Coventry Telegraph

For my pennyworth, and probably your grandparents the CET was a worthy paper, for in those days the only news was the wireless and the newspapers, and if you lived in the village of Binley, Tile Hill, etc you would rely on the CET for local news, for London and Manchester were as far away as the moon so people believed more in the CET. My grandfather listening to the wireless, would not accept that the King would leave his throne and his people for a middle-aged married woman, until it was in the CET. Despite the war bringing towns and countries to our doorstep, I was surprised a few years after the war how it had rubbed off on me as I read a daily newspaper stating a submarine had gone down in the Thames estuary, losing most of the crew. I found myself waiting for it to be confirmed by the CET. But despite all that, this time 77 years ago we were all glued round the wireless to hear those fateful words 'We are now at war with Germany'.

Old habits die hard Kaga. My hubby would walk home from work down the street with his nose in the CET every night. (1960's)

Photo of the Telegraph's offices and works on Quinton Road

Jeremy Vine, in 1987 when he was a trainee reporter with the CET

I spy a forum moderator walking down Upper Well Street (sorry, dutchman, Fretton Street ) following his Belgrade Bacon Butty meeting

I'm pleased that developers have decided to convert the existing Coventry Telegraph building rather than knock it down. It was a great building to work in in the late sixties and very well designed for its purpose. It should make a fine and quirky hotel. It was always exciting to hear the presses start to run in the late morning. I was a press photographer and it was generally a whole lot of fun. The newsroom was a riot of cigarette smoke, clattery typewriters, and general good humour.

The CT is no longer worth reading: the quality of the journalism is appalling. The online version is full of nothing more than click-bait headlines and auto-play videos which steal bandwidth.

I am very unimpressed with the CT website. It is infuriatingly slow to load, respond, and is peppered with adverts. They are not alone - I've found that all newspaper websites are the same - after a while, they often hang up, with the error message that "the site is not responding".

Standards at the BBC are hardly any better In their article about CCFC today, they report: ""We don't own our ground," explains 19-year-old Matt, who's been a fan since he was younger."

Who remembers the Coventry Evening Telegraph vans rushing round the streets to the local newsagents? I seem to remember the Austin A40 and Bedford CA type vans in the 1950s.

I bought one of their A40 vans, it was very reliable and it never looked untidy with the black shiney paintwork. I remember the front shocks being worn out, when it started to bounce the best thing to do was slow down. I loved that old van.

In later years they had vans like (or actually were) Sherpas, which were driven as if they were in a race. Two-wheel cornering was the norm.

The Saturday evening races were between the Coventry Evening Telegraph vans delivering the Pink and the Birmingham Evening Mail vans delivering the Sports Argus (which was also pink). I can recall seeing the Evening Mail driver overtake the Telegraph driver by taking an island on the right hand side. On another occasion one of the vans tipped on its side taking the same island too fast. It was an Austin/Morris J4, never the most stable of vehicles. The Goddard & Poke vans used to reach tremendous speeds on the Foleshill Road, particularly very early on Sunday mornings in the summer when it was broad daylight but there was little traffic. In the 70's they were BMC EA vans, again not the most stable in a corner. Fortunately for them no-one got in the way, nor gave them Ford Transits which were even quicker but at least would go round a corner without falling over.

The old Coventry Evening Telegraph has been opened on Saturdays (11-4) for self guided tours before its conversion into a boutique hotel. There is a lot more to the building than you would think from the outside. Boardroom Enclosed garden Printing hall I recommend visiting soon as I'm not sure how long it will stay open. Peter.

PeterB. Wasn't it called the MDT - Midland Daily Telegraph - during the war?