Vale Tom Farrell

[Mechanic]

Listohan made the comment on Progress on Linotype restoration. :-

It wasn't that long ago when the Sydney Morning Herald had over 100 churning out classified advertising.

One of the people foremost participating in the computerization of the Sydney Morning Herald prepress operations was the Editorial Manager Tom Farrell. Tom had an number of quips about the SMH classiified. Here are two I recall.

He was in London and was touring Windsor Castle. He was talking to the tour guide who asked him how come the SMH had such a large classified section. Tom replied, "We start over 100 years ago." Later he commented on the the magnificent gardens and lawns. The guide said, "Yes we started over 400 years ago."

When we first went to cold type, we converted editorial first. When Tom was asked why not the classified, Tom replied, "When a linotype breaks down we still have 99 back up machines."

Tom was Assistant General Manager before he retired. Tom passed away last November. The following is a feature story from the SMH covering Tom's most interesting life

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/news-hound-with-a-nose-for-justice-20121130-2am51.html