This is a memoir about the Golden Age of Australian journalism and is a timeless story about growing up. Its the personal journey of Elliot Hannay, who started as a 16-year-old boy working in a country town, when reporters worked with hard copy and hot metal and tough old editors taught cadets their craft with a mixture of instruction and reprimand. The book follows Elliots career in newspapers, spanning decades and covering politics, racism, murder and more. Its also about finding love and sharing life with an amazing partner; and a growing friendship with an eccentric gay Englishman who found sanctuary among hard-nosed, cynical journalists and tough war-veteran printers, in an era when intolerance was far more common than inclusion. [New Para] The people are real, the events did happen, and the dialogue and detail are as honest as unreliable memories can recreate.