Book review: Brand New Retro

I RECENTLY had an animated excited discussion with my sister-in-law about a recently published book which was a source of interest to us in that some of the content related to her late husband John, my brother, who spent a lifetime in the publishing game.

He was founder of highly successful music magazines variously called Spotlight, New Spotlight and Starlight.

He dared to challenge the national censor in an Ireland where the Catholic Church held big sway by producing a somewhat raunchy production called Man Alive. Later, he diversified into book publishing and was associate publisher of the Cork Examiner’s highly acclaimed (with his father Stephen as editor) Picture That and Picture That Again.