Andrew
Lansdale
Winner of the 2006
News Journalist of the Year award
At the age of 18 months he broke his leg trying to
play on a policeman’s bicycle. At the age of six he lost
his best friend and constant companion when his twin sister Sheila died. At the age of
forty-five he became a novelist and later, a journalist. He won the 2006
News Journalist of the Year award. He works from his home in Thames Ditton
or on his Finesse 24 yacht Saving Grace in Chichester Harbour.
A great deal happened in the intervening years, ranging from two and a
half years on a three-masted training ship and many years as a Cadet and Deck
Officer in the British Merchant Navy, to attending Sydney University and
working in Bangkok, in Tokyo and in Hong Kong: But he has always wanted to
write.
He has been threatened and stoned by mobs of Arabs in
He has been jeered and chanted at by a million Red Guards in Shanghai
during the Cultural Revolution and at the other end of the decibel scale, spent
numerous solitary vigils as a watchkeeping Officer on a ship's bridge in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the 
tranquil quietness of the night.
'The tongue is not enough to say and the hand is not
enough to write of all the beauties of the sea'
Wrote Christopher Columbus in 1492.
In fact, all his life has been a journey.
Just when he feels that he has settled onto a permanent course to steer,
his life moves in a different direction and a new existence starts afresh on a
altered tack, like a dream miraculously coming true.
He has written several
novels, the most prominent of which 'Julius Raphael's
Diary' was published in the
It is being looked at
by film producers.
Furthermore, his third novel 'Life Uncovered', appeared in
print in the
His next work The Two Butchers has
been developing slowly. But things change daily in the country of
His long-held belief is that such a rich and varied
spiced-up mixture of experiences in life have somehow added texture to the
chapters and his joys and sorrows have added colour to the pages, so combining
to bring pleasure to the reader. After he has read through some of his
work he has been heard to exclaim aloud in pleasant surprise, “Wow, did I write
this?” He sincerely hopes that after
reading a few chapters, you will exclaim, “Wow, did he write this?”
You may hear a whisper carried on the tradewinds.
“Yes, I did.”
© Site designed and built by Andrew James Lansdale 2009 ©
'Those who go down to the sea in ships and occupy
their business in great waters, they have seen the wonders of the deep and the
glories of the Lord thereof.'
Psalm 107