The long and winding road to job at the Chron

Martyn checking pages at the Reporter

Before he retires, our business editor Martyn Torr makes himself the subject of his final Martin Meets interview - part three

RETURNING to Oldham in 1987 was quite emotional for Martyn Torr. He was born in Hollinwood and, apart from his time in Whaley Bridge for the Reporter Group, and six years in Denton, has lived in the town all his life - so far...

There was a second spell out of Oldham in the early part of the millennium when he married for a second time and moved to Littleborough, but he’s an Oldham lad and proud of his home town.

For the past nine years Martyn has lived in Uppermill.

The Torr family members have been avid readers of this newspaper for ever. Father Alf loved papers generally and Martyn’s sister Gillian, who lives in Denshaw, will often ring her brother and say: “Have you this in tonight’s paper?”

So it was with great pride that the Torr family learned, in 1991, that Martyn was to work for the paper at his third attempt.

Martyn first applied to work here in July 1964 - in the photographic department. Company chairman Philip Hirst, who appointed Martyn to the business desk in November 1991, found Martyn’s original letter while emptying his desk. Attached to the letter is a green form which reports Martyn’s failure to land the job.

In the mid 1970s, when Martyn was group sports editor of the Ashton Reporter series and had turned down an offer to join a Manchester freelance agency and the chance to report on Manchester United home games, the Chronicle came calling...

Martyn was actually invited to an interview for a job at this newspaper. But he was such an awkward cuss that he turned the offer down!

“I drove away wondering why I had, but they hadn’t wanted me in 1964 and in my mind it was payback time...”

Another 17 years passed. In between Martyn had applied for and failed to get a job at the Manchester Evening News.

“You should be proud, young man, that you got an interview,” said editor Brian Redhead, who was famous in his own right outside the confines of his editorship. “Lots of people applied and I’m seeing only six of you. I chose you because I wanted to meet the man who could write in a letter that he used to live ‘in lodgings with Irish spinster over a wet-fish shop’ - and I also thought your name would look good as a byline in my paper.”

There was one other time Martyn came close to leaving the Reporter. He applied for a job as sports editor of one of the two Burnley papers, covering Burnley, then a First Division club run by legendary butcher Bob Lord.

Once again he got an interview and he and his long hair crossed the hills to north Lancs. He drove with the top down on his MG Midget and his hair was blown all over the place.

“I can still remember the look on the receptionist’s face when I reported for the interview. It was only when I got in the lift and looked in the mirror that I realised my hair made me look like the Wild Man of Borneo in a grey suit...

“My frantic efforts to slick it down came to nought. I was riding up only one floor and the editor was waiting for me at the doors. People say you get only one chance to make a first impression...”

Martyn didn’t get the job so remained at the Reporter for a total of 22 years.

During this time he also worked shifts in Manchester at Thompson House, later to become Maxwell House, where many of the Manchester nationals were published. The area is now Printworks.

Many regional and provincial sub-editors supplemented their income with shifts on the nationals; Martyn enjoyed more than three years on the racing desk at the Daily Mirror, plus short spells for the Express in Ancoats Street.

“They were great, happy days and the money was fantastic: two shifts at the Mirror doubled my weekly wage - and most weeks I would work three evenings.”

One week the sub-editor who compiled the pools forecasts — in the days when the football pools were a big deal - was away and Martyn filled in., pretty much making up what were supposed to be considered odds of win, loss or draw.

“Little did readers know the predictions were from a bloke whose mum and dad owned a chippie in Huddersfield Road and was a fan of Stalybridge Celtic.”

The day finally dawned, in 1986, that Martyn was faced with another momentous decision...another job offer, this time back in Oldham, a real challenge.

“Two of my former colleagues from the Reporter came into the Hunters Tavern in Stalybridge during our Christmas party. It wasn’t a surprise to see the guys because they had worked at the paper for years, but what was a surprise was what they had to say to me...”

What they said changed Martyn’s life forever.