Grantgoddard Stories

"Clackety-clack clackety-clack, from Kalamazoo to Timbuctoo, from Timbuctoo and back!" As a young reader, I learned these words by heart from a favourite child...

It was the summer of rock'n'roll. Bill Haley. Buddy Holly. Chuck Berry. Fats Domino. The Big Bopper. Now, every time I hear one of their songs, I am reminded of a summer...

When my wife took a job at the United Biscuits factory in Harlesden, she understood she would be making 'Digestives' ... and she was correct. When I took a job at The Ra...

"It's for you," shouted the man behind the counter, holding the telephone handset at arm's length toward me after having answered the call. "For me?"...

Why does Toronto have such insipid and boring radio? Our city is vibrant, artistic, culturally diverse and entertaining, so why is none of that reflected in our uninspir...

"Each of you will subscribe to 'The Times' newspaper and read it every day," Mr Hodges told us. "In class, we will discuss one of its news stories about e...

It was only just daylight when I suddenly realised that the phone was ringing. It seemed to take me ages to drag my weary body out of bed, as the phone continued to ring...

"Would you like to dance?" the girl asked. I was dumbfounded. Nobody had ever asked me to dance. Particularly a girl! "Er, no thanks," I mumbled path...

1976. With trepidation, I knocked on the door of the Durham student newspaper to volunteer, opened it and encountered a cacophony of shrill, loud voices in an office no...

Here in Phnom Penh, there are seventeen radio stations on the FM dial, even though Cambodia's capital city has a population of less than a million. But you are more like...

There was a loud knock on the front door. Who could be visiting unannounced after dark? Certainly not Mr Dickinson from 'The Pru' who always called during daylight hours...

"Ground staff have told me our plane is four inches too close to the gate," the pilot announced in a tone midway between bewilderment and exasperation. "I...

Magazine editors. What do they do? "They create editorial calendars, develop story ideas, manage writers, edit content and manage the production process..." ac...

It was a hostage situation. I was sat on a chair in a large, empty room. An angry man was pacing in circles around me, shouting questions: "What have you done?"...

It has always been difficult for me to understand how white South Africans who built successful careers under the country's apartheid regime can live with the guilt and...

"I understand you're an expert in messaging," said the woman sat behind the desk. I looked blank. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. If she m...

It was a mystery. Questions were asked. Answers were not forthcoming. Nobody could understand what had happened. Evidently something must have occurred. But what? And ho...

"I am here for the Accommodation Office, please," I said with trepidation to the uniformed man behind the huge wooden reception desk in the lobby of the Old Sh...

"It's just like the multinational pharmaceutical businesses deliberately designing toothpaste tubes so that you cannot squeeze out the last bit of toothpaste,"...

What's in a name? Well, first impressions are lasting impressions (as The Impressions' song goes). When our names are usually the first thing that strangers know about u...