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“Print, dead? Sorry, we didn’t get that memo” Creatively, the most exciting change came in August 2008. That was when we brought in designer Trev Gilham
to give the magazine a fresh new look. We finally ditched the ‘house on the front of every issue’ rule, and wowed our readers with a fluorescent pink cover featuring a dayglo Bladud’s pig. Trev still designs every one of our covers, and never fails to amaze me with his endless ingenuity. Over the years I added more tweaks. We brought in columnists of the calibre of David Flatman, and getting Nic Bottomley to write his regular book column was an especially happy decision.
I remember one ‘get-in’ moment shortly after we’d done the redesign. Deirdre McSharry – an absolute
doyenne of magazine publishing, the first editor of Cosmopolitan UK and the woman who discovered Twiggy – rang me out of the blue one day and said, ‘Darling, this magazine is like Bath’s Vogue’. We were once shortlisted for a national award, too, which was quite exciting. Being charmed by Alan Bennett and Leslie ‘Ding Dong!’ Phillips, though doubtless in rather different ways…
Obviously, you never get blasé about fangirling over your heroes in face-to-face interviews. A cup of tea
with Alan Bennett at the back room of Toppings. David Attenborough talking about his incredible career. Jamie Oliver giving me his special recipe for polenta chips. A
hilarious selfie with Caitlin Moran (hard to say who looked the worst). Being seated next to Sir Peter Hall at dinner at the Royal Crescent Hotel, and then arranging to meet him for coffee the next morning for some entirely unprintable gossip about the English theatre establishment. Wangling a visit to the house of Tony Head, simply because I’d loved him in Buffy, but ending up being even more bewitched by his partner Sarah Fisher, who does magical healing work with animals. Drinks with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart after Godot at Theatre Royal Bath. Sharing a sofa with Michael Caine in a room at The Olive Tree for an hour, while his vigilant PR frowned, tapped her watch and indicated all the books he had to sign before his talk at The Forum. (How Topping & Company managed to swing that exclusive bit of access for me I’ll never know, but I’ll be eternally grateful. The Topping name is an absolute celebrity magnet, and the bookshop’s been an amazing asset for this city.) When you work on a local magazine you’re given the keys to the city. That’s an extraordinary privilege. The
other great moment comes every two weeks on Bath Life, with new-issue day. I still love it when the boxes of shiny, freshly-printed copies arrive at the office, usually on a Friday morning. Never gets old.
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