Cavan-born John McEntee has spent his life in journalism. Having worked in Cavan (Anglo-Celt) and Dublin (Irish Press), London beckoned and here he has spent the greater part of his life, working primarily as a gossip columnist (especially as William Hickey) for a variety of dailies.
Inevitably this particular style of journalism brought him into contact with the good, the bad and the ugly. His raison d’être appears to have been that if you have nothing good to say about someone, come and talk to me.
This entertaining memoir dwells extensively on gossip, anecdotes and scandals associated with (occasionally) interesting people.
Unfortunately, many of these tales from school emanate from people in the London newspaper trade whose names generally may be unfamiliar to Irish readers. Nevertheless, McEntee writes with compassion (his school days with the De La Salle brothers make for uncomfortable reading), good humour and an engaging style, eg “she possessed that wonderful upper-class ability of being icily polite as she cut you dead”.
This delightfully indiscreet book is brought to you directly from Fleet Street, warts and all.
