Bruce Graham started his television working on Romper Room, with excitable five-year-olds and near-daily on-air disasters. Undaunted by that experience, he moved on to other forms of mayhem with excitable ambitious politicians. Police stories, pumpkin stories -- he reported it all. Anchorman is filled with Bruce''s experiences, observations, commentaries and occasional letters from viewers who took it upon themselves to correct, compliment or contradict him. Through four decades there were many high points but absurd moments and disappointments as well.

As a student reporter, he found himself sharing the same streets as the Boston strangler, mob hit men and Jack Kennedy. He encountered a labour leader so intoxicated he fell asleep on the news set before his interview. There were plenty of controversies in his career, some so explosive that they threatened the stability of a city. As a news director in Halifax, he was often at odds within his own profession. Bruce didn''t believe that news should be tamed or timed for somebody''s convenience. This led to battles over news embargoes and the campaign for television cameras in the Nova Scotia legislature. There are plenty of personal glimpses of people in this book, from Ralph Kline to Pierre Trudeau, as well as many other newsmakers of the day.

And there are also the humourous moments: Cape Bretoners witnessing the Virgin Mary on the side of Tim Horton''s and the man who tried to convince the anchorman that he was being destroyed by aliens. There are stories of injustice too, of people charged with arson and the murder of a young man in a Calgary convenience store and those people who just disappear off the face of the earth.