No professional interest as such - I simply went to a publisher, spent ages convincing them it would be a good idea, and then spent a year trying to convince RAF
PR that it was a good idea. The
PR man had already decided to do a book but evidently it was going to be another dull "RAF Book" like all the other ones that have come along. I whined and bitched for ages, trying to convince them that they could do something really good for a change but they just kept saying it was too difficult to do, and couldn't I just put something together using stock RAF images. It really was like bashing my head against a brick wall.
Finally, they grudgingly agreed that they'd give the book support if it was only done within normal day-to-day activities and that nothing was arranged specifically for me. Even then it had to be with the provisio that it was an "official" book with their silly new corporate logo on it, and that they'd have the right to edit or re-write the final text and images. Then it all had to be tied-up in a contract but after a whole year they were still incapable of getting one ready to sign!
So after that, I was simply commissioned by the publisher to deliver the goods and get on with it. I was left to contact all the bases and squadrons myself, and try to get things moving, which is hard work. The only help from the
PR guys was the occasional emails sent out to try and hurry people along, but it was a ludicrous situation, being forced to deal with Media Officers who couldn't be ar*ed to help, but had to be "kept in the communications loop" otherwise they complained! Okay, some of these people were really helpful but lots of them just couldn't be less interested.
Then, after plugging away on the job for a year, the
PR man announces that he's becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my attitude during visits to stations. I asked what this meant, as everywhere I'd been, the people were all very helpful and friendly, as they always are. He wouldn't explain what he meant, so I said I needed to know who had said what, as it was obviously gossip from someone who perhaps didn't like me for some reason. The reply I got was that I was "accusing (him) of telling lies" and therefore he would "pull the plug" on the whole project. No explanation or anything, he just picks up his ball and runs home.
The guys on the squadrons were gobsmacked, and couldn't beleive what he'd done, but guessed he was obviously some pen-pushing prima donna who's butt I was perhaps meant to kiss a little harder. But that was the end of it - or so I thought. I then found that he'd gone back to the publsiher and persuaded them to produce the book (with my title) but using another photographer's pictures and words, based on his own ideas - ie, use someone who would produce the book he wanted, rather than the one I had in mind.
The whole business was ludicrous, and I told both him and CAS what I thought. He was responsible for the hopeless partwork magazine (which I saw weeks before launch and said to people at the time that it was rubbish). Then he managed to get involved in the RAF Magazine, with a publisher that hadn't got a clue about the RAF or aviation, but still insisted on exercising so much control over the magazine's content that the publisher gave up. And then he goes for his hat trick by ruining what would have been the best book on the RAF that they'd ever had - although I'm sure they'll insist that whatever finally appears in April is of course marvellous!
So it's hardly surprising that that the poison has now spread to
RAF News too. I guess they'll just keep going until there's nothing left to destroy. Hope some of you folks write to CAS and suggest that this idiot gets a posting to something more appropriate - maybe Cadet Liaison Officer at RAF Mount Pleasant?