FIRST PERSON: Journalist turned life coach Marcus Grodentz

about working with Weakest Link-host Anne Robinson, the fire that destroyed the Alexandra Palace and changing career in his 60s.

“AT school I wanted to be an actor but always loved writing. Journalism was my first love.

I still miss it but my eventual move into PR and now as a life coach is a fairly obvious one.

Growing up in Stoke Newington in London I was an Arsenal fan and lived about 10 minutes away from the old Highbury Stadium.

My brother and I used to go and stand on the north bank in the days when you could just rock up to the turn styles and walk in half an hour before the game.

We did that for most of the home matches.

My parents ran a grocery shop directly opposite Stoke Newington Police Station which didn’t have the best of reputations in those days.

I went to a comprehensive school and was a barely moderate student.

I had aspirations to go into acting and had a great drama teacher, a lady called Lorna Davies who taught part time at my school and was a RADA teacher.

I remember confiding in her that I quite fancied acting and she asked me if I’d thought about the civil service.

I don’t think she knew how close she came to that being the case.

I left school with three O-levels.

The day I left school my mother saw an advert in the small ads for an office junior for a newspaper office.

I managed to get an interview and my cousin, Jeffrey Levy, who is now the chief feature writer for the Daily Mail, worked at The Express at the time and gave me a reference which persuaded the boss to give me the job.

My career in journalism began as a copy boy for a North London news agency.

It was six days a week for £5 doing a three-week rotating shift. In between times they would expect me to go to evening classes to learn shorthand but I got to one class in every three weeks because of the way the shift worked.

The news editor Peter Game encouraged me by subbing my copy in shorthand.

Mobile phones didn’t exist then so I used to spend a big chunk of my day just sitting reading copy over the phone to copy takers.

We filed copy to all the nationals, radio and TV.

One of the reporters was Anne Robinson and another was John Penrose, who later became her husband and manager.

This was 50 years ago when women in a male environment had to be even tougher than the men.

There was Anne with flaming red hair.

It was a hell of an experience going into that environment as a teenager.

She was only there for a few months and moved on to start her tabloid career but John was there the whole time I worked there.

I was on late duty with John one Sunday evening in 1967 on a painfully slow news night.

It was nearly midnight and he was about to send me home when the phone rang for probably the first time that night.

It was the first shout to the Hither Green train crash in South London which tragically killed 40 people and injured many.

We mobilised the entire staff but as an office junior I remained in the office. We didn’t get to bed until the following day.

I did my formal apprenticeship on the Watford Observer where I met the likes of Barbara Woodhouse the famous dog trainer of her day and the Irish singer Val Doonican, who both lived in our area.

Barbara was flamboyant, over-the-top and would regularly call the newsroom.

I got to round to her house a few times to do stories.

I then worked as freelance for about two years which was good fun but didn’t make any money.

I got married, became a father and needed an income so I got a job as a chief reporter on the Lee Valley Mercury at Waltham Cross.

Haringey Council was my first venture into local government where I worked as head of communications for around 10 years. You couldn’t say Haringey without saying ‘loony left Haringey’.

Being a press officer there was an uphill struggle. Dealing with people like Jeremy Corbyn was interesting.

He always wanted to know what my politics were but working in local government communications you have to be neutral.

It was during this time that Alexandra Palace – a huge landmark that stood on the top of a big hill with an iconic television mast – burnt down.

I remember having coffee one afternoon in the staff lounge at the top of the civic centre and seeing thick black smoke rising from the ‘Ally Pally’, which is owned by Haringey Council.

There was huge international media coverage with press from all over the world wanting to cover the fire.

We organised a media trip around the ruins and I remember seeing these huge metal girders that had twisted and bent in the heat of the fire.

They cordoned the place off but I managed to get through on the basis that I was PR officer for the council.

I was with our emergency planning guy standing probably 200-300 yards away and we got showered in soot.

In amongst all of that the story that got the most attention was the palace cat who rescued its kittens from the fire.

I moved to Reigate and Banstead Council in Surrey for about ten years before moving to Gloucestershire City Council as head of communications.

In 2007 there were huge floods and in Gloucester the water pumping station flooded, which meant there was no water for two weeks or more.

I was part of the council’s emergency planning team.

Although you train for something like this you are never fully prepared.

In Gloucester we had 1,000 flooded properties.

Water bowsers and bottled water were brought in.

We had staff working at water distribution stations handing out water.

At the same time a major electricity sub-station serving the whole of the county came within a couple of inches of being flooded.

The fire service, Army and Navy were drafted in to build defences to keep the water out.

They did it, but literally with inches to spare.

If it had flooded then the whole of Gloucester would not have had electricity.

It’s at that stage that you would be looking at mass evacuations. I was also living in Gloucester and was in exactly the same position as every other resident but still had to go into work every day.

I was also involved in organising the first ever Tall Ship Festival at Gloucester Docks to try and show the rest of the UK that the city had recovered and was open for business again.

We organised it in six weeks and it was a massive success.

Two years later the Queen came to see the regeneration that was going on in the city.

My job was to work with her press secretary organising the media.

While the visit only lasted a few hours it took months of planning but it all went well.

We had a reputation for being one of the best press offices in the country.

I’d led award-winning teams whilst being a carer for 24 years and a parent.

After a career spanning over 35 years I decided to take voluntary redundancy from a high-profile and stressful job.

I also had a lifestyle change and lost four stone.

My partner Maggie stole me across the border to live in Magor five years ago.

I took some time out before deciding to use my experience to move into another field as well as finding a new hobby in learning to jive.

I have embarked on a career as a life coach in my 60s proving you are never too old to be something new.

During my career I have loved mentoring and managing people who have worked for me and seeing them go on to get senior management jobs on the back of my help, training and support.

I love the buzz of being able to help people and to see them grow, change and achieve.

It’s incredibly satisfying.

At my age I’ve changed careers and my lifestyle. I’m walking the talk.”

* Visit novuslifecoaching.com.