If you were writing an identikit for The perfect portrait photographer - a wonderful eye, the ability to get the most out of the subject, superb use of light, stunning composition skills, charm and patience - you'd probably arrive at Terry O'Neill.It is fitting that this book is called Every Picture Tells a Story as Terry O'Neill's career grew out of one photograph. A newspaper reporter saw him taking a picture of the then British Foreign Secretary, Rab Butler, sitting asleep amongst African chieftains at Heathrow Airport. It was sent to the Daily Sketch newspaper and Terry was paid "25 quid" for the shot.Following the tragic death of his Daily Sketch colleague Brian Fogarty in a plane crash, Terry was asked to take over Fogarty's job. His then picture editor, Len Franklin, told him: "We think youth is on the rise in England and is going to change the world...we want you to photograph that." His first day saw him being sent to Abbey Road Studios to photograph The Beatles recording one of their first singles, and within weeks The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham rang and asked him to shoot the band. Terry recalls: "I started at the top and I never looked back."With typical modesty Terry believes much of his success has been down to being in the right place at the right time. "That's true - I was. I had no idea I was going to end up where I ended up in life - it was just fate."
