn Signs which mark The Two Brewers and The Swan Inn and Bistro, they are hanging now and both are as good as you will find anywhere on earth. Secondly it is quite probable that
Frank's tellingly humorous front cover sketches. From the very beginning Phonebox looked stunningly different and attractive together with obvious good taste.
Anyone setting a new magazine venture into life must necessarily be in close touch with the local cognoscenti and I believe Ron Hall had known Mike and Frank for quite a long time, it was through their persuasive influence that I came to be introduced to Ron and Debbie his wife. I first intruded on the mind of Olney in September 2000. This magazine was then a one town work and came out on A5 paper, the change to A4 came with the December issue so I'm just about entitled to talk about ‘the old days’. Ron's and Debbie's magazine was succeeding and drawing interest from a fast growing catchment; increases in print runs and paper size both came at a price and front cover art employed space which advertisers viewed with growing jealousy. The magazine today serves a wide area, serves it in depth and with close attention, those advertisers are the life blood of the whole show.
For myself I have good cause to fondly remember Frank, we were working together on a strip cartoon when we lost him from this world, that laughter will hopefully be rejoined in the next. Meanwhile I'm putting forward a few photos of those earlier front covers. GB
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Phonebox Magazine 41