EDITORIAL

I am grateful to Ted Talbot for writing the editorial for the last issue, when sudden family problems left me unable to do so. This is perhaps an opportune time to explain how the Journal is produced.

Articles don’t just appear. Some really do arrive out of the blue and are ready to use, but most have to be worked on, or an idea worked up with the contributor, sometimes starting with a few lines in a letter and ending up with a fulsome definitive article. It is then typed into our standard house style.

Many articles, when received, have no illustrations, so these have to be found and suitable captions researched and written. This can cause very considerable delay.

The text is then sent by e-mail to Ted Talbot who is our proof reader. Sometimes he spots things which need taking up with the author, and the circle begins again.

Once the material is complete it is printed and handed to Barry Lane. Barry is responsible for everything from that point on. All the layout; design and formatting which has been so admired over the years is thus thanks entirely to Barry – not me. Barry also deals with the printer and often asks for proofs before sanctioning the final printing.

Because Barry is doing the paste-up, he sometimes finds that material I have sent him will not fit the allocated space and has to be held over. There are thus possible delays all along the line which can cause an article to not appear for some time. I must confess that another source of nonappearance is that the piece has moved down my pile of material and I’ve simply forgotten about it, so if your piece has not appeared and you are concerned, then please ask me.

Mike Williams