Sorry to bang on about this but having mentioned Forest's trip to Paris on No Smoking Day 1999 I have just found some copies of Free Choice, the short-lived Forest magazine.
The summer 1999 edition includes a report by Jenny Sharkey who was our office manager before leaving in 2001 to work for Theresa May. I've posted it below but first a quick recap.
When I joined Forest in January 1999 I inherited a newsletter called Free Choice. My background was in magazines so we upgraded it to a 28-page magazine published quarterly.
The first issue appeared in June 1999 and in addition to Jenny's report it included an interview with TV comedy writer Laurence Marks who was chairman of the Pipesmokers' Council. It began with this quote:
"Most winters I go to a small island in the Maldives where I sit on icing sugar sand with azure sea in front of me, lighting my pipe, a good book and no watch. That's about as close to Utopia as I'm ever going to get."
It also featured an article ('Why I'll Never Kick The Habit') by my successor at the magazine I had just left, plus a Spectator Diary style column by Nicholas Farrell, an English journalist based in Italy and the author of Mussolini: A New Life.
According to Farrell:
The Italian Apennine Mountains where I live are a smoker's paradise. I smoke Camel which cost just 4,500 lire (£1.50) a pack. Most other cigarettes cost 5,500 lire (£1.80). I smoke 50 a day but my daily smoking bill is only £3.75.
This is just one of the many advantages the Apennines have over Islington where I used to live before coming here last July to write a biography of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was born and is buried in Predappio, the village 14 hairpin bends above where I live.
In Britain my smoking bill would be three times what it is here in this fascist Bethlehem. I feel I have died and come to heaven. Other advantages include perfectly drinkable red wine which my local has on draft at 50p a half pint.
I have yet to come across a non-smoking area in my bar or restaurant here – let alone a place where smoking is not allowed at all. Even politicians smoke when interviewed on television.
If I say so myself Free Choice was quite good but we only published four issues. It was time consuming and quite expensive to produce and the internet was taking over as the number one method of communication for campaign groups like Forest.
Over the next few days however I'll post some snippets plus an article from each issue. This is Jenny's report of that trip to France:
Smoke out in Paris
It was worth getting up at 06:30 to catch the 08:23 Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris if it meant escaping from the continual nagging smokers habitually have to endure on No Smoking Day.
Our motley crew gathered at the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo Station shortly before eight o'clock. They included people from all walks of life including Lord Harris of High Cross, chairman of Forest; Judith Hatton, co-author with Lord Harris of Murder A Cigarette (a must for smokers everywhere); Forest spokesman Juleitte Wallbridge; business consultant Malcolm Tyndall; and supporters of Forest. We were also joined by smokin' Bob Shields, chief feature writer with the Scottish Daily Record, and photographer Dale Cherry.
Ages varied. The youngest were in their twenties, the eldest in their late seventies (and in extremely rude health, let it be known). Not all were smokers either. There are plenty of non-smokers who are fed up with the nanny state mentality of No Smoking Day and what better way to make your point than a day trip to the 'smoking capital of Europe'.
Having checked in and made ourselves comfortable in our smoker-friendly carriage, we were off, looking forward to our carefree day, even if some of us still had to work. Juliette, for example, was interviewed by Bob Shields and we all had to be photographed in various states of merriment. However it was all great fun and there was a lot of talking and laughing (and smoking) going on.
When we arrived in Paris we were met by a delegation from Le Calumet de la Paix (the French equivalent of Forest) led by the delightful Sandrine Ami. Sandrine had arranged to host a lunch in our honour in a lovely little restaurant in the heart of Paris where we were treated to some excellent French cuisine.
Juliette however had work to do. One minute she was being whisked off to have her photograph taken with Bob Shields at the Eiffel Tower, the next she was giving interviews to a host of radio stations back home. The trip had aroused interest throughout the UK where 16 years of No Smoking Day has exhausted even the most imaginative editors. Forest's day trip to Paris was a breath of fresh air!
Following our delicious lunch we split into little groups because everyone had their own idea of what to do and see. The oldies visited Notre Dame, others did a little shopping, and some of us were quite happy just to sit in a cafe, smoking and drinking.
All too soon it was time to leave. We were booked on the 19:19 train because the smoking carriage was fully booked on the last train, the 20:07. However some of us were enjoying ourselves so much that we missed it and ended up on the later train anyway, which meant we had to walk up and down the train trying to find a place to light up!
We all said our goodbyes at Waterloo and can't wait to do it all again next year.