Freelance journalist Andrew Troubadour tells us about his wide ranging interests from cars to composing, with a little Shakespeare, Jonny Depp and Samuel Johnson along the way. PRs can find out more about how they can work effectively with him and where they’re likely to see his work.
About your journalism:
What do you write about?
Anything and everything. Being something of a virtuoso/polymath/jack-of-all, I tend to have fingers in many pies. For instance, aside from my journalism (which is nevertheless a very important part of my work), I am a practising artist, composer and author so, naturally, I will extend my journalistic largesse to those fields. Being a practitioner, I can reflect from another facet that is the diamond called review, making it sparkle in the eyes and, yes, the ears of the aficionado.
But also, I write about my passions, be they cars, religion, politics or “alternative culture”. For example, being a lifelong petrol-head drives me to write about cars and related matters – reviews, company profiles, classic cars and related ephemera, Anthropogenic Global Warming, etc. On religion and politics – and alternative culture – I have my own, controversial, views; but then a natural controversy is the spice of penmanship, I always find.
Where are we likely to see your work?
Anywhere and everywhere. I’ve written for arts magazines, religious and political websites, newspapers – the whole gamut. You will most likely find me on Helium and Triond (just look for Tabitha Hergest – one of my noms de guerre)
What’s the most memorable work you’ve done?
That would be the one I wrote for an arts magazine on the Aston Martin Lagonda. People read it and wow over it even now – just as they do the Lagonda, in fact…
What interview or feature would you love the chance to do?
I have a list as long as the Humber bridge. However, as tough as it is to whittle it down to one or two, I’d have to say I’d love to test-drive an Aston Martin One 77; either that or to interview William Shakespeare. Then again, I wonder which would be the least likely…
About you and PRs:
Where do you source ideas for articles?
From my personal mores, my specialisms and my sense of what’s going on in the world. Is there a need for my article? If I write it, will it make a difference?
How can PRs be useful to you?
By working with me to deliver the story, and understanding the way I work.
How and when do you like them to get in touch?
When there’s something within the foregoing which would benefit and interest a “Radio 4” demographic.
Do you find press conferences, trips, parties and other events useful or an interruption?
It depends largely on the object or personality around which the event is planned. A Johnny Depp party would be fabulous, but a brown-paper-bag conference would get me reaching for an excuse. That said, were said paper bag stuffed with £50 notes, then I can always accommodate. After all, most things are for sale – at the right price.
If you could make one change to the way PRs deal with you, what would it be?
To be more synergistic. If we work together, that increases the effectiveness of the story.
About you:
How would you pay the bills if you weren’t a journalist?
Probably through music and art. Then again, given Johnson’s quote about nobody but a blockhead ever writing except for money, I’d probably be a blockhead too, which leads inexorably to politics…
If we gave you £1000, how would you spend it?
I’d buy an old Bedford CA motorhome on ebay.
What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Never trust any advice people give you – only what you pay for.
What books are on your bedside table, magazines in your bag, or blogs on your screen?
I’ve just finished reading “The Wars of the Roses” by Alison Weir, but I’m also ploughing through The Complete Sherlock Holmes” as well as Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”.
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