Michael Frayn: ‘I longed to work for the Observer, so I wrote in claiming I could speak 12 languages’

When I was a student the only paper any of us ever read was the Observer. I read it largely for Kenneth Tynan, the theatre critic, and for Paul Jennings, the humorous columnist, but also for John Gale and his reporting.

I longed to work for the paper, so I wrote this letter claiming I could speak 12 languages and so on. Several months later I was summoned for an interview with the columnist Anthony Sampson, and I could not remember what I’d written in the letter. He kept saying to me: “You’ve really got a working knowledge of Polish politics?” And I said: “Well, I know the name of the prime minister.” I got turned down, but after a spell at the Guardian I did eventually work for the Observer, as I’d always wanted to.

The offices were in Tudor Streetin several houses connected by winding back stairs and corridors – it was like a rabbit warren. I would spend Friday morning in the office, going through my copy with John Silverlight, the leader page editor, and then we’d all go out for a drink at lunchtime, and then in the afternoon I’d go home. Some people would drink quite a lot and go back to work. I don’t know how they did it.

It was a lovely paper to work for, with a sort of family atmosphere. The annual expeditions were famous. We went on alternate years to a seaside resort and to Cliveden, which was then occupied by David Astor’s brother, and it was extraordinary. As I recall, the band of the Brigade of Guards was playing on the lawn and everyone was swimming in the pool, which later became notorious in the Profumo scandal.

People think that my novel, Towards the End of the Morning, was based on the Observer or the Guardian. It was a pretty fictitious office, but I did borrow a few characteristics for my central character, John Dyson, from John Silverlight. He was quite a comic character, very excitable, but I was very fond of him.

I don’t think anyone back then foresaw what was going to happen to the newspaper industry. It seemed to me that the Observer was part of the fabric of the nation. Who knows what format it will take in the future, but it has held on to its liberal voice and it remains a great paper.