Saturday, April 02, 2005

Interview Gems #2
This one dates back to the early 1990s when I'd returned to Hong Kong to beg employment with various advert or PR agencies.
Alas, I can't actually name names but the basic goof is amusing enough.
Having just left the world of publishing, most of my feats of brilliance were with authors and bestselling books, and the promo I was best pleased with was the high profile 1974 launch of the UK edition of Woodstein's All the President's Men which also included involvement with the razzmatazz for the eventual movie starring Redford and Hoffman (about whom yet another tale when I feel like real name dropping)
Anyway, there I was gushing away when, at the mere mention of ATPM, the exec's face drained of blood ... and in that instant I knew what had happened:
Something in my memory played the man's name back and then I twigged - damn me if he didn't have the exact same name as one of the minor players who actually did time for the Nixon naughtiness.
Then it was my blood's turn to drain. I rallied as best I could and, in the immortal words of the tabloid reporters, made my excuses and left.
Poor guy: you do your time, emerge from clinky and then take a post at the ends of the earth to start again, and what do you get? Some twittering PR hack blunders in who knows *exactly* who you are.