Surprising though it seems today, I can’t remember when I first discovered Shooting Times, but it must have been when I was about 15 years old. Compared with today’s lively colour magazine, it was visually a somewhat drab black-and-white publication, but for a young man with a passion for shooting and the countryside it was a weekly delight. Though the layout may have been unexciting, the words more than made up for it, as Shooting Times has always employed some of the best writers in the business.
I’ve never been much interested in guns, but even so, I used to enjoy Gough Thomas’s weekly musings, along with former editor’s wide-ranging pieces. was a weekly contributor, too: he remains to this day my favourite writer on the countryside. Then there was weekly to look forward to, and perhaps an article by Jeffery Harrison, who lived not far from me in Sevenoaks. contributors at the time.
