All my grandparents came from different countries. My father's father came from Lisbon; his mother from Amsterdam. My mother's father came from Ijus in Romania; her mother from Minsk in Belarus, Russia. Between them they had 21 children none of whom showed any talent with the exception of my two cousins (sisters) who became dancers at the famous Windmill Theatre in the West End of London. At the age of five-and-a-half, I was evacuated to Cornwall just after the start of World War II and started writing at the age of eight-and-a half. I loved making up stories and writing them down. On returning to London, after the War had ended, I lived with my parents in a Council flat in the East End of London. We were very poor like many others there. I went to a grammar school but couldn't cut it, leaving on my fifteenth birthday because of my weak showing in examinations. I became a gents hairdresser and a year later became the youngest qualified gents hairdresser in Britain working in the West End of London. I continued writing, researching and learning which became a matter of latent development. At the age of eighteen, I ran in the marathon for Britain in the Olympic games in Helsinki in 1952. Thereafter I was drafted into the Royal Air Force to undertake my National Service. Two years later I joined the Royal Navy on a one-year short service commission and sailed around the world. In 1956, I ran the marathon in the Olympic Games in Melbourne. Shortly afterwards, I obtained a contract from the BBC to write six one-hour plays for television but America seemed to beckon me. I went there and almost starved to death three months later. Then I managed to get some work on the film Anatomy Of A Murder with Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick but for eight years after I could only get work writing 'B' films, many of which never saw the light of day. Then in 1965, I managed to get a commission with The Graduate. At that time my mother was greatly concerned. The film studios were cutting back because of the impact of television and MGM was going bust. I contacted a colleague in the Midland Bank in London and took a number of exams. I wrote scripts by day and studied by night taking forty-three exams in all in Banking. Law, Economics, Accounting and Marketing ending up with thirty-eight letters after my name. I also took a test with Mensa, my IQ emerging at one hundred-and-fifty-one. Not bad for a school failure who left on his fifteenth birthday. Suddenly everyone in Hollywood wanted a part of me. I continued with a number of films such as Capricorn One, All The President's Men, Zabriski Poiint, They Call Them Giants, and so on but I realised that if I continued to work so hard I would eventually go insane. So I returned to England but shortly went to Tenerife to live in a paradise called Puerto de la Cruz. After four years, I became bored lazing in the sun all the time and sold my apartment, returning to London. However I didn't like the City at all so I returned to Cornwall where I had been evacuated. There I met a woman who became my third wife. Since that time, nearly thirty years ago, I have written over twenty-five books, a hundred-and-thirty short stories of five thousand plus words, a hundred and thirty poems, some of which have worn awards, many radio plays, theatre plays, television series and films. I also have a website with twenty-six full length musical and over four hundred songs which are currently on sale. In addition, I run a pro bono (free of fee) service to anyone with problems who cannot afford a solicitor. I have represented some of them in the Crown Court in Truro and have never lost a case. Naturally there are some wonderful stories about most of the events mentioned above but this is a very very brief biography even though there's a lot more to tell.
