About the Author
I was born in Birmingham in1925
I have an older brother Edward born in
1922. Our father was ex RAF from 1918 to 1923. and our Mother
Irish from Dublin. I was educated at normal state schools and
like most families in the 1930s during the recession my brother
and I left school to start work at 14. Our father had been fortunate
in obtaining a job at Cadbury’s Chocolate
factory in Bournville. This was about 1936. The downside in our
lives at that time was our mother lost her sight completely in
1933 when I was 8 years old. Like
my brother, when I left school in 1939 I managed to get a job
at Ten Acres and Stirchley Co-operative society as a Bakers delivery
boy . In those days we had Horse and Carts to deliver bread. My
brother was in the Grocery section of the Co-op. He enlisted in
the RAF in 1941 and qualified as a Flight Mechanic and was duly
posted overseas to Ceylon where he remaind until the end of the
War.
I enlisted in the RAF in February1943
and like my brother qualified as a Flight Mechanic. I was attached
to 97 Squadron, Bomber Command. I remained with the squadron until
February 1945 when I was posted overseas to Malta where I stayed
until my demob in February 1947.
Returning home and my folks moving to
a new house, I finished up marrying the girl next door in March
1950. Various jobs came
and went during the following years, but most of the time I was
engaged in Insurance. We have two Children, A Daughter who is
now married and has three daughters of her own and our Son who
is slightly younger has four boys. As a family we moved from Birmingham
to Shropshire in 1963. Our daughter when she married in 1975 moved
to Yorkshire, Our son lives near us here in Shropshire.
I retired from the Insurance business
in 1980. I took a Carpentry course over a period of Six months.
We decided we would like to attempt renovating a property ourselves
and in 1981 discovered a direlect thatched cottage in Upton Magna.
Over a period of about Eleven years we restored the cottage. In
the process found many old 16th,century coins which we put back
on the Oak Beams with coins of the present day for future residents
to discover. In 1995 we sold up and moved to Penrhyndeudreath
in North Wales. We stayed there for two years, but we loved Shropshire
and decided to return in 1998.
My interest is in writing, I would perhaps
have started a few years earlier if I hadn’t taken on the
mantle of Webmaster for my old 97 RAF Squadron. I don’t
regret those years as I was able to unite so many families who
lost Sons, Husbands with families of other Aircrews who had also
lost loved ones during the War years. I still have records on
disc { nearly sixty thousand } of all aircrews killed while serving
with Bomber Command and even to day I get requests from someone
who lost a Relative somewhere back in the family who had been
a member of aircrew, but they don’t know exactly what happened
to them. I guess this new idea of tracing family trees inspire
people to seek what help they can.
I am now a fully published author of crime
novels, my third book is now ready for publication. I hope to
continue as long as I possibly can.
Below is a little insight into the beginnings
of my writing career.
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My very first attempt to write was in
1981 during a quiet spell between properties. The main Character
DCI Jim Langton is divorced and is moved temporarily to Abbottsford.
I based this novel on Shropshire and Cheshire. The Book origunal
title was`A Course for Investigation`. Obviously based on a Golf
Club. It remaned under that title when I submitted it to `Book
4 Publishers of Bridgnorth, Shropshire in 2001. I believe they
have moved to Ludlow now. It was changed at my wifes suggestion
to `Death is a Member` in 2006 when I submitted it to Athena Press.
They agreed with my wife that it was a better title.That is the
title the book was finally agreed on. So my first book really
took about twenty three years before it finally came to fruition.
If you go to Site News in the menu bar, you will see the reason
for this long gap.
From June 2006 just after my 81st.birthday,
is the period I took to serious writing. In 2007 I wrote `Murder
in the Ascendant` very quickly. a matter of three months. Trouble
now was my eyes were failing me. I had to give up driving in 2007
because of Glaucoma. My determination to write was still with
me , and so I persevered, although I had to limit my time on the
Computer. I would perhaps spend an hour at a time and then take
a rest, but I knew how I wanted the story to unfold which spurred
me on. Its taken me about 9 months, so I can now say I have completed
the trilogy of Crime novels that I had set out to do. The third
one is going to be either` When the Final Hammer Falls`.and as
you may have guessed, the title does give away it has connections
with Auctioons. I have a subtitle which is `The Sixth Commandment`
again I may seek from the publisher which of the two is more suitable,
we shall see. I hope it will be out in July or August this year
2010.
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Book Reviews and Author interviews. This
is a great American Website. Have been of real assistance to me
http://www.armchairinterviews.com/
The Bookseller Website is another good
site to search through. Plenty of tips for the new writers
http://www.thebookseller.com/
Another site I recommend for new writers
http://www.youwriteon.com/
