The space scoop Peter Mosley didn't file

Starting our careers as tea and copy boys, Peter Mosley and I had a great deal in common, sharing memories of overheard journalistic back-chat on subs desks during their colleagues’ tea, lunch and loo breaks.

We decided our experience, me on the London Evening News in 1954, and Peter a year earlier at British United Press, helped us assess the social and professional competence of journalists. 

Bearing that in mind, Peter was one of the finest people I have known, in the office and out of it. As Paul Smurthwaite (Smurchers) has mentioned, he rescued me from librarianship with Reuters and helped me become one of their trainee journalists. 

How lucky I was to be posted to Johannesburg in 1974 under the guidance of Peter and Smurchers, and later to work under Peter in Hong Kong before I ended up in Australia, where I have retired.

Peter’s dear wife Ann was a wonderful supportive partner and we wish her well.

Not a lot of people know this, but Peter passed on never having filed one of the greatest scoops of his life. 

He once told me that, while he was covering a US space mission, I believe Apollo 13, an astronaut was heard telling Earth Station - “Charlie, I’ve got the farts.”

With a spaceman trapped in a helmet, imagine the implications, Peter said.

Officials denied the exchange ever happened, so Peter did not file the story. He always regretted that it didn’t “get to air”, possibly beating the “That’s one small step for a man” saga. ■