Olga Craig. Picture: Mail on Sunday (photographer Andrew Crowley)
John Le Carre invited few people to Tregiffian Cottage, his isolated home on the clifftops of Cornwall where he wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley’s People and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. Yet Le Carre, (real name David Cornwall) let Olga Craig interview him at his sanctuary. After wrapping up formalities in time for a good lunch, they talked through the afternoon and way into the night, sharing memories, opinions and the best part of a bottle of whisky. Mrs Le Carre had to make up a bed for Olga since she had missed the last train to Truro.
That Olga had huge amounts of Northern Irish charm and wit about her, undoubtedly eased the interview process. But what really made her an outstanding journalist with such extraordinary range and depth, was that she always asked the right questions. She would gently and persistently peel back the layers until she got to the heart of the story before hitting the keys of what became known as ‘Olga’s Golden Typewriter’. At great speed and often under intense pressure, she would always produce immaculate copy whether profiling a celebrity, picking through the aftermath of a bombing or writing up a report in the less-than-ideal conditions of a foreign conflict.
Olga’s interviewing and reporting were legendary and the products of her fierce intelligence, lack of prejudice, immense curiosity, an innate sense of fairness and compulsion to tell the story as it was. She was never in awe of anyone and had a special sort of courage that was both physically daring and moral. As a rebellious schoolgirl, Olga would cheekily outwit the headmaster, then in a career in newspapers that lasted more than forty years, she would neatly side-step a publicist’s demands with the same self-assurance that got her past the gunmen of Northern Ireland and Iraq.
She grew up and learned her trade during ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland
Olga was born in 1957, in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland and grew up in the little village of Gortin (pronounced Gorchin) before the family moved to a Protestant housing estate in Omagh. Her dad Ernie was a bus conductor, an Ulster Loyalist who kept a photograph of Ian Paisley on his wall. Her mum, Jean, trained as a bookkeeper and worked for a hospital in Omagh. Olga went to the local academy and her brother Tom, just two years her senior, recalls teenage years of having to haul his “wee sister” out of pub dances and shepherding her safely home.
Olga’s upbringing offered no obvious middle-class shortcuts into the world of journalism. Rather, the family she adored all her life, gave her an unshakable belief in her own abilities. If this spilled over into stubbornness, then she was quickly forgiven. Like Kenneth Branagh, she grew up with, and was immersed in, the poetry and drama of everyday Northern Ireland. An inspirational teacher of English, Kate Hinds, fostered her love of language and literature at school while her dad mesmerised her with stories of his time as a teenage Spitfire pilot during the Second World War. Her mother simply assumed there was nothing Olga couldn’t achieve if she applied herself. But then there was also the growing up in a socially conservative country that became engulfed in violence. Olga was just 11 years old when The Troubles began and like others of that generation, spent her adolescence and twenties, learning how to ‘read’ a room and be watchful on the streets.
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Secretarial college at 18 after A levels was clearly a means to an end and Olga soon after became a trainee journalist with the Derry Journal, whose masthead in gothic font still boasts “news you can trust since 1772”. From there, she went to the Belfast News Letter perhaps lured by its one-upmanship of “news you can trust since 1737”. Still in circulation, it is the oldest daily English language newspaper in the world. It was there that Olga found her feet and her journalistic voice. She learned her craft by passing proper journalism exams and pounding the streets on ‘doorknocks’, police calls, fires and council meetings, all of which had added meaning in the Belfast of the times.
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She practised how to write longer pieces that did their best to explain the human motives and tragedy behind horror of the atrocities. But she also championed the achievements and plight of the ordinary reader and did so with with the same zeal that she defended herself and fellow journalists in NUJ meetings. Olga became the News Letter’s ‘Tuesday Girl’, running a weekly column that began tentatively and grew into a powerful voice for feminism and equality. For all this, she and her colleagues earned many awards.
Contract with Daily Mail followed her coverage of Kitty Phair case
A turning point came in the late 1989, when Olga learned about a young Belfast woman Kitty Phair who had been brutally raped and as a result had ended up in a wheelchair. Olga wrote about this with a fury, at first about the attack, and then about the language and tactics used in court by the defence barristers. Olga’s outrage at how the legal system had heaped more misery on the poor woman produced a series of electric news features that were noticed by the editors of the Daily Mail in London who gave her a six-month contract. By then, she had had a decade as a journalist in the toughest of ‘patches’ and thirty years working out what made people ‘tick.’ Little wonder that she was then poached by the Daily Express and then, Today.
Olga’s arrival in 1990 at Today’s Vauxhall Bridge Road offices caused an immediate stir. She was a tiny woman with neat, coppery hair, a well-cut maroon suit and a gentle but authoritative Irish lilt. Olga was immediately identified as a star, a ‘grown up’ who had clearly not been hired to do case histories, endless vox pops or ‘top ten’ lists. The then editor, David Montgomery, also from Ulster, put Olga on a complicated three-part series in her first week. While he was not a man readily given to feelings of awe, Olga quickly won Montgomery’s trust and admiration and she became the ‘go to’ reporter for every big news ‘backgrounder’ on any natural or man-made disaster, missing child, murder or scandal which required elegant, factually accurate and humane copy written at great speed.
Pestered David Montgomery to cover 1991 Iraq war
Yet such were the gender-based conventions of the time, even Olga had to pester Montgomery for weeks before she was allowed to join the roster of war correspondents sent to the first Iraq conflict in 1991. Over time, Olga built a deserved reputation as a cool-headed and courageous war correspondent. But her career near the front line almost spluttered to a halt at Amman in Jordan where her Irish charm failed for many weeks to obtain a visa. Desperate to get to the action, she nevertheless saw the funny side and had a tee-shirt made up, emblazoned with the closing lines of a John Milton sonnet, “They also serve who only stand and wait”. If there was a joke to be told, Olga would tell it, often against herself. To Olga, any anything could be humorous, except when it was deadly serious, and then you daren’t cross the line.
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After Today closed in 1995, Olga perfected the art of the long newspaper essay during her years at The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph where she built a reputation as a war correspondent. Undoubtedly, the Northern Ireland years shaped her reporting of foreign conflict as she was drawn to the human cost of war rather than the military strategy and hardware. Years after the Bosnian conflict, Olga was still in touch with a young refugee from Macedonia whose family she helped save. Similarly, she tracked down a young woman from Kosovo whom she’d met and was still, after ten years, a refugee looking for a permanent home.
Rescued by the SAS after being wounded in Bosnia
Olga was certainly fearless and in the second Gulf conflict of 2003, was one of the first to get to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and Basra before being medically evacuated back to the UK when a virus eroded the cornea of one eye. Seven years earlier, she had been hit by shrapnel at Mostar in Bosnia and was rescued by the SAS. She made light of both.
Olga always wrote graphically and never histrionically, always conscious of the suffering of civilians and the dignity that should be afforded them. But she could also step back and analyse the geopolitics of war. As she told the Press Gazette in April 2003: “The British and American forces had expected this would be rather an old-fashioned war, where our troops wore uniforms and their troops wore uniforms and everyone knew who everyone was. Instead, we had Iraqis in civilian clothes, carrying a white flag and they would just open up with a Kalashnikov.”
Perhaps the most emotionally challenging conflict story was from her return in 1998 to her home town of Omagh to pick through the horror and devastation of the Real IRA bombing which had killed 29 people. Olga knew the dissident tribes and their offshoots by heart, especially those who opposed the Good Friday agreement. Two years later when another car bomb went off outside the BBC’s London headquarters, Olga headed not for Broadcasting House but to a South Armagh republican pub where they were yelling “F*** you, Gerry (Adams). We’re not beat yet, you Provo cowards”.
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She charmed criminals and tricky celebrities
Olga was probably unique in that she was a war correspondent and essayist who was also a dab hand at celebrity interviews and was particularly good at winning the respect of jaded, difficult men, some with particular notoriety. The armed robber Charles Bronson whom she interviewed at the category A HMP Woodhill, was particularly taken with Olga’s write-up. He sent her a self-portrait with the words “I always thought journalists were liars until I met Olga Craig”. This, she had framed and kept in her downstairs bathroom as any of her dinner party guests would later testify. Then there was John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), the ageing enfant terrible of punk, whom she charmed into giving her a very revealing interview that was both hilarious and moving. They got on so well, Olga delayed her flight by a week after he insisted she be guest of honour at one of his Hollywood parties.
These interviews (and there were many over the years) were not about Olga taking it easy in middle age. They were, in their way, every bit as challenging as the war reporting because they required an ethical rather than physical courage. And Olga had that in spades. She was never weighed down by a middle-class hesitation about asking difficult questions nor could she be distracted by a hovering publicist or deluded into thinking she was a celebrity’s friend. She was a journalist there to do a job and would not be leaving until she had what she judged to be enough for an honest and penetrating profile.
Olga’s final staff job before retirement was at The Mail on Sunday where she joined the features department as an assistant editor and would often be found on a Friday night cheerfully running up silk purses from sows’ ears. With yet another world exclusive saved, Olga would trot off to the pub with her closest confidantes muttering that it would have been easier if she had been the interviewer in the first place. All there were forced to agree that she was right.
Trusted because of her reputation for fairness
With all these journalistic achievements and many beside, it would be easy for Olga to have been grand. But not a bit of it. “Honey, I’m just a humble, old hack”, she would say with a twinkle in her eye. She was a star who knew how to be a good team player and for that, she was loved and admired in equal measure. She was trusted by editors who knew she had squeezed the last drop out of a story and her copy would be pin sharp. She was trusted by interviewees and agents because of her reputation for fairness. And she was trusted by her colleagues because they knew she would defend them with the same fair-minded ferocity that she used to stand up for herself.
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When news emerged of Olga’s death after a short stay in hospital at the ‘rock star’ age of 67, there was a spontaneous and heartfelt cry of anguish from stunned friends and colleagues around the world who re-told stories of her brilliance, her little acts of kindness, her self-deprecating humour and, of course, the many hilarious, gossipy nights out in the pub. It was generally agreed that Olga was excellent company, happy to hold court and regale the company of how she’d paid a £2500 vet’s fees on the wrong stray cat or got hopelessly lost in Berkshire on her way to the Hungerford shooting.
Other memories were more private. To many an unnamed reporter involved in some misdemeanour on the road, she was a ‘big sister’ quietly smoothing things over with the news editor. To others, she was that increasingly rare person in newspapers, a lifelong mentor who taught by example, without being overtly conscious of it.
It would be tempting to conclude on an upbeat note about imagining Olga sitting in that great bar in the skies, cigarette in one hand, sauvignon blanc in the other, gossiping with other dearly departed journalists. Yet even now, it’s possible to feel a tap on the shoulder and hear Olga whispering in that unmistakable throaty Belfast lilt: “Now then, doll face. That’s a bit of a tired old cliché, isn’t it. Shall we just leave it out.?”. Olga was invariably right.
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Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our “Letters Page” blog
At least six people have been killed and nine wounded in a mass shooting at a Tel Aviv railway station, Israeli police said.
Police had earlier said four people were killed and seven wounded in a suspected terror attack in Israel’s central city of Tel Aviv, adding that two assailants had been “neutralised”.
Israelis cower during the attack
“Four civilians were killed by gunfire from two terrorists. Additionally, there are seven injured individuals in varying degrees of severity according to medical sources. Both terrorists have been neutralised on site,” police said in a statement.
Police said the gunmen opened fire in Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv on the boundary with Jaffa and there were a number of casualties.
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Gunmen alighted at a light rail station and opened fire
TV footage showed gunmen getting off at a light rail station and opening fire. Israel media reported at least four people were seriously injured.
Pictures from the scene show armed men with assault rifles getting off a tram.
An ambulance stands by at the scene of the shooting on Tuesday night – Anadolu
Videos posted to social media show a number of bodies on the ground. One video shows police surrounding what appears to be the body of a gunman.
Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said it received a report at 7.01pm local time of people injured by gunfire.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
OpenAI is betting that artificial intelligence-powered assistants will “hit the mainstream” by next year as tech groups, including Google and Apple, race to bring so-called AI agents to consumers.
AI agents, which can reason and complete complex tasks for people, have become the newest front in the battle between tech companies as they look to drive revenues from the fast-developing technology.
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“We want to make it possible to interact with AI in all of the ways that you interact with another human being,” said Kevin Weil, chief product officer at OpenAI.
“These more agentic systems are going to become possible, and it is why I think 2025 is gonna be the year that agentic systems finally hit the mainstream,” he added.
At its developer day in San Francisco on Tuesday, OpenAI revealed increased access to its new model series called o1, which has improved reasoning, as well as GPT-4o’s advanced voice capabilities. Developers will be able to access this technology in real time, where the AI can understand voice commands and converse in speech in a live scenario akin to a call.
The push to bring AI agents to the masses is one way OpenAI expects its technical advances will help drive future profits, as it moves ahead with plans to restructure as a for-profit company.
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The fast-growing start up is aiming to complete a $6.5bn funding round this week at a $150bn valuation by persuading backers it has the capacity to beat its rivals to critical technological milestones and dominate the sector. Investors in talks with the company in recent weeks have included Microsoft, Nvidia, SoftBank and venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Tiger Global, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Microsoft, Salesforce and Workday last month put agents at the centre of their AI plans, while Google and Meta have also indicated this would be a focus for them when putting their AI models into their products.
While AI-powered assistants have been in train for nearly a decade, these latest advances allow for smoother and more natural voice interactions and superior levels of understanding thanks to the large language models (LLMs) that power new AI models.
Last year, OpenAI released “assistants application programming interface”, which was designed to enable developers to build agents using its technology. But the company said this was hampered due to limitations in the capabilities of earlier models.
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Weil said OpenAI’s latest models’ improved ability to think and reason would manifest in its products, including ChatGPT, and for start-ups and developers who build products using its API. The company would not comment on whether it immediately plans to build its own AI agent.
One example shown in a bespoke demonstration of the tools was speaking to an AI system to help source products to buy locally, such as strawberries. The AI would then call the business to place an order of strawberries, taking on the user’s instructions for how many and the desired spend.
OpenAI said any uses of such a technology would not be allowed to conceal it was AI rather than a human and was only available to developers in six presets, rather than building new voices.
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“If we do it right, it takes us to a world where we actually get to spend more time on the things that matter and a little less time staring at our phones,” said Weil.
AN ULTRA-RARE error on a 50p coin has skyrocketed its value – you might have one in your wallet.
The Benjamin bunny coin is one of four 50p coins that were released in 2017 to celebrate famed author Beatrix Potter – coins with Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten and Jeremy Fisher on were also released as part of the collection.
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An error on the 50p coin makes it over 500 times more valuableCredit: MEN Media
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If the Queen is facing the same way Benjamin Bunny, its value increases drasticallyCredit: EBay
TikTok account CoinCollectingWizard instructed viewers to keep their eyes peeled for the lucrative coin.
He said: “If the Queen is upside down on your 50p coin then it’s worth ‘big money’. This 50p is an error all because the design is facing the wrong way.
“The error that’s left the Queen’s head in a different direction on the obverse design of the Benjamin Bunny on the reverse will have happened in the minting process.”
He added: “When you flip it round, the Queen should be facing the same way Benjamin Bunny. If the Queen is facing any other way, then you have found a rare rotation error worth money.
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“Error coins are still legal tender so long as the original coin is still in circulation too.”
The influencer added: “That means you can easily come across one in your change.
“Often times error coins can sell for a lot more than their face value. So this is definitely something you need to be looking for as it can be easily missed.”
Concluding the video, he advised coin fans to take a closer look at the Benjamin Bunny 50p coin and said: “Flip that rabbit over and check the Queen.”
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25 million of the coins were minted, so alone it won’t usually go for much more than £2.60.
But finding one with a mistake is rare, though it does make the coins more desirable at the same time, especially as they’re produced in low numbers.
Exact date to spot on rare 1p worth up to £200,000
Could I be quids-in with a rare error coin?
Often times error coins will sell for a lot more than their face value.
In April a rare £1 sold for £155 because it had upside down writing on its side.
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Plus in February last year, another mis-struck £1 coin was sold for £112 as it had an error that left the silver-coloured inner part of the pound looking like a fried egg.
Error coins are still legal tender – so long as the original coin is still in circulation too.
That means you could easily come across one in your change.
Get an imperfect coin verified by the Royal Mint, and you could then place a value on yours if you come to sell.
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It will also let you know if your change is legitimate or not as unfortunately there are many fake coins in circulation.
Online tools from change experts like Coin Hunter are helpful to see how much it could be worth too.
Plus, the number of bids on the listing can help you establish that the coin is the real deal as well.
The Benjamin bunny error coin only had two bids placed on the listing, so many coin experts will be skeptical of whether it actually sold for the price it said it had.
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Also remember that if you’re selling on eBay, you need to keep in mind that a buyer could pull out as well which means it won’t have sold for the price that it says it has.
Rare coins and valuable notes – is yours worth a mint?
Volvo Cars has officially abandoned its ambitious target of selling 1.2 million cars per year by 2025.
CEO Jim Rowan confirmed that the goal is no longer realistic.
According to Boosted, the Swedish-Chinese brand had originally set the target when it went public three years ago, aiming for significant growth.
But it has since been forced to adjust its strategy due to tougher-than-expected market conditions.
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In 2020, Volvo’s leadership, including former CEO Håkan Samuelsson, predicted a 55% increase in production and sales by 2025.
They also expected a profit margin of 8-10%. But unpredictable changes in the global car industry, especially in the electric vehicle sector, disrupted those plans.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Pink Floyd, the British rock band, has agreed to sell the rights to their vast catalogue of music including hits such as Wish You Were Here and Money to music label Sony for about $400mn.
The deal includes Pink Floyd’s recorded music, according to two people familiar with the matter, resolving the fate of one of the most valuable assets during a boom time for sales of vintage rock music.
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The terms also include the band name and the artists’ “likeness”, one person added, which means that the label will have the rights to merchandise and spin-offs such as movies and TV series.
Songs have two sets of copyrights — one for the songwriting and one for the recording, or master copy. Pink Floyd has agreed to sell their recorded rights, but not the songwriting, said people familiar with the matter.
The agreement, which was struck this week, will mark the end of years of infighting and drama between band members over the details of the sale.
The deal marks the latest in a series of acquisitions of “heritage” artists BY Sony, which also struck a deal to acquire some of the rights to the British rock band Queen this year for about $1bn.
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Pink Floyd is one of the best-selling groups of all time, with their hits including Another Brick in the Wall. Their music had been one of the remaining big-name catalogues up for grabs after deals struck by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and others in recent years. Rights to both Dylan and Springsteen were acquired by Sony, too.
But the group’s potential payout had been delayed for at least two years by disputes between band members over the tax structure of the deal, as well as bassist Roger Waters’ controversial comments.
An attempted sale in 2022 — which has attracted bidders such as Hipgnosis, Warner Music and BMG — was put on hold.
Waters and his bandmate David Gilmour have been at odds for more than four decades, which had previously jeopardised the band’s ability to cash out on their life’s work. The band’s other surviving member is drummer Nick Mason.
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Sony and Gilmour declined to comment. Waters was not available for comment.
Heritage artists continue to be popular with new, younger audiences thanks to streaming services as well as use of their music in TV shows and films. Sony, like other labels, seeks to add value to its music catalogues through licensing agreements across streaming services, gaming and other media.
While the prices of music catalogues have softened from the highs reached in 2021 and 2022, there is still strong demand from investors for highly-coveted assets like Pink Floyd. Private equity giant Apollo in July agreed to fund Sony with up to $700mn to back music deals.
WETHERSPOONS will serve £1.79 pints in over 700 of its pubs next week – but you better be quick.
The popular chain announced that a 12-day beer festival will take place across all 809 UK Wetherspoons pubs.
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The festival will take place from October 9 until October 20
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There will be 30 different real ales to choose from
Beer lovers can enjoy 30 different real ales from October 9 to October 20.
The deal will include beers not previously available in Wetherspoons and others have been brewed specially for the festival.
Some will even be travelling from as far as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA.
Order an ale either at the bar or via the app – but we recommend having a browse of the festival magazine first, which you can also find online or via the app.
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Marketing manager Jen Swindells said: “The festival is a great celebration of real ale.
“It will allow us to showcase a selection of superb beers, including those from brewers as far afield as Japan and New Zealand, as well as those closer to home, over a 12-day period.
“All of the beers will be available at great value- for- money prices.”
Specifically, for as little as £1.79.
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Jen added: “The festival will also give our customers the opportunity to enjoy a number of beers which have not previously been available in the pubs, as well as those brewed specially for the festival.”
If you’re typically a lager drinker, lighter ales can be a great gateway into the ale world.
Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin lifts the lid on how his beers are so cheap
The Urban South: Who Dat is a golden ale, originally brewed in Louisiana, USA.
Flavoured with lemongrass, green grapes and grapefruit, Wetherspoons describes it as “crisp” and “refreshing”.
On the other side of the coin is Elgood’s North Brink Porter.
Brewed in Cambridgeshire, this deep ruby ale is described by spoons’ magazine as a “firm favourite”.
It also has a “deep roast aroma”, with a “toasty chocolate flavour” and “hints of espresso and liquorice”.
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Elgood’s North Brink Porter is a seasonal ale so it’s not brewed permanently.
Other beers in the line up include: Born to be Mild, a ruby ale by Conwy Brewery and Sun Lounger, a pale ale by Fyne Ales Brewery.
Plus; Salem Session, Mango in the Night, Sapphire Spoon, Banoffee Pie Golden Ale, and The Gloaming.
There are also vegan and vegetarian options available.
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If a whole pint is too much of a commitment, three third-of-a-pint tasters will also be available for the price of a pint.
How can I save money at Wetherspoons?
FREE refills – Buy a £1.50 tea, coffee or hot chocolate and you can get free refills. The deal is available all day, every day.
Check a map – Prices can vary from one location the next, even those close to each other.
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So if you’re planning a pint at a Spoons, it’s worth popping in nearby pubs to see if you’re settling in at the cheapest.
Choose your day – Each night the pub chain runs certain food theme nights.
For instance, every Thursday night is curry club, where diners can get a main meal and a drink for a set price cheaper than usual.
Pick-up vouchers – Students can often pick up voucher books in their local near universities, which offer discounts on food and drink, so keep your eyes peeled.
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Get appy – The Wetherspoons app allows you to order and pay for your drink and food from your table – but you don’t need to be in the pub to use it.
Taking full advantage of this, cheeky customers have used social media to ask their friends and family to order them drinks. The app is free to download on the App Store or Google Play.
Check the date – Every year, Spoons holds its Tax Equality Day to highlight the benefits of a permanently reduced tax bill for the pub industry.
It usually takes place in September, and last year it fell on Thursday, September 14.
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As well as its 12-day Real Ale Festival every Autumn, Wetherspoons also holds a Spring Festival.
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