Jancis Robinson and the waterways - exciting, no?

Oenophile journalist Jancis Robinson was last weekend talking at a San Francisco wine gathering in Portland, Oregon, about how she got her start in wine writing. 

I was interested to hear she began with the PR dept of British Waterways:

... When I got back to Britain and looked for a job that would allow me to write, I got a job in the press office of the British Waterways Board. Exciting, no?

I got to see some trade journals of many different kinds, and one happened to be about wine, and at the moment it was carrying a notice to fill the job of assistant editor.

I polished up my CV and to my surprise I got an interview. The publisher told me: 'we've had a lot of difficulty with this job. We tried hiring journalists, and then we had to teach them about wine. And then we we tried hiring wine people, but we had to each them to write. And you're neither.'

Her BW years (months? weeks?) up to December 1975 aren't mentioned in the official long version biography on her website ('only for the bored'), which describes her writing career as starting at Wine & Spirit magazine.

I'd be interested to hear what aspects of PR for the waterways she found exciting, how it might compare with the work of a young graduate BW press officer today, and if their recruitment requirements have changed.

Comments

[Andrew Denny]

Thanks, Jerry. I've amended.

I was misled by the title of the Vinography blog, "Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world." I didn't check where Linfield College was.

[Jerry Coleman]

Not to be picky, but she spoke at Linfield College, which is just outside of Portland, Oregon, several hundred miles north of San Francisco.

[Andrew Denny]

I guess my point was that I hope a sense of dedication and enthusiasm for the waterways is a key requirement of getting the job.

I might be wrong, but I took Jancis Robinson's "Exciting, no?" quote as sarcasm and it disappointed me. As I understand it, she just wanted to get a foot in the journalism door, which is fine in its way, but I'd like to think that (in years to come) the BW PR staff won't be as sarcastic about their jobs as she appeared to be last week.

[Allan Richards]

Looking at the "mock interviews" on Waterscape with Richard Fairhurst (Waterways World editor) and Tom Crossley (Narrowboatworld editor) it would seem that an ability to "cut and paste" is the main requirement for BW's budding press officers.