A few years ago, I interviewed the legendary Fleet Street journalist Don Short.

Since then, Don has shown me his cuttings books and we have looked through all of his stories together…

Don told me more about his fascinating career as a Showbusiness journalist in the 1960s and 1970s, and as a writer and literary agent in the years that followed.

It makes for such an interesting story, I don’t know where to begin!

Don always wanted to be a newspaper reporter, so he won a scholarship to Chiswick Polytechnic where he learned shorthand, typewriting and English – the important components to becoming a journalist. After that, at the age of 15, he got his first job as a trainee at the local newspaper, where he would learn the craft of journalism.

After some time doing the obligatory National Service, Don returned to working in local news. But Fleet Street called, and two years later he started to work at the Daily Sketch before moving on to the Daily Mirror in 1960.

His career flourished. After spending time on the newsdesk writing a rich mix of news stories (from dramatic art thefts, tales of policemen suspensions, amusing stories on school children going on strike and refusing to eat their lunches, to horrifying stories on murders and beatings) the focus of his work shifted to Showbusiness journalism: tracking the lives and activity of pop stars and Hollywood legends.

He got to know so many celebrities and he attended the most amazing parties and events – all part of the job!

Here is one (very short) story I managed to pinch for this blog post:

A glitzy lifestyle seems to be a recurring theme, even the sub editor who wrote this (below) about him agreed…!

^ The Golden Age of Journalism indeed: ‘At the best parties!’

As well as writing other daily features and stories in the Daily Mirror (from similarly glamorous venues and very often on the front page…)

He even appeared on the front page with the stars in question too…!

Don had his very own Showbusiness Column in the paper, called ‘Saturday Scene’ which ran for many years. It was so popular and read by millions of people. In it, he would interview the latest actor, singer, or music group.

This is what his column  looked like:

He knew the creme de la creme personally: The Beatles, The Stones, Elizabeth Taylor, David Bowie, Roger Moore, Elvis Presley, Peter Sellers… the list goes on and on.

It’s interesting to look at the way the graphics and pictures changed for his byline over the years too…

Don Short also wrote in other sections of the paper, such as the ‘Tuesday Scene’ as well as the ‘Don Short’s Discs’ pages.

His collection of stories is truly phenomenal.

From reading all of his articles, I was amazed at how much travel was involved. As a journalist in the 1960s and 1970s, obviously there was no internet, no mobile phones, no social media. So Don had to travel to the source of the story to be able to write about it.

Cannes… San Remo… Las Vegas… Paris… Hollywood… India… he went all over the world.

^ The stories his byline could tell!

He was very well respected by everyone, and he was even called Britain’s Top Pop Columnist!

He was made Chief Showbusiness Correspondent at the Daily Mirror.

I was interested to read the paragraphs of this story in Newsweek. The story is about The Beatles and it features Don Short’s relationship with the band and their manager Brian Epstein, and how much the group trusted Don:

(Full story link here)

The introduction to his series on John Lennon and The Beatles in the New York Post just after Lennon was killed also shows how close he was to the group:

As well as the intro to his series he wrote on ‘Hellraisers’ in another paper:

In addition, Roy Greenslade’s piece featuring my initial interview. Roy Greenslade wrote kindly about Don and his reputation as a reliable journalist: ‘I remember Don’s story about the break-up because I was a news sub on The Sun at the time. When the first edition of the Mirror arrived, the newsdesk was unable to verify whether it was true. While we were dithering over what to do, wondering if we should follow the Mirror or not, the deputy editor (and former Mirror executive), Bernard Shrimsley, arrived on the floor to say: “If Don Short says it’s true then it is.” There cannot be a better tribute to a journalist than that.  And he was, of course, bang on the money.’

Following many years of being a journalist, Don struck out on his own and founded his own literary and syndication agency, called Solo.

Don has so many marvellous stories to tell, I feel so lucky to be privy to them!

He is a true inspiration to all journalists and writers, and indeed, everyone.

UPDATE DECEMBER 2019: Don has written his memoirs, ‘The Beatles and Beyond’ which you can now pre-order from Amazon here.