MAGAZINE CRAFT
PAUL GLANCEY
Paul was a kid that got his wish – landing his dream job of writing about something he loved for a magazine he loved in equal measure. He still has the pinch marks. From words in Zzap!64 to takedowns in Burnout, settle down and read more of Paul’s career with a nice cup of PG Tips!
Words by Stuart Hunt
THEN
After falling head over heels for his Commodore 64, Paul Glancey started his career as a staff writer on the iconic C64 magazine Zzap!64. Forming a close friendship with Julian Rignall at Newsfield, the two later worked together on CVG at EMAP before Paul launched the Mega Drive magazine MegaTech.
NOW
After working on magazines in-house, Paul went freelance before transitioning into game development as a game evaluator at Eidos Interactive. He then went on to work on several racing titles for studios such as Criterion, Black Rock Studios and UbiSoft Reflections, as well as the Battlefield series for EA.
What were some of the first home computers you owned, Paul?
My older brother recommended a ZX81, because he had seen them advertised in a colour supplement. For about 18 months I was mad on it, typing in 1K chess programs from Your Computer magazine, or playing 3D Monster Maze after I’d saved up for a 16K RAM pack. When Sinclair launched the Spectrum I was agog, but after selling the ZX81 I could only afford a 16K machine. It was great until I tried to use it for part of my O-level technology project and blew it up. It worked out in the end though – I returned it to Sinclair with this pleading letter and they replaced it with an old 48K Spectrum by mistake. Then it was Manic Miner all the way!
You must have jumped over to a C64 at some stage, considering you started your career on
Zzap!64
?
My friend got a Commodore 64 and showed me High Noon by Ocean and Spy Vs Spy, and I couldn’t believe it. The music, the graphics, everything was amazing. My parents managed to scrape together enough money to buy me one on special offer from a catalogue returns shop. At that point I switched from reading Crash to Zzap!64.
How did you land a job as a staff writer on
Zzap!64
?
Julian Rignall, Gary Penn and Gary Liddon were on the magazine when I was reading it. One month, the editorial announced Gary Liddon was leaving the mag and invited readers who wanted to join the team to write in with a sample review. That was Newsfield’s standard recruitment method. Anyway, I was 17, halfway through A-levels and hating them, so I wrote in. To my surprise I got a phone call one afternoon from someone saying they had received my review and would I like to come in for an interview. At the end of the call, I asked who I was talking to and the voice said, “It’s Julian Rignall.” I put the phone down and ran around the room.
Can you remember your interview and what that experience was like?
I met Julian, Steve Jarratt and Ciarán Brennan, who was the editor at the time. I had to write a review of a game called Deceptor and then they took me to the pub for lunch – I looked about 12, so never went to pubs. We talked about games and then I had an interview with Ciarán in the afternoon. It was the most amazing experience. I waited weeks and weeks without hearing anything, so I rang them up and Steve Jarratt answered. He apologised and explained that they had given the job to someone else. That happened in July, and then in December Julian rang me again and said they had another staff writer opening and would I like to try again. I went down just before Christmas, and they offered me the job. The 4th of January 1988 was my first day at Zzap!64. That was the first day of the rest of my life really.