JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner changes publishers

[parrot_knight]

A public service announcement for followers of Doctor Who non-fiction and broadcasting history: the much-anticipated biography JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner by Richard Marson has changed publishers. It will no longer be published by Fantom, but by Miwk. Fantom are in the process of refunding all pre-orders made through

Comments

[daniel_saunders]

They couldn't persuade it to stay, then?

'Scandalous' in the title makes me wonder if there were legal issues, but I imagine if there were it would not be published at all. I suppose The Life and Loud Shirts of John Nathan-Turner wouldn't be such an attractive title from a marketing point of view.

[parrot_knight]

I've just received an e-mail from Fantom now, saying that my refund ought to have been processed by the end of tomorrow.

It may be that with all the events they are running, publishing this book was more than Fantom could manage. This is speculation, though I welcome the decision associated with Miwk's acquisition of the title to include all the rare photographs from John Nathan-Turner's collection in the paperback instead of the hardback alone.

[helle_d]

Wasthere anything particularly scandalous that he was involved in?

[parrot_knight]

That depends whom you are talking to... and there have been lots of specific stories of different kinds and vague allegations over the years. Richard Marson is careful to emphasise that these are "scandalous times" rather than a specifically scandalous life, however.

[helle_d]

Yes, I can imagine the need to tread quite carefully - I'm always quite fascinated of people writing biographical things about living or 'recent' subjects, choosing who to believe and who to please and what strange rumours to include. Though that's overly simplistic, I know...

[parrot_knight]

Richard Marson joined the BBC in the 1980s himself and worked on Doctor Who in a junior capacity in the Nathan-Turner era, as well as writing for Doctor Who Magazine while he was in the sixth form and at university, so he knows the institution and also knew who to ask among JN-T's friends and colleagues. JN-T left a substantial collection of documents and recordings, too, which have also helped.

I've had close experience of the problems of working on the biographies of the recently deceased - it's a difficult business, particularly for those with any sort of public profile.