In April 1992, CF staff writer Sean Masterson authored the Commodore Format Don’t Buy This If You’ve Less Than A Year To Live diary. There was a games POKE for every day of the year and a lot of space to, er, write things down. It wasn’t a cover mounted freebie – it cost eight quid and readers had to send away for the hard back book.

But why release a diary in April rather than January – and why was the book offered to readers six months before it actually appeared?

Our Commodore Format source recalls exactly why:

“The manuscript for the book was deleted by accident, and Sean had to recreate the entire thing, from scratch. If memory serves, this was done after hours, borrowing other people’s computers at the office when they’d gone home. The diary missed its allocated timeslot at the printers which they still had to pay for. It cost Future a lot of money.”

Ouch. CF

 (PHOTO CREDITS: Stephen Stuttard)

The diary itself was a ring binder sort of thing, with a hard cover.
A page from CF’s 1992/1993 diary. With some help for Chip’s Challenge!
The diary’s back cover. The book was put together by Sean Masterson. Many people remember CF’s early days for the Steve Jarratt/Andy Dyer double act, but Sean’s writing was understated and excellent. He remained on the team when Steve and Andy moved to launch TOTAL! before quietly leaving early the following year.
The back of the diary offered readers 100 of Andy Roberts’ famous cheats for just two quid! No more data errors for you thanks to the CF Poke Powerpack!
Commodore Format Poke Power Pack instructions.
Poke tape – side 1
Poke tape – side 2