Behind the Crime

Whatever the crime, there is a human story behind it, and though many crimes are frightening and even horrifying, most of them are a story of human failure. In this book, Colin tells about his journey into crime from the safe environs of the Bank of England into the chaos of disordered lives. The book is full of people with whom he worked from the late 1960s to his move-on promotion to Reading in 1979. It was South London reeling from the power of the Krays and Richardson gangs and the coming of young children to join parents who had come to England from the Caribbean ten years before. For over two years it was the desperation of Holloway prison. They are only pen pictures and are not meant to go into great depth neither do they excuse the crimes that brought them to court. They are simply a look-behind the crime to meet the people. The events may be historical, but they are still being relived today.

Before I Forget

Before I Forget is more of a medley than a memoir. It chronicles the affairs of the American University of Beirut during an under studied period comprising and following the Lebanese civil war. In recording his perception of selective periods in his lifetime the author focuses on his AUB experience and documents his text with email exchanges with university officials.

He exposes his personal experience as a student, an administrator and faculty member of AUB during a period that spans over the administration of fourteen presidents (from John Paul Leonard to Fadlo Khuri), several of whom he was closely associated with. During this period, he served in central capacities including: president of the Faculty Association, President of the Worldwide Alumni Association, Assistant Dean and chair of the Senate Steering Committee. In his engaging style the author draws attention to what he considers an association of AUB with US interests.

The book also chronicles the difficulties and strivings the author faced since his family was forced to leave his homeland. It discusses the changes the author experienced moving from Lebanon to the US as a foreign student as well as the lifestyle adjustments he had to undergo when returning to Lebanon after graduation.

Beauty Queens, Frogs and Princes

Growing up in Yorkshire within an idyllic middle-class family, two parents and a younger sister, our life together and adventures, our emigration to Africa and Australia, 10 schools in various regions and countries along the way.

Then came my success, winning the Miss UK contest and runner up to Miss World in 1985, which was aired on ITV, primetime and watched by millions of viewers, that’s when the fun really started.

The press, the public, appearances, TV shows, celebrities, drugs, my move to South Africa, marriage, divorce, modelling, boyfriends, mental abuse, violence, meeting my daughters’ father, the birth of our beautiful baby and the circumstances which changed the course of my life forever, motherhood, affairs, blackmail, private detectives, being a single parent, millionaires, and conmen to mention a few. 

The dating scene, kissing many frogs and my eventual happiness, finding love, and settling down after what seemed like a lifetime of searching.

Baz

This book begins when “Baz” starts his life, growing up with his siblings, growing up through his school, working, and then married life. This shows his life with the highs and lows until just after his retirement.

It is hoped that younger readers will see that they can achieve many things in life, and that many readers will be able to relate their own experiences to the stories narrated in this book.

BATTLING A BRAIN INJURY: The life that Jack built

A pragmatic and moving account, of how the author came to terms with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and learned to live life to the full once more. The fact that the author was only twenty-one at the time makes this portrayal all the more poignant.
It is hoped that this book will reach others in similar positions and help them realise that some of the emotions they feel may be unique to them but that the frustrations they feel are felt by others and they are not alone in having these feelings. The author advocates never giving up and he is proof, that with determination, people who suffer TBIs can go on and achieve many things, he went on to complete his degree coming out with a 2:1, an inspiration indeed.

Barbwire Noose - The Story Behind the Brand

Barbwire Noose® is a movement for human rights activism and empowerment, born out of the author’s fight for better quality of life for disabled clients in government care. The brand promotes the idea of creating positive change at a governance level and encourages nonconformity in the face of injustice. Inspired by the slogan “Fear Is The Root Of All Weakness®,” Barbwire Noose® strives for a better world and offers empowering lessons on standing up against authority and fighting for change. Follow the journey of Princess Marcia #406 as she confronts government neglect and harassment in the disabilities sector and beyond.

Bamba Zonke

Marion’s story covers four emigrations to Rhodesia and Zimbabwe totalling nineteen years, over four decades. It is a story of experiencing the gradual change from an orderly prosperous country to the country it had become when she finally left in the late 1980s.

Rhodesia was known as the bread basket of Africa where there was work, food, education and opportunity for all.

There was respect for the customs of the indigenous population and an acknowledgement for the need to integrate. They said it was God’s own country.

It was also viewed as a rich prize by external forces and a terrorist war was to change everything.

This story attempts to catalogue a life changing experience by the entire population when democracy fails.

Autism... A Mother's Story

Autism is a life-long condition that affects how the brain works. It is not an illness and therefore cannot be ‘cured.’ Some may show traits but never be diagnosed as being autistic.

Autism… A Mother’s Story is a heartfelt account of a mother’s journey with her autistic son which spans almost 28 years and covers the huge ups and downs of this complex condition.

This is a memoir that gives hope to those caring for anyone with autism or for anyone wanting to know more about the challenges that face carers and the assistance that is available.

Ark and Fliss

Felicity and Armand met in France in their teenage years. They bonded in friendship and fell in love after their first few years as students. Ark, as he was known, came from a complicated family background but had the courage to make his own decisions to change his university studies. They began their married life in London but soon moved to Surrey where Ark could follow his career in Art. Fliss enjoyed teaching French. They had to face some real sadness but they worked at making a life together and travelled to both Germany and Romania making lifelong relationships, before settling in Surrey to work through their spiritual life and their loving contacts with their extended family.

Apple Cores and Mandarins

A few weeks after celebrating his 50th birthday, the author’s life was turned upside down. He faced contracting a life-threatening disease whilst on a trip to China. He collapsed on the flight home and was rushed to the hospital in London, placed in an induced coma for six weeks and ventilated as his lungs had stopped working. Facing a cruel recovery package, learning how to walk and talk again he was hit with the devastating news that his beloved wife had breast cancer. Dealing with the trauma of watching her battle the cancer, being told she had defeated it and then unexpectedly dying after three weeks from having stomach pains. This book outlines his life, medical struggles and battles with mental health. It also outlines practical ways to cope with mental health and trauma.

An Ordinary Child

Born in 1966, before it was legal to be gay in the United Kingdom. This is the personal and sometimes graphic account of a boy’s journey of sexual enlightenment through five decades. Told in short accounts the reader gets an insight into the life of a gay man. Discovering a crazy gay life only to face prejudice with the discovery of HIV in the 1980s. His travels take him through personal relationships and employment disputes. The historic changing attitudes and lowering of the age of consent in the 1990s. The introduction of civil partnership in the 2000s and eventually gay marriage in the 2010s. If the control of a relationship lies with whoever cares least, we will all go to hell!

Anyway... I Forgot to Tell You!

Medicine can be both fascinating and terrifying.

This statement can be applied equally to those who practise medicine, but also to the ‘lay’ person who observes from afar but eventually, and sadly inevitably, becomes enmeshed in it. Usually as a reluctant patient.

Erik Hagen has been practicing medicine for the last forty odd years. He has been involved in country General Practice, Emergency medicine, Retrieval medicine with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and also in motor sport medicine at both the national and international level, especially in the fields of Formula One and World Rallying.

This collection makes up the second volume of short stories, the first being “Imperfect Recollections; Memory Fragments from and Ageing Medico”, published in 2020.

Some of the stories are just that – stories; but some of the subjects are possibly more reflective than the first book, attempting to examine the questions that confront us all.

Perhaps that kind of musing afflicts all of us who have fewer years ahead than behind us or perhaps it is just that we are vain enough to imagine that we have something worth saying.