Welcome to My Print Story, a series in which we look at the people in print and the stories they wish to tell. We believe everyone has a great story and we are providing the platform for that to be shared and heard.
From those just starting their first jobs in print, to others who have now finished their careers, we hear from the past, present and future of our industry.
Now, it is with absolute pleasure that we present to you the wonderful Gordon McCallum, with a lifetime in the industry, his story is impressive and his opinion important. Gordon, take it away…
“A wonderful, adventurous life-time in print.”
Ten years after the second World War in 1955; What could the printing industry possibly offer a shy 16-year-old young lad from a council estate, lacking confidence and not knowing what he wanted to do?
Remember, this was an austere England that still had bomb sites scattered around – and rationing had just ended.
Gordon boxing in the army.
Gordon (right) at 22 years old with comrades in Aden, Yemen.
Well, it offered me amazing opportunities that I could not have dreamt of.
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO), the largest printing group in the country at the time, held mass testing, plus interviews, for hundreds of would be apprentices.
Eventually I then became an indentured apprentice in the print finishing departments of this huge factory in Harrow with over 1,000 employees.
On the shop-floor, I worked and learnt from many people who had years earlier been at war and deployed in the armed forces all over Europe and India for 5, 6 and 7 years. They had stories to tell – not all good. Quite a few had been apart from their wives and children for years. This was an education in itself.
The camaraderie and banter on the shop-floor was perfect for this shy lad.
National Service came calling and I served most of my two year service in the Army in the Far East. This was Singapore and Malaya, where the Japanese, 13 years earlier, had held brutal control. This was not the developed place of today, but a deprived country struggling to recover from a war. A large shanty town existed just outside of our camp. This horrifically completely burnt down one day.
This was a shocking experience and a dramatic eye opener to the world outside of England.
Back in England again, with much more confidence, life was moving quickly for me. I was working my way around a wide variety of machines performing an extensive array of tasks. Was promoted to chargehand of the folding machine section, then into management by becoming the youngest Overseer Grade IV in the HMSO.
After a few years, taking a huge career risk, I was interviewed by Eric Tanzer of Pershke Price Service Ltd, the largest importer of overseas printing equipment – and became a Technical Sales Representative. This meant leaving a very safe managerial job at the HMSO to embark upon a new venture into the exciting world of selling capital equipment to the printing industry.
Printing was undergoing a revolution in the 1960s, as the letterpress process and equipment was being replaced at a tremendous rate by the more productive Roland, Solna and Heidelberg offset litho machines.
This was a wonderful time, travelling and working at the major exhibitions in Germany, France and Italy. Plus visiting the Roland and Solna manufacturing plants, and the leading print houses in England and Europe with customers.
I think I repaid Eric Tanzer’s belief in this young man, as he saw something in me that I did not see in myself. In eight complete selling years I came top salesman six times, including setting a world record for the number of Solna units sold in one month. I also set a company record of 58 orders in one year.
Gordon and family featuring in Thompson Newspaper, 1970.
I was the main sales person who helped the Open University create their new printing department with the purchase of 2 x two colour Roland Rekords, 2 x two colour Solnas and a Wohlenberg guillotine – when the initial plan was to buy all Heidelberg presses.
I was a proud team member of an excellent sales and servicing organisation. These were thrilling times far beyond the imagination of the young apprentice those many years ago.
My printing adventure had not yet ended as in 1976, my wife and I took another risk and a jump into the unknown by emigrating with our young family to South Africa for eight years. I worked for Evelyn Haddons and Press Supplies selling typesetting and printing equipment to the printers and typesetters of Africa. We watched history unfold around us in this incredible country.
Gordon and wife Phyllis in South Africa.
Back in England again, I worked for leading companies supplying typesetting and printing machinery. I had the privilege of being the salesman at Oscar Friedheim involved in supplying 3 x four colour Aurelia printing presses, at the same time, to Alpine Press in Kings Langley. Eventually moved into supplying specialised printed products to the airline, rail and bus networks. British Airways was my largest customer. These were challenging and rewarding times.
With my wife (who was a typesetter), we started our own small setup in the early 1990s, producing artwork and film/bromides for local printing houses. One magazine, we were responsible for, we handled the layout and managed the printing and finishing for 30 years.
Last year, in 2023, we hung up our keyboards, and at the age of 84 and 85 we retired (or maybe just paused to catch our breath).
The pride of people employed in printing is fully justified as they appreciate and are proud of the revolution they have brought to the communications industry, together with the huge impact it has made to the education of the world’s civilisations. The technical ability and pursuit of quality is extremely impressive.
Gordon with his wife and daughter.
I feel print has brought art and colour to our lives on an amazing scale. It is exciting to see (and smell) a white sheet of paper being fed into an offset machine and ending up in the delivery, full of coloured images and stories.
The whole world of printing and communications is going through vast changes at an ever-increasing rate. It is a major task for companies to move with the emerging developments and seeing and being involved in areas where profit can be made.
Digital printing is now not only matching the quality of offset litho but is beginning to match the competitiveness on longer runs.
A hard copy print still has an invaluable place in our lives. If you want to keep and see a photo or document in a hundred years’ time, get it printed.
My pleasure now is using an array of magnifying glasses to enjoy the printing quality and artistry of the old craftsmen using chromolithography to produce incredible colour images on cigarette cards up to a hundred years ago.
My current ambition is to stay alive, maybe to start playing squash again – and to add to my collection of pre-war cigarette cards. Also have a 25-year-old camper van ready to roll.
Hope you liked the story, I enjoyed living it,
Gordon.
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