Welcome!
I am professional writer. I have many published books under my belt and hope to have more before I finally unplug the computer.
'Professional' means three things to me. One is excellence – everything I write must be of top quality, in clarity, accuracy and approachability, but also have flair and ‘feel’. The second is reliability – the whole business of sticking to briefs and hitting deadlines. A third is being pleasant and easy to deal with.
I actually learnt these priorities as a gigging musician, a calling I pursued for a while (until I realized I was in the ‘good-but-not-quite-good-enough’ category, and duly bowed out)(I still play for fun.)
Over the years I have done many radio and a few TV appearances, and written for much of the major national media.
I worked in marketing, initially as a copywriter but developing an interest in strategy that led me to end up teaching the subject as a guest lecturer at City University.
I also work as a ghostwriter, helping ‘thought leaders’ in business develop and express their ideas. I like to think that this has given me a broader set of perspectives than simply following my own passions would have done. It’s certainly been very enjoyable.
As a business writer, my best known book is The Beermat Entrepreneur, which I co-authored with successful businessman Mike Southon. A series of 'Beermat' guides for start-ups followed.
My other main interests are psychology (I studied counselling in my 40s) history and music.
The last of these two combined in my book Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe through the World's Greatest Song Contest, which has just come out in its fourth edition.
I am also working on a political history book on Big Ideas in British politics over the last two hundred years since the Great Reform Bill. I use the term Big Idea in a way a marketer would - something that makes a brand both stand out and last, and which the public relate to. I have created a model of what this involves, and test this against the great administrations of the past. At the end, I make a call for progressive thinkers to create such an idea quickly.
I have also written four crime novels set in 1990s China. The first in the series is The Beijing Opera Murder (originally published as Death of a Blue Lantern).
In 2021, I published a book of sonnets about my personal experience of that difficult (for all of us) year.
Thanks for visiting my site. Do have a click around, and get in touch via the button above right if you have any comments.