Political column – March 16

One of the most striking images we ever published captured a moment in history when that aviation icon Concorde soared over the world-famous Iron Bridge.

But as we're going back not far short of 40 years, I don't think I will be speaking out of school if I let you into a little secret, and one which gives me a rather different perspective on the row over that Mother's Day picture released by Kate Middleton which turned out to have a few Photoshop tweaks.

You would think that the fuss should at least have caused a little awkward shuffling of feet in what used to be called Fleet Street, because dabbling with pictures to improve them is as old as the hills and goes back long before the advent of photo editing software.

Furthermore, the best photographers do more than take great pictures, they are also great choreographers with a rapport with their photographic subjects which enables them to get the best images. Stand there, hold this like that, a bit higher... you know the kind of thing.

Generally this is all benign and not false as such, but a sort of heightened reality.

If you think it doesn't happen on the telly, you're wrong. For instance there are plenty of wartime documentaries which draw on footage which was staged at the time, or they simply cobble together stuff that seems to vaguely fit – I even saw the German fleet masquerading as the British fleet in one programme. And as much of the original footage was silent, the sound is dubbed.

In the old days newspapers, including the Star, used to employ artists who would touch up photos to bring out highlights, fade out unwanted backgrounds, and so on. This did not change the integrity of the picture, but very occasionally things would go further and extend to creating, for example, a montage.

Or covering up mistakes. One photographer returned with a picture of a local strongman pulling a bus by a rope. The picture editor pointed out that the rope wasn't actually attached to the bus. Thanks to a few finishing touches it was attached to the bus in the published version.

In my work I deal a lot with old prints from our archive and do a lot of altering to remove blemishes. Surprisingly these sometimes include the photographer's fingerprints.

Anyway, back to Concorde. It was August 1987 and to mark the centenary of the Shrewsbury Flower Show it was arranged for the plane to do a flypast, and as part of its visit it would also fly over the Iron Bridge.

What a great photo opportunity, so we ran a competition for the best reader's picture of the Concorde flying over the Iron Bridge.

Concorde duly came, and great crowds turned out to watch it, cameras pointed aloft.

There must have been lots of pictures taken of the event, but none were as good as that taken by our Star professional which captured all the drama of the occasion.

Take a bow the late Bob Craig, one of our legendary chief photographers.

The way I heard it, it was when people started to order copies that things began to get a bit tricky.

Years later, when I chatted to Bob about it, he was still a little coy. He told me that Concorde had made a couple of passes, and the first was photographically a waste of time, even with his 600mm lens, as the plane was so high.

Then, he said, as people were walking away Concorde took everybody by surprise by coming a lot lower and he got the shot.

However to get the image just right Bob, in his own words, "pulled it down," which I take to mean that there was a little magic performed in the darkroom.

“It did fly over the bridge. It was not untrue. It was a little bit of licence with the printing.”

There was a twist to the story, as British Airways was so taken by Bob’s picture that it asked for a copy.

Bob said he joked at the time with the news editor: “Do you want another picture, showing Concorde flying under the Iron Bridge?”