| abstract
| - Clive Shawcross was a Weatherfield Gazette reporter who visited Coronation Street covering four different stories over the course of 1973. In the January, he called at the Rovers to investigate the case of Jacko Ford being cleared of robbing Benny Lewis's flat and Franny Slater and Sharon Duffy exposed as the true culprits. Annie Walker told Shawcross that she always believed in Jacko's innocence, while Jacko himself gave an interview, which to his disappointment the Gazette didn't pay him for. Two months later, he interviewed various residents on Albert Tatlock's near-fatal gassing while alone in his kitchen at 1 Coronation Street. Minnie Caldwell, who found Albert, told him how she had entered the house after noticing that his milk was still outside and that Elsie Howard called an ambulance. Meanwhile, Hilda Ogden all-too-eagerly reported that Jerry Booth had recently installed an electric cooker at No.1 and gave her theory that he hadn't properly sealed the gas off. The other residents tried to protect Jerry but he himself, plagued with guilt, confirmed to Shawcross that he'd fitted the cooker. As the cause of the gassing hadn't yet been confirmed, Shawcross's article focused on the residents' rescue efforts, incorporating information on Albert's soldier days (provided by Ken Barlow) to build a profile of the victim. However, it also carried a mud-slinging quote from Hilda, sullying Jerry's reputation as well as that of Fairclough and Langton. The next story he covered in Coronation Street was Bet Lynch's mugging in July. He first interviewed Stan and Hilda Ogden, who had found Bet lying in the ginnel. Over dramatising events and talking up their involvement, Hilda requested that Shawcross specifically mention in his article that she was eating scampi from Jackson's Chip Shop when they found Bet, as she considered it a classier meal than the standard fish and chips. Shawcross also covered the broader topic of how muggers should be dealt with and safety on the streets, interviewing various residents to collate their views on the topic. After taking down similarly reactionary quotes from Albert, Ena Sharples and Lucille Hewitt, he was referred to Ken Barlow to satisfy his desire for an opposing viewpoint. However, due to a mix-up with the photographs in the published article, Ken's liberal opinion was attributed to Albert (causing the old man to threaten to sue), while Lucille was described as a 73-year-old widow. Even Bet was unhappy with the article; she thought the photographer wanted shooting for the unflattering photo he'd taken of her and was horrified that Shawcross had used her full name of Teresa Elizabeth Lynch. Shawcross last visited the Street in November, in the wake of schoolboy Mark Hillkirk's accident at the communal bonfire which Alan Howard had helped organise. He and photographer Larry Clark called into the Rovers to "sound out local opinion" and found Alan there. The residents stood by Alan as Shawcross asked them if they thought that fireworks ought to be banned. Their next port of call was the Kabin where they got Councillor Len Fairclough to be spokesman for a new anti-fireworks campaign that the paper was to run, taking a picture of him with Rita Littlewood, not realising that she had sold Mark a box a fireworks a week earlier.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)