CIE 40th Anniversary
that time, press conferences were always in-person events at top London hotels and nervous journalists – no names, no pack drill – might linger, unnoticed at the back. I could not have taken on CIE without Gavin’s forthright and sage council.
The owner of Hannover Press was one Derek Shepherd, formerly the press offi cer for the BBC. CIE’s rebirth as an editorial magazine was funded by ‘Majesty’ magazine – which was riding high on the back of Charles and Di’s ‘fairytale’ wedding. It would be common to be summoned to Derek’s
and lived off his earnings as a compare of Thames-estuary Essex working men’s clubs – described it. Another aside – Alan could tell a joke like no-one I have ever experienced before or since. I never understood the term ‘side-splitting’ before I met Al. You sometimes had to beg him to stop, laughing that hard hurts!
One year later, I recruited Christine Evans-Pughe as my deputy, and she stayed with me, contributing brilliantly, until I left to work in Brussels in 1998 when she took on the editor mantle. Another key fi gure was
press, rather than any other sector. Why? Well, just by chance, but with very few exceptions, the people I have met during a career spent exclusively in this industry, have been interesting, intelligent, supportive and great company. But the subject itself – what can I say, but what a ride?!!! I remember writing a headline trumpeting the ‘First Million Gate ASIC’. Hahahaha. Only one million gates – now that would be trivial? I remember DSM – Deep Submicron. Submicron? Today we are entering the Angstrom-Age of process
drink outside of London? Do you remember cash? All enabled by electronics. I could go on, but you get the point. CIE wasn’t there at the very start, but it has been there long enough to report on a period of momentous change, and I am honoured to have been part of its story. Today I work in PR and Marcoms – quick commercial: check out:
www.bwwcomms.com – but CIE will always have the fondest of places in my heart. So many great technologies, so many great articles, so many charismatic people, so
In order to stand out from its competitors, the original size and shape of CIE was more or less a king-sized square: A4 in height and six columns wide.
offi ce late morning and be told, “well, the magazine isn’t doing too well, but before we discuss that, would you like a glass of champagne?”. Indeed, working at CIE has taught me many life skills, including how to open a bottle of champagne. Lunchtimes in The Vine were long but the best team- building exercise you could hope for. When CIE launched, we wanted a gimmick. We already had a positioning statement – the only magazine dedicated to electronic components – but we needed to be immediately noticeable. So, by the time I joined, the size of the publication had already been decided upon. King size was effectively A4 in height, but six columns – not four – wide. More or less square, as Alan Fredericks – who banked his CIE salary
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production manager Jenny Ross holding it all together. We all used to have to troop up to Birmingham and then Scarborough every month, to ‘pass the issue’ – oversee all the fi nal corrections immediately before print. We worked hard. And partied just as hard. I’ve mentioned before, it was a different world… not better or worse, just different. We prospered mightily throughout the late 80s and 90s, regularly putting out monthly issues with 100 pages of advertising and 50-plus pages of editorial. Tony, Sean and Alan bought the magazine from Hanover Press and formed TAS Publishing. Chris and I were given carte-blanche to report on any company with anything interesting to say. It was a great time.
I’ve said I was lucky to join the electronics
geometries! I was party to a heated debate about why Intel had chosen to designate their latest processor ‘Pentium’ not 586. Of course, we still have the dear old D-subminiature connector – some things never change!
So much technical advancement. And now electronics is even more ubiquitous than it was back then. Not one single trend, new market or zeitgeist consumer movement is possible without electronics. I watched the PC revolution – including desktop publishing. I have seen the inexorable rise of iPods and iPhones. The Internet. The IoT. Big Data. The Cloud. Electric Vehicles. Autonomous Vehicles. Medical Wearables. Future Soldier. Smart Buildings. Do you remember when you needed cash to buy a
many laughs. Thank you to all those I have worked with, and – with more than a hint of envy – I raise a glass to current editor Catherine Hackett, group sales manager Harriet Campbell and publisher Datateam. CIE has changed and developed just as much as the industry it reports on. And it is in safe hands. But I urge publishers today to understand what they have. The key value lies in the community that forms around a media property. Loyal readers who trust CIE and the like. Look after and nurture that community, and no matter what changes happen – and what change could be more dramatic than the move from print to digital in the publishing world? – you’ll have a business that can make a real contribution, both to the reader and the industry it reflects.
Components in Electronics December/January 2024 25
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