He had launched his career six years earlier as an assistant to the production manager on John Schlesinger's film, The Believers.

After three and a half years with the company in Industrial Engineering, Alan MacDonald was appointed Assistant to the Production Manager at the beginning of November.

Starting as a printer, he held a variety of newspaper jobs in Maine, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and served as a consultant in graphic arts before joining The Times in 1960 as assistant to the production manager.