Teaser from Bohemians - Authors

I loved to read biographies as a youngster. Some of my favourites were James Dean, Elvis Presley and Gene Krupa. Some of the stranger ones included Rasputin, Che Guevara, and the Kray Twins.

The infamous East London gangsters had fascinated me as a child and I even went as far as writing to Reggie Kray in the late 1980s after reading his autobiography, In his own Right. To my surprise, and more so, to my mother’s, I received an answer from the notorious gangster thanking me for my comments. Several months later, I received a Christmas card from his brother Ronnie.

Apparently, according to their biographer, John Pearson, the brothers would occasionally swap letters, and at Christmas would send out cards to those who had touched them in some way. Whether this is true, I’m not sure, but the Christmas card did arrive, although I have no idea whatever happened to it.

 

Interviewing authors is another part of my work that I particularly enjoy, for you never know what stories are to be revealed in the pages of their books.

The Kindle direct publishing platform has given authors the possibility of self-publishing at no cost, and so it is no surprise that SUR in English is inundated with authors asking for publicity for their latest offerings. The books cover a varied sphere, from novels to historic works, to personal tragedies and ‘a life in Andalusia’ type offerings.

Chris Stewart is responsible for the ‘Driving Over Lemons’ style of memoires, however, this subject has now been exhausted by a continuous flow of expat authors who have taken the genre to extreme.

Of course, there have been those that are extremely good, and those that were not.

 

Although some people might loath those who find great satisfaction in name dropping, for a journalist who must compile an interesting feature article, this can be a godsend - especially if one thinks the actual subject of the interview might be a little uneventful.

One such occasion occurred was when I was asked to interview a local expat who had just published a book about bird watching.

Although I should know a little about birding (as a child I belonged to the RSPB), it was not a subject that I relished having to write about.

I assumed I would be greeted by a senior citizen wearing a barber jacket and hiking boots, and who spoke in a similar tone to David Attenborough.

The author of the book greeted me outside his apartment by asking, ‘have you ever tried to blow your nose in a plastic bag?’

This threw me for a moment and for once I was stuck for words.

He explained that he had a terrible cold, and while walking his dog, his nose had started to run. The only thing he had to blow his nose in was a poop bag!

I realised immediately that this was no ordinary ornithologist.