Nick Carter

If Nick Carter was “the self-proclaimed ‘second meanest man in Reuters’” it certainly wasn’t in spirit. One couldn’t have a fairer boss. He was one of the few who actually did an annual appraisal (or at least showed me one he’d done). I thought it entirely fair, except for one line which said, not entirely unfairly, that I had a tendency to question decisions. When I suggested it seemed a bit unbalanced in the context, Nick smiled, added a few words, then showed me it again. “Trouble is, he is sometimes right” he’d added. “Is that better?” he asked. Who could argue with that? His set-up of broadcasting was both a boon and a curse in return for the extra money correspondents supposedly received. It was a fun if at times exhausting challenge, but didn’t bring the huge cash rewards some people thought we were getting - three quid a package! During the Yom Kippur war, on top of everything else, one was sending packages to Mutual Broadcasting in the US through the night after a day’s slog for nearly two weeks. Three pounds a pop, while one’s UPI counterpart was getting 30 or more dollars a piece (not a package). But they amazingly brought in fan mail, which print by-lines rarely did. Much later the fee was upped to eight pounds but sadly the service didn’t last much longer. Thanks Nick for your support over the years. ■