Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am originally from Bedford in England. When I was four years old, in the mid 1950s, my parents took me to Jamaica to live which must have planted in me the seed to travel, as I have been travelling ever since. I have lived in eight different countries and worked in
five star hotels and restaurants around the world as a chef. I have also worked on cruise ships, Antarctic supply ships, a gold mine in Papua New Guinea and the Falkland Islands after the war with Argentina.
I have written four books in total, three of them are travel books aimed at retirees and baby boomers and I have also written a biography.
I have now retired to Thailand where I live on the beautiful island of Koh Samui and travel extensively throughout South East Asia doing research for my travel books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is actually the first book that I ever wrote; a biography called “You will never amount to anything” I originally wrote the book after my marriage broke up in 2017. I wrote it as a kind of therapy, a way to try to make sense of my life and to try to work out where it all went wrong. I also wrote it for my children and grandchildren so that they could perhaps understand me and my life a little better now that I was no longer going to be around them and in their lives as much. The book was never meant for publication, it was a memoir for my family. When my first book “The Retire in Thailand Handbook, The First Six Months”, was accepted for publication, my publisher asked if I had any other books that I had written that I may consider suitable for publication and I told them about the biography I had written for my family. They asked me to send them a copy, which I did and then thought no more about it, as I didn’t think that an biography by an ordinary person like me would be of interest to them or their customers, so I was pleasantly surprised when they got back to me and told me that they loved the book and wanted to publish it.
The book tells the story of my life from those heady days living like a young prince in Jamaica, to living in poverty when we returned to England a year later and moved to my dad’s home town of Middlesbrough.
When I finally walked out of Brackenhoe Technical School for the very last time in April of 1966, I had no qualifications and very little education after four wasted years in the British high school system. I knew then that if I wanted to make something of my life and achieve my ambition of travelling the world and to be successful not poor like my parents, I would have to do it by hard work, determination, using my initiative and gaining any skills that I could pick up along the way and any other means necessary legal or not to reach my goals. From that day onwards my life was a constant battle with employers, authorities and government departments to achieve my ambition to travel work and live in some of the most beautiful countries around the world and make something of my life. The day I left school was the day the school broke up for the Easter Holidays and the headmaster decided for some obscure reason that the few pupils who were not staying on to do their CSE or GCSE exam and leaving school for good on that day should leave before lunchtime. There were only six of us and as we were escorted from the school grounds by one of the teachers, I heard a voice from behind shouting “You lot will never amount to anything, you’ll all end up as drunks, unemployed or in prison”. I recognised the voice straight away, it was Mr Bagley my science teacher, who had bullied, tormented and beaten me at every opportunity over the past four years. Those unnecessary and vindictive words just made me more determined to get away from England and start a new life in the tropics to prove him wrong. His words have stayed with me to this day, and they have given me the strength and inspiration to make something of my life without having any qualifications and very little education. I have had to cheat, lie and live by my wits to achieve my goals, but since that day I have never looked back. I am not the only person that has been told those or similar words on leaving school. Some more notable people that have been told that they will never amount to anything include Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Ludwig van Beethoven, Winston Churchill and John Lennon
I believe that everyone has a story inside of them to tell; many people think that they have led uneventful lives, but it’s only when you sit down and think back on your life and put pen to paper that you realise that even though you may not be a famous actor, sports star, or musician your life story is just as important as theirs and probably more so in many cases and deserves to be told even if it’s only for yourself and your family.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Being of a certain age I didn’t grow up with computers but I have certainly adapted to them since I started writing books. I do most of my writing thanks to the wonders of WiFi sitting on a beach or around a swimming pool in Thailand or some other South East Asian country. Quite often when the sun is going down my inspiration is helped along with a cocktail or two.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first books I remember reading were the Just William books by Richmal Crompton. As I matured I read everything Charles Dickens wrote and all of The Hobbit series of books by J. R. R. Tolkien, I also loved Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. When my daughter was born in 1974, when she was a little older I would read to her Watership Down currently working on by Richard Adams and I think I enjoyed more than she did. Being at sea for much of my life, books were an important source of entertainment in the few leisure hours that you get working at sea. I would read everything that I could get my hands on, from Agatha Christie to Ernest Hemingway, from Nevil Shute to Lelie Thomas. My favourite authors of today are James Lee Burke, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Kate Atkinson and Khaled Hosseini
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on book four in the retiree travel series: The Retirees Guide to Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Bali. This book is a work in progress, as I still have to re-visit Singapore and Bali to do more research.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Being a retiree and of that certain age I am not very au fait with computers and the social media, so I rely on word of mouth and hopefully my publisher getting my name out there. I know I must be missing out on many selling opportunities, but what makes me happy is writing the books and helping other retirees travel and live their lives to the fullest.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As I am a new author myself at 67 years of age so there is not much advice that I can offer. Just keep doing what you’re doing. My brother John who was a much better writer than I will ever be tried most of his life to get his books published and never succeeded. I wrote my second book in 2018 (the first book I wrote was never meant for publication) and I was offered a publishing contract for it within a few months of releasing it on Amazon. From what I have read and discovered since starting out as an author it’s quite often about luck, being in the right place at the right time and of course writing a great book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Travel whenever you can,The greatest experiences are seeing other cultures and getting new perspective on life and the lives that other people lead.
When I was in Cambodia recently doing research for my book I spoke with a lady who was just forty two years old the same age as my daughter. Her father was arrested and killed by Pol Pot’s henchmen because he was a teacher. When she was one year old with her mother they were forced marched 330 kilometres from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. Her mother died along the way of malnutrition and she was taken in and raised by another family. Being born in Cambodia during those murderous days she had not had the opportunities in her life that I, my children or grandchildren had and she had been working as a prostitute since she was fourteen years old. It certainly put everything in perspective for me. You dont see the real world by watching it on TV.
What are you reading now?
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am currently writing my fourth book in the retirees travel guide series on Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Bali. When I have completed that I am looking at writing the fifth book in the series about Australia. A place I know well as I lived much of my life there and where all of my family still live.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Blah Story by Nigel Tomm. It’s the longest book ever written. I am not sure if I would enjoy it but it has 7312 pages so it would last a while when waiting to be rescued. It’s probably cheating but I would take the boxed set of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. For a little light entertainment Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan.
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