I was rummaging through some old files yesterday when I found this.
It's an edition of Free Choice which began life as a Forest newsletter before it was upgraded to a 28-page magazine.
The cover features "bon viveur" Charles MacLean who succeeded Brian Monteith as Forest's spokesman in Scotland.
In a regular feature called 'What's Your Vice?' Charles responded as follows to a series of questions. For example:
Hello, what's your vice?
Scotch whisky
How serious is it?
Some of my friends say, rather enviously, that I drink whisky for a living.
How old were you when you first indulged?
I started at 17 but I didn't enjoy it until I was 25. Whisky is an acquired taste and you have to choose to acquire it, but once you have there are few drinks that give greater satisfaction.
How often do you drink?
Daily, and not only whisky. I also enjoy wine, beer and other spirits. I try hard to have at least one good old-fashioned lunch a week, the kind of lunch that leads to a lost afternoon.
Why do you drink?
Intellectual stimulation. Apart from a glass of sherry at lunch or two or three drams to unwind in the early evening, I rarely drink alone. Alcohol stimulates conversation. That's the joy of it. Just getting pissed is depressing.
Does drinking interfere with your work?
I can't afford to allow it to, but there is a long and honourable connection between drinking and writing and for me the two are entwined.
Have you ever tried to stop?
I tried to stop drinking for Lent once but I cracked after four days.
Best accompaniment to whisky?
Stimulating conversation, entertaining companions, and tobacco. I can't possibly enjoy a drink without a smoke. Tobacco is crucial to my enjoyment.
Has drinking ever got you into trouble?
Continually, especially with Mrs MacLean, but I've never woken up in the cells.
Your vision of Utopia?
Sitting on a yacht off the west coast of Scotland with three good friends, a full bottle of whisky and a fresh packet of cigarettes.
The same issue of Free Choice also features an interview with Brian Monteith who I described as a "smoker-friendly member of the Scottish Parliament".
Over the weekend I'll post that interview plus one or two other articles. Unfortunately most back copies disappeared when we moved office several years ago which is a pity because, according to the promotional blurb:
We've got smoker-friendly advice, comment and information, articles by Auberon Waugh and Edward Enfield and interviews with Kenneth Clarke, Laurence Marks and Antony Worrall Thompson; plus details of Forest events including our Annual Debate and the Summer Boat Party.
As for Charlie MacLean, you couldn't meet a more charming man. Today he is universally acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on Scotch whisky.
A few years ago he even appeared in a Ken Loach film, The Angels’ Share, playing himself. See Whisky expert turned movie star on the sweet smell of success (Daily Record).
Personally, I'll always remember sharing a room with him above a pub in Glasgow's Merchant City prior to the launch of a Forest campaign.
The following morning we launched the campaign with a smoker-friendly fry-up in that same pub. We invited some guests and it was featured as a live outside broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland.
We then drove to Edinburgh where we hosted a drinks reception for MSPs and journalists (in the appropriately named Oxygen Bar), and the day ended with me dashing back to Glasgow for an appearance on Newsnight Scotland.
It was possibly the most successful campaign launch Forest has ever done and I'll always remember Charles' calmness and grace under fire!