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The chap in the photograph above is E.C. Handel, known as Ted, who was head of Watney’s advertising/public affairs/PR department from the 1950s until the 1970s.
If you’ve read*Brew Britannia*(and if not, why not, &c.) you might recall his starring role as a foil for the upstart Campaign for Real Ale, engaging Christopher Hutt in a bad-tempered exchange of letters in the*Financial Times which only served to boost CAMRA’s profile:
Most of your readers will probably not have heard of CAMRA… so I should explain that it is a group that includes in its small membership (about 1,500) a number of journalists who see in the*‘ancient v. modern’ beer situation a golden opportunity for*‘controversial journalism’… we have always taken the trouble to answer letters from CAMRA and to point out the innacuracies of the arguments they produce so monotonously. (16 June 1973)
The funny thing is, even though we spent months hunting down biographical details and tracking down people who knew him, including his son, this is the first time we’ve actually seen him. The picture comes from the April 1959 edition of Watney’s in-house magazine*The Red Barrel and is excerpted from a group photo of the entire advertising department.
He looks rather severe, doesn’t he? And maybe a bit anxious. He certainly doesn’t look like someone who drank much beer.*But maybe the chair was uncomfortable or his waistcoat itchy that day. You can’t read too much into a single picture.
Still, nice to meet you at last, Mr H.
Face to Face With Mr E.C. Handel of Watney’s from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Beer blogging since 2007, covering real ale, craft beer, pubs and British beer history.


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