Mike Poyzer
Our sixth showcase of 2024 turns the spotlight on writer Mike Poyzer. He is a writer of fiction who studied for an MA in Creative Writing with the Open University, graduating in 2020, and was subsequently a founder member of our alumni writing group, The 20-20 Club. Mike's biography [below] is one of the longest we have had on these showcases, but I haven't shortened it as the story of his father is so interesting that I feel it needs to be told. As you can see from below, Mike's own story is also one of determination, energy and success.
Biography
Mike was born in the post-World War Two baby boom and is now almost 76 years of age. His father had to leave grammar school in his third year due to the death of his own father from TB. Mike’s grandmother was blind and he became the only bread-winner of the family, his three younger brothers having died from haemophilia and his one sister being only a small child. (This sounds like the opening of a Dickens novel!)
Mike’s father took a job in the newspaper printing industry where he met Mike’s mother just before the war and they became sweethearts. In the war, he avoided the call-up by joining the Marines and was chosen as one of the first members of the R.M. Commandos. He trained extensively in the wilds of Scotland and ultimately was in one of the first waves on D-Day. His war only lasted four weeks before he became missing in action and, after several anxious weeks, he was reported by the Red Cross as being in a German POW camp.
Mike has a box full of treasured letters from his dad to his mum, sent throughout the war, the last few being through official channels from one of the Stalags. He used these on a project he did in an OU course. After liberation, he returned to Nottingham and in early 1946, his parents married. Mike’s brother, Roland, was first born just squeezing in on the penultimate day of 1946 and Mike was born in 1948 - luckily for them, on the first day of the NHS. His father worked hard all his life working in the food-processing industry but brought his two boys up well. He never had a driving license or car, but saved to buy a small terrace house where they lived until the boys were adults.
Mike passed the 11-plus and attended one of the last grammar schools in Nottingham and, rather than stay on for University, opted for an Engineering Apprenticeship with Raleigh Bicycles. After gaining several Engineering qualifications, he became one of the first-year intake of the Open University in 1971 studying mainly science and technology subjects, whilst developing his career in Production Engineering with Raleigh.
In 1977, he went into business with his brother, retailing and distributing bicycles and components. In 1975, he and wife Sue had their first child, Christopher, followed by their daughter, Victoria, in 1977. The dual influences of business start-ups and family growth put great pressures on his time and he abandoned his OU studies, half way to his degree. In the early eighties, he went alone (partnered with his wife) in his business ventures and in the course of the developing bicycle business he also went into property development. His youngest son, Joe, was born in 1985. By the turn of the millennium, Mike and Sue had a thriving property rental business and a large bicycle distribution business supplying several own-brand products with worldwide distribution and manufacturing bases, mainly in the far east.
Fast forward to 2010, when Mike was approaching his mid -sixties. His eldest son Chris had come into the business but was not really committed. As a qualified joiner, he wished to go back into the building trade. His younger brother Joe also joined the business after training in electronics, but he was soon poached by a large bicycle company to whom Mike supplied product. This left him with no succession in the business so he started to slow it down. At the same time, his thoughts returned to his Open University course, which he still considered unfinished business. After contacting them to ensure his existing credits were still applicable, he signed up for it again. This time, however, he added some Creative Writing modules to reflect his changing interests and converted his degree into an Open degree. He gained a second-class honours degree with them in 2013. This gave him his fifteen minutes of fame as the student who took 43 years to graduate, making local news, radio and TV and even making the Daily Mail!
In 2015, he closed down the retail side of the business and, in 2018, Mike and Sue sold two thirds of their property portfolio. In the early 2000’s, they had built a villa in Menorca, where they had a long history of holidaying. They spent many happy hours there and shared it with their three children and subsequently their six grandchildren. It has become a firm favourite with all the family.
To build on his BSc Hons. and particularly the creative writing side, in 2018 Mike enrolled for the Open University Creative Writing Master’s degree, which he completed in 2020. He is now cruising towards retirement. Although he no longer operates a bricks and mortar retail business, fifty years in the bicycle trade have left him with a large old inventory of components and parts, worthless on paper as they were long ago written off in accountancy terms, but many of which have subsequently become collector’s items. He now spends much of his working time disposing of such items on Ebay and other platforms.
Otherwise, he enjoys spending time with his four grandsons and two granddaughters, who range from two years to twenty years. After his eldest two children produced four grandsons, it was down to youngest son Joe, to provide a granddaughter and they did it twice with Poppy, now six, and Daisy, aged 2. It also meant Mike and Sue’s long career as baby sitters and child minders continued to flourish, having now spent twenty years intermittently with child seats in the back seat of their cars.
Sonny, Oliver, Will, Ben and Mike
Links:
As well as some specific business websites, he has two personal websites.
www.michaelpoyzer.com on which he post scribblings and when possible, his journal.
www.menorcarental.com which is dedicated to the Menorca property.
You can read more about Mike on both these sites. He and Sue celebrated their 50th wedding Anniversary in the first month of lockdown in 2020, so celebrations where somewhat muted. They hope things will be a little better for their Diamond Wedding.
Mike sells vintage bicycle parts mainly through Ebay under the names of 0nza (that's a zero to start) and rowzby. {named after Rowzby Woof of Watership Down).
******
Mike has sent us a lovely story which displays his love of history and his grasp of what makes a compelling plot.
A thin veil of mist hung with scrawny fingers like a meandering river delta out in the valleys below him. At the top of the grassy hill, Ben breathed in the fresh July morning air and took in the view. He could just see the soaring pan tiles on the Oast House roof which he had left twenty minutes earlier. It was almost eight o’clock and he had crept out of the house, so as not to wake Mum. She had been up till the early hours working on her new book.
This retreat to Kent for the summer holidays had almost become a pilgrimage to them every year since Dad had died three years earlier. This year there was an added edge, as when he returned in September, it was to senior school and all the scary moments which that entailed. Ben loved it here, mainly because he was allowed to run free, unlike life in the city. There, he was watched and cossetted, as everyone was a potential threat. Here, there was nobody to worry about and the countryside was his domain.
The damp patch on the seat of his jeans was already witness to sitting on the dewy grass earlier so now he squatted, watching a small herd of cows wandering down towards the pond at the bottom of the field for an early drink.
‘Pretty stupid animals, aren’t they?’
Ben jumped out of his skin and turned left, to where the voice had come from. About fifteen feet away, a young man was crouched just like him, watching the cows. Ben was streetwise and alarm bells rang immediately so he silently stood. His first instinct was to run, but instead he gazed at the stranger, who still crouched, motionless.
‘Yeh, I suppose they are,’ he answered, his muscles still taut and flexed, ready for a rapid retreat.
‘Same old routine every morning, down to the pond for a drink and then just follow my leader round the field.’ Ben’s initial fear had now eased into circumspection about the stranger. A tatty old leather flying hat was fitted snugly on his head with one of the straps hanging loosely down and a stitched circle in it, around his ear, was crossed with a big brass zip. A pair of split screen goggles was sitting on top of his head, completing the image of a stuntman about to become a human cannonball. His grey RAF tunic looked the worse for wear but his face was kindly and his smile looked wistful.
‘Do you watch them a lot then?’
‘Not much else round here, is there?’
‘Do you live round here?’ Ben’s curiosity was mounting, as he had never seen him before.
‘I suppose you could say that. Born and bred in London, though.’
‘You don’t sound like a cockney.’
‘That’s what you get mixing with all those officer types.’
‘Are you a pilot then?’
‘I certainly am, young man. Flight Lieutenant Harry “Hurricane” Cooper, like the film star, Gary.’ He stood and walked towards Ben, with outstretched hand, but Ben backed away, still a little wary of the stranger. Harry stopped, looking perplexed. ‘What’s the matter, old boy? I won’t bite you.’
‘Sorry,’ said Ben, ‘I‘m constantly told not to talk to strangers. You know, paedos and all that.’
‘Paedos?’ Harry looked puzzled. ‘Haven’t a clue what you mean. Still, right to be careful, you never know. That’s what I’m always telling my little girl. She’s younger than you, though. You must be around ten…. eleven.’
Ben relaxed a little at the mention of a daughter. ‘I’m Ben Parnham and I was eleven in June. How old’s your daughter?’
‘Oh, she’s six, going on sixteen.’ Harry was looking Ben up and down. ‘Pleased to meet you, Ben. Are you American?’
It was Ben’s turn to look puzzled. ‘No,’ he said a little indignantly. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I was just looking at your blue jeans. I only ever saw them on yanks before.’
Ben was now even more puzzled. ‘Is he real’ he thought to himself.
‘Are you out running, I see you’ve got running shoes on.’
Ben looked down at his Reeboks. ‘They’re my trainers.’
‘Oh.’ Harry seemed to lose interest and turned back to look at the cows.
‘You’re the one dressed a bit strange. What’s with the hat and the goggles? You look like somebody out of Mad Max’
Harry put his hand to the top of his head. ‘Oh, I’m still geared up. I pranged. First time ever. Eighteen kills in the big one, you know. Who’d have thought it? Just coming back from a bit of rhubarbing in France and this 109 picked me up over the channel. Before I knew it, he’d shot my tail to pieces and left me no rudder. Luckily, I outran him and made it back to blighty. Heading west to find Hawkinge, but no real steering. Then I find it had spread to my engine too and it was smoking. Soon there were flames as well. That’s the trouble with Hurricanes, all wood and canvas. So, I bailed.’
Ben was stood trying to take all this in. This guy’s a fruit cake. What is he on about? ‘So, where’s your parachute?’
‘Ah, that was the problem. Chute never opened. About a thousand feet when I jumped ship but, as luck would have it, I landed in the water down there. Good job or it’s pretty much a certainty that I’d have bought it.’
Ben looked down at the water where the cows were still drinking. It was a pond about thirty or forty metres across, presumably dammed by the farmer for his livestock. It was from a dyke which fed the Little Stour River and probably no more than three or four feet at its deepest. Certainly not deep enough to survive a thousand-foot jump.
‘So, what are you doing now?’ Ben had decided to play along.
‘Well, I’m waiting to get picked up. They know I’m around. I was in radio contact with Hawkinge just before I bailed. My kite just carried on so I don’t know where it came down in the end. No more than a mile or two, I would think.’
‘Why don’t you come back with me? We rent the Oast House for the summer holidays. My Mum’s a writer. I think she would like to meet you.’
‘I think I’d better stay here. They’ll have spotters out. I’ll tell you what, though; you can look up the wife for me. I don’t suppose I’ll get the chance for a few weeks. They live in Ashford; we rent a house down there, 2 Park Street.’
Ben hesitated a little. ‘I’ll see what I can do. Ashford’s quite a way. Mum might take me in when she does her shop.’
‘Okay, nice if you could. Give my love and a big kiss to little Becky, will you?’
‘Will, if I can. I’d better be off. Mum will be worrying.’ Ben needed to get away so it was the first excuse that popped into his head.
‘Okay, TTFN.’ Harry smiled and so did Ben. He’d heard that before but had no idea what it meant.
‘See you.’ With a little wave he turned for home. After two or three steps he said, as he turned back, ‘What’s your wife’s…’ His mouth dropped open. ‘Name?’ His new friend was nowhere to be seen. Impossible! There was nothing but grass all around. Can’t have got away that quickly. He stood looking for several seconds, but suddenly felt a chill. Turning for home, he soon broke into a trot.
The sound of Ken Bruce on the radio greeted Ben as he came back into the Oast House kitchen. Mum was having her usual breakfast, an espresso and an Embassy king size.
‘Morning, darling, you were out early.’
‘I know, lovely morning though. Best time of the day out here.’
‘I think it will be quite warm later. Did you have breakfast?’
‘I had Shreddies. I’d love a cuppa and maybe some toast.
‘Sit down, I’ll get you some. Tea’s in the pot. I thought you’d be back soon.’
‘You were up late again last night.’
‘Oh, I know, love. It must have been three. I’m struggling with the plot a bit at the moment.’ She slipped a couple of slices in the toaster and poured him a mug of tea.
‘Thanks, Mum. I was up on Croziers top field this morning and I met a guy up there.’ Mum’s ears immediately pricked up and she frowned.
‘A guy? What kind of guy?’
‘He was really weird. Said he was a pilot. Had one of these old type pilots’ leather helmets on and goggles. One of those RAF type bomber jacket things but with a normal collar.’
‘You mean a grey tunic? A lot of students used to wear them when I was young.’
‘He was a proper nutter. Says his name is Flight Lieutenant Harry ‘Hurricane’ Cooper and reckons he’d been shot down.’
Mum looked quite concerned now. ‘He didn’t try touching you or anything?’
‘No Mum.’ His face reddened a little. ‘He wasn’t weird like that. Just talked weird. Told me he was waiting to be picked up. Been in touch with the base in Hawkinge and was waiting for spotters.’
Now mum looked puzzled. ‘Hawkinge aerodrome closed years ago. It’s all houses and industry now. Big in the war but it’s not been used for years.’
‘Well, that’s what he reckoned. Asked if I could look up his wife and daughter in Ashford.’
‘Why can’t he look them up? Are you sure he wasn’t a loony or something.’
‘Well, I asked him back here to meet you but he wasn’t keen.’
‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, darling. Be cautious if you go up there again’
‘Ben, come here a minute.’ Kathy was leaning over her laptop
‘Yes, mum.’
‘Just been checking on your pilot friend. According to this Battle of Britain site, Harry ‘Hurricane’ Cooper was a fighter pilot ace who shot down fifteen confirmed enemy aircraft flying his Hurricane in World War Two.’
‘He said eighteen.’
‘Apparently they usually claimed more because it was often difficult to confirm. Shot down over Kent in 1942 and his plane was completely destroyed, but his body was never found despite extensive searches.
‘1942. That’s seventy years ago. This guy was in his twenties. It can’t be him.’
‘He left a wife named Annie, who died in 2002 aged 88, and a daughter, Rebecca who is apparently still alive and lives in Ashford.’
Jim Crozier got out of his Land Rover in the yard. He turned to see Kathy and Ben
‘Morning, Mr Crozier,’ said Kathy
‘Oh. Morning Mrs Parnham, Ben. No problems at the house, I hope.’
‘No, everything’s fine. We just wanted a little information about the pond in your top field. How long has it been there?’
‘Phew, now you’re asking. It was there in 1963 because me and my brother skated on it that winter. Our Friesian herd is a hundred years old, from 1926, so I would guess that is when it was constructed. My grandfather was in charge then. Why do you ask?’
‘Well, we’ve done a little research and it’s our belief that there may be the remains of a World War Two pilot in there. His name was Harry Cooper and he flew out of Hawkinge.’
‘Wow. My Uncle Ron was on ground crew at Hawkinge. He’d probably have known him. He’s s bit doddery now though. He’s 96 but still at home with my cousin, Ruth. So, you want to see if we can help you to find him? Happy to help there Not difficult to drain it. It has a diverter at the inlet which runs the water through a big pipe which by-passes the pond. You can then open the outlet valve wider and just let it drain. I could put my pump in and spray it onto the fields as well. Probably empty it in a day.’
‘I would be happy to help with the cost if that’s a problem.’
‘No, not necessary – the costs would be minimal. I’ll get Joe onto it tomorrow.’
‘Mrs Parnham, it’s Jim Crozier.’
‘Oh, good morning, Mr Crozier, we were just talking about you and wondering how you were getting on with the pond.’
‘Well, that’s what I was calling you for. I think we found your man. When we drained it, we found a lot of silt and mud and what looked like a rucksack emerging from it, but when we dug down a bit, there is clearly a body attached to it and it appears to be a parachute pack. We left it for now and called the police. They are on the way and have informed the Coroner’s Office, who may be with them. I believe they are also contacting the RAF as well.’
Kathy turned excitedly to Ben, putting her hand over the phone. ‘They’ve found him.’
Ben stood with his mum at the Reception of the Good Hope Hospice in Ashford.
‘We’re here to see Rebecca Flynn.’
The nurse smiled and stood. ‘Follow me. She is alert but tires easily so beware. It’s the morphine.’
They followed her through the huge Edwardian mahogany door. Several people were around but she led them to a lady sitting regally on a large sofa.
‘Visitors, Becky.’ She stood aside.
‘Hello, Mrs Flynn, I’m Kathy Parnham and this is my son, Ben.’
The ladies eyes lit up. ‘So, you’re the ones who found my dad? Take a seat.’ She beckoned to the chairs opposite her. ‘Now, tell me all about it.’
‘Well, it’s simple really. We rent a holiday house every year from the Croziers, a big farming family. We told Mr. Crozier that a World War Two pilot may be in his pond and he kindly agreed to drain it to see if he could find anything. Sadly, they found the remains of your dad in the mud. The RAF are making a really big thing of it and he will be buried with full military honours,’
Rebecca was now wiping away tears. ‘It’s wonderful. I never thought they would find anything. It’s so difficult when you know a loved one has passed away but you have no idea where they are. I don’t have long now and it will certainly help me to die in peace. How did you know to look in the pond?’
‘Well, Ben made a promise and that was the start.’ Becky looked puzzled. ‘We’ve not really told anyone the full story. I think Ben had better explain.’
Kathy watched Ben relating the story to Becky and saw the wonderment in her eyes as it unfolded. She reflected on the story herself with anxiety. It had changed her beliefs radically but she worried where they would go from here.
The End
******
And finally we come to The Big
Interview, in which Mike kindly
answers writing-related
questions and lets us into
some of his writing secrets...
1. How old were you when you first knew you wanted to be a writer, and what set you off down that journey?
I always enjoyed English at school and, though I dropped English Lit for O Level, I did well in English Language. I particularly enjoyed one teacher who gave ‘lines’ as a punishment, in common with other teachers at my Grammar School. Instead of 100 lines, though - and I can hear him like yesterday - he would just say: ’Poyzer, twenty-five times for tomorrow morning’ and would then proceed to dictate a single sentence which was usually at least 40 words long and would get me to profess my eternal regret at performing such a puerile and imbecilic action and that I would cease from any such future activity which would further reduce any respect which my fellow pupils held for me. I found his use of language to construct such similar sentences, completely out of the blue, it fascinating, though you soon realized that doing such similar activities in his classes was not a wise move. Writing the lines was a complete pain.
I was considerably older before I thought I could write such things myself. My first real bit of writing was a short story which I wrote in my mid-forties from a random idea. That story of about 5000 words evolved and grew in my mind and was something I later entered in the Bridport Prize - without success I might add.
Later, when I began to scribble a little more, my thoughts returned to completing my degree. At that stage, everything I did was written by hand in large notebooks. After contacting the OU about my previous 3.5 credits, I discovered that things had moved on a little and I could add some Creative Writing modules to convert my degree into an Open Degree. Since I was then past sixty, I no longer considered it as a career-based qualification and I found the idea of an Open Degree very appealing. I still left it as a Batchelor of Science as there were more technology modules, but I added Creative Writing and Advanced Creative writing to the mix, two full Arts faculty modules, and graduated with Honours in 2013. By this time, I was also writing several novels and the first one to reach completion was called The Lost Chord. At the time, I discovered Kindle Direct Publishing and so I signed up and published it. I achieved limited success and I was gratified to see people pay for it. My wife read it and said she was surprised because it was like reading a ‘real’ book. It is still available on Amazon as a Kindle book but I haven’t sold any in recent months. Of course, I have looked at it a lot over latter years and there is much I would change if I wrote it again. I have also completed several further novels but am sitting on them, unsure where to go with them
LINK:
2. Tell us about the books and writers that have shaped your life and your writing career.
I have always been very fond of humour and enjoyed such things as The Goons and Monty Python. The first adult books I recall reading were Puckoon by Spike Milligan and several books by john Wyndham, in particular The Kraken Wakes, and Pincher Martin by William Golding. The former I found hilarious and the latter was Science Fiction but without being too far-fetched. Pincher Martin was a hard read but made me pose questions about plot and reality. I then moved into the books of John Grisham, Tom Clancy and even latterly Dan Brown. I speak to so many ‘intellectuals’ who are ready to trash these authors, but I used to read for unashamed escapism and I enjoyed reading them starting with Red October and The Firm. I also enjoy crime novels – in the UK, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, and from the States, John Connelly.
I also used to read a lot of Patricia Cornwall in the forensic field. When I dropped English Lit at school, I really enjoyed the set book, My Family and Other Animals, but unfortunately it was coupled with Julius Caesar by Shakespeare and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, both of which I found hard, hard work and incredibly boring, and were probably the reason I dropped the subject. In recent years, I have enjoyed the work of Sebastian Faulks and Louis De Berniere who both seem to combine thought-provoking story-telling with great literary appeal.
3. Have your children, other family members, friends or teachers inspired any of your writing?
I can’t say that they have, other than in a very general way. Living through a family life has perhaps given me a greater perspective on how families work – or, perhaps more importantly, how they don’t work.
I would like to do something with my father and granny, his mother. She was lame in her left leg from polio at the age of five and went completely blind in the 1930’s. She still lived to be 96, living on her own in a small terraced house till her last couple of years. A remarkable woman who broke her hip at 89 and had a replacement.
4. Does the place you live have any impact on your writing?
I believe it is not so much the place you live but having knowledge of an area in which your stories are based that can certainly help you to plan your plot in your head. My first novel took place mainly in a London suburban district so was totally fictional. It then went on with a chase across Europe, through Paris, down to Andorra in the Pyrenees. Then to Barcelona and across to Menorca, finishing on this Balearic Island. Having done this journey myself several times and spending a great deal of time on Menorca, I was able to plan everything in intricate detail, and hopefully it was geographically accurate.
Poppy and Daisy on beach in Menorca
5. How would you describe your own writing?
I don’t think I write in any specific genre. I like to be challenged by writing in a genre with which I am not familiar, and have written historically about an Edwardian member of the aristocracy and his ‘coming of age’ tale with an unlikely friendship with a local village boy. I am well into a detective story about a Detective Inspector with ADHD and a sociopathic married woman who has same-sex flings. I have also completed a novel about a trans-person, male to female. Others are plain straightforward stories of contemporary life.
6. Are there certain themes that draw you to them when you are writing?
I tend to be a writer of mainly happy endings and my heroes generally succeed against the odds and win the heroine’s hearts or achieve some massive financial success usually at the expense of the villain. I am not generally a sad or melancholy person and thoughts of an unhappy ending to a story would be a total turn-off.
Grandchildren Poppy and Daisy
7. Tell us about how you approach your writing. Are you a planner or a pantser?
Most definitely a Pantser. I haven’t written a story yet for which I knew the ending, or even where it was going when I started it. I always seem to have several stories on the go at once and when I inevitably hit the wall with one, I drop onto another. I think with age, as your eyes, ears, muscles and joints begin to deteriorate, it helps to keep your mind active and I think plots out as I lie in bed at night or even when daydreaming.
8. Do you have any advice for someone who might be thinking about starting to write creatively?
Stop thinking and get writing. Nobody is ever remembered for the thoughts that were in their heads, only what they got down on paper or computer.
9. Are you, or have you been in the past, a member of any writing groups, online or face-to-face?
When I completed A363 Advanced Creative Writing with the OU, a few of us formed a little group to share stuff but, with no clear leadership as selflessly provided by Louise in the 20-20 group [Thank you, Mike! – Lou], it very quickly petered out. So, the 20-20 group is the only successful group that I have joined
10. You have an MA in Creative Writing from the Open University. Have you studied creative writing beyond this?
I completed my Masters in 2020. When I did it, it was purely for my own satisfaction, as it wasn’t something I had studied previously. It was the pinnacle of my Creative Writing journey, having previously studied A215 Creative Writing and A363 Advanced Creative Writing. I have done no further academic studies of the subject and have never taught at any level. I would have certainly taken it sooner but it was not available when I completed my BSc Hons. I think I learnt a great deal from the course. I think I see a lot of changes that I would have made to my first novel had I completed the course first.
11. What do you think about getting feedback on your work from other writers and/or non-writers?
I think it’s great and I welcome all feedback which is gleaned mostly from the 20-20 group. I always appreciate any comments on my work whether from ordinary readers or from experienced readers and writers. People have, often, very different perceptions and you may get a completely different point of view from a different reader.
12. If you have experience of self-publishing, what have been its challenges and rewards?
I published my first novel in 2013 on Kindle Direct Publishing. It was my first attempt and had I done it now, I think it would have been better. I thought the plot was great and many have agreed with me. It was a very gratifying experience. The greatest problem is getting it out there and letting people know that it exists. I did a lot of self-promoting on social media but that was relatively in its infancy so only had limited success. After the first six months, it seemed to hit a brick wall and the very occasional royalty payment now comes out of the blue. I am still awaiting the call from Spielberg.
13. Where do you get your ideas from?
That is a question I really can’t answer as I don’t really know. It’s usually one small incident or scenario that I think of and the rest of the story just builds around it. The novel I just completed started with me thinking about my gym. I do several early morning spin classes and have many acquaintances there, but I actually don’t know any of them, even many of their names. Once we are out of the door, that’s it until the next class. So that set me thinking of scenarios with strangers at the gym.
14. They say that successful writers need to be selfish. How far do you agree with this?
In my case, I try to be selfish and write as often as I can but family commitments often get in the way. I don’t write every day but as and when I can. I don’t think that writers per se are selfish as, in most cases, they are sharing their innermost and deepest thoughts with the world and with anyone who is prepared to listen. I am sure much of the work which passes as fiction is based on things which have genuinely happened and though many won’t admit it, stories have an element of autobiography. To share that with the world is completely selfless.
Mike and four grandsons at Butlins
15. Beyond your family and your writing, what other things do you do?
I currently work at disposing of bicycle parts stock built up over almost 60 years in the bicycle industry [the last 48 years have been as a retailer, wholesaler distributor and designer]. Much of this was stock that had been written off over the years, as it became worthless from an accountancy point of view. I still hung on to it and this action has now been vindicated as 1980’s BMX parts and 1990’s ATB parts have become highly collectible, keeping me very busy and effectively creating profits from nowhere.
I still visit the gym regularly, mainly for spin classes and we also spend a lot of our spare time in Menorca. I was going to say leisure time but it is increasingly not for leisure. The garden absorbs much of our time with palm trees, yuccas and citrus trees to keep in check, as well as all the other spiky plants which seem to exist out there, which constantly draw my blood. However, the peace and quiet is well worth it and meals al fresco and a traditional G & T at 6 o’clock makes it worthwhile.
We love to go on long walks both in the UK and in Menorca.
16. Would you describe yourself as a ‘cultured’ person?
Most certainly not. I very seldom go to the theatre or concerts. I love music in many forms, but I seldom find that live performances are equal to the original ‘disc’, vinyl or download. I feel that theatre and concert ticket prices are way in excess of their true value. The last play I went to see was War Horse in London and I found that incredible.
My TV viewing is broad and eclectic. I like to watch Coronation Street as my only soap choice and I like good dramas. I also watch many documentaries and factually based programmes, but my wife doesn’t and I often have to switch over if she enters the room. I find the huge choice of TV programmes far too broad these days and I end up watching most things on catch up.
17. Are you interested in history and if so does it impact on your writing?
I am very interested in certain parts of history, particularly military history from World War One and Two. I used to be in a group of people, about ten of us, who held regular meetings and seminars on this theme, accompanied by a good meal and a few pints. We also had several trips to the battlefields of the Somme, Ypres and Verdun. Sadly, in 2011, our main contributor and member, Richard Holmes, the famous author, historian, brigadier in the army and TV presenter, passed away and, though we tried to replace him, we could never find anyone remotely as good as him. As days have passed, many of our group have also passed away, depleting our ranks. I still have a lot of Richard’s signed books and I always find them informative and very well written.
I have written one novel based in 1905, which is the opening novel hopefully in a series. I have started on part two which will be mainly about World War One, and I intend to mine the knowledge which I gained over those years.
18. How did the Covid pandemic affect you as a writer?
It didn’t. It affected me as a person as I lost my best friend to it in April 2020, which of course changed my life forever.
19. There is a lot of talk at the moment, in the publishing world and elsewhere, about political correctness, the Woke movement, cultural appropriation, ‘cancel culture’, ‘trigger warnings’, sensitivity readers and the importance of diversity. What are your thoughts on this, with regard to writing?
I find the whole situation very disturbing. I suddenly seem to find myself in the most vilified group of people in the world. I’m male, white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual, able-bodied and not neuro diverse, nominally Christian but with strong sense of agnosticism, politically slightly right of centre, non-socialist and elderly, the person the woke community loves to hate & refers to as a gammon, a little Englander or an OK Boomer or whatever other epithet that they can think up for me.
I have spent years encouraging my chiIdren and grandchildren to be tolerant and never to stereotype people but the ‘Woke generation’ seem to have reinvented the subject (when it suits them). I find this whole scenario absurd as that just is not me and I can’t think of any of my close circle of friends and wide circle of acquaintances as being that person.
As an author, I assert my right to write about any subject I wish to. I have written, I think, quite sensitively about a trans person, male to female, and have included same-sex relationships in my work. They are first and foremost works of fiction and should be treated as such. I do not have firsthand experience of life in these situations but I talk to people and I research, and most importantly, I imagine.
I feel really sorry for youngsters who want to come in to Creative studies when they don’t fit the blueprint for the diversity requirement.
20. Where would you place your own writing, on a continuum with PURE FANTASY at one end and COMPLETE REALISM at the other?
Certainly close to Realism. I like some mystery and maybe some unexplained events but Fantasy, no, not my scene. It really depends how you define fantasy. You mention James Bond, but in my mind that is just pure fiction and the written-down thoughts of a great writer. Certainly not fantasy, unlike his other well-known work, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which is pure fantasy.
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Thank you very much, Mike, for such a detailed and insightful showcase.
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In June, I will be showcasing
another fabulous writer:
Judith Worham
Not to be missed!
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So far in this series, I’ve showcased the following writers:
Ruth Loten – March 2023
Jane Langan – March 2023
BeckCollett – April 2023
Ron Hardwick – June 2023
L.N.Hunter – July 2023
Katherine Blessan – August 2023
Jill Saudek – September 2023
Colin Johnson – October 2023
Sue Davnall – November 2023
Alain Li Wan Po – December 2023
Lily Lawson – January 2024
Philip Badger – February 2024
Glen Lee – March 2024
DHL Hewa - April 2024
Tonia Trainer - May 2024
Mike Poyzer – June 2024
You can find all these showcases by scrolling back through the material on this blog.
