I've been a Timeform fan for most of my life. I think the perceived loss now is due to the excellence of the past as much as anything. As a modern product, it passes muster in publication terms alongside most if not all. I've seen more regular syntax/grammar/silly errors in BBC output and The New York Times than I've seen with Timeform in recent years, though there have been monster blunders not related to language use.
The best days were when the men who ran it loved the sport and loved writing about it. Geoff Greetham, Reg Griffin, and, of course the founder. Geoff worked on 97 annuals and reportedly refused the managing director position as he preferred writing to management. As with every business, the quality of a company and its product are reflected by the culture at the top. These days it would be close to impossible to gather such studious, dedicated management whose eye for profit was always secondary to quality. I cannot recall finding a single error in those annuals and they were in the days when proofreading had to be done manually; the cost, even then, must have been eye watering.
I thought that at some point they'd compromise on the size of the task by producing annuals covering horses rated at a certain level, but they never did, and although it was something I wanted, I am glad now that they went out on their shields.
One phrase that always stuck with me, for a 1970s Chasers & Hurdlers, I think - today you would see it described as 'a million' or 'a million to one', in Geoff's finest it went down as, 'It was all Lombard Steet to a China orange'.
Those were the days.
Joe
