Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Thursday, December 27, 2007
James Leasor: Journalist and thriller writer
James Leasor: Journalist and thriller writer
Published: 22 December 2007
Thomas James Leasor, journalist and novelist: born Erith, Kent 20 December 1923; married 1951 Joan Bevan (three sons); died Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire 10 September 2007.
James Leasor was a writer of boundless enthusiasm, who could turn his typewriter to most genres, and seemed equally happy producing entertaining non-fiction as the thrillers that were his trademark during the 1960s and 1970s. While Ian Fleming had Bond and John le Carré had George Smiley, Leasor had Dr Jason Love, a country GP who has to keep taking time off from his practice to battle his country's ruthless foes (usually in the Middle East), armed with an automatic pistol, a knowledge of unarmed combat and a very fast car.
Throughout his life, Leasor was a lover of very fast cars and, like Fleming before him, once admitted to a fondness for the thrillers of Dornford Yates, one of whose skills was regularly to transform a description of a simple car-chase into something approaching poetry. When in the money, Leasor bought himself a 1937 American Cord sports car – "one of the few open Cords in Britain" – which he lovingly maintained till the day he died.
His put his auto-knowledge to particular use in those of his thrillers narrated by the anonymous classic-car dealer of Aristo Autos – They Don't Make Them Like That Any More (1969) and Never Had a Spanner on Her (1970), in which, as well as telling a cracking yarn, he had a good deal of fun with the slightly iffy business of car salesmanship. Some years later, Dr Love and the proprietor of Aristo Autos appeared together in Host of Extras (1973).
When, after 15-odd years of working on newspapers and turning out moderately successful biographies, books of wartime adventure, and historical works, Leasor hit the jackpot with his first Jason Love novel Passport to Oblivion (1964), he cannily registered himself as a limited company, Jason Love Ltd, thus protecting his and his family's future.
James Leasor was born in Erith, Kent in 1923, and educated at the City of London School from 1935 to 1940, where one of his contemporaries was the slightly older Kingsley Amis. For a short while before call-up he studied medicine and then was a reporter on the Kentish Times (1941-42). He joined the East Kent regiment, was sent to India and commissioned into the Lincolnshires, ending up a Captain and enduring several hair-raising experiences (including having his troopship blown apart under him in the Bay of Bengal and spending six hours in the water).
While in India he wrote his first novel, a comedy, Not Such a Bad Day (1946), sending instalments by airmail to his mother to type out back in England. She managed to interest a small publisher in Leicester, who paid £50 for the rights, and then proceeded to sell nearly 30,000 copies to a public starved of comic novels. Back in Britain, Leasor read English at Oriel College, Oxford, where he also edited Isis and began to churn out articles for the "man's adventure" monthly The Wide World.
For a few years Leasor worked for the Beaverbrook organisation, as gossip columnist (for the Daily Mail), reporter, foreign correspondent and feature writer. For a fraught period he acted as Beaverbrook's secretary, enduring the press baron's notorious whims at first hand and getting sacked and rehired on a regular basis.
During the 1950s, he wrote a number of entertaining popular histories, including The Red Fort (1956), an account of the siege of Delhi during the 1857 Mutiny and, with the American journalist Kendal Burt, The One That Got Away (1956), the story of the only German POW to escape British captivity. Later the director Roy Ward Baker turned it into a hugely successful film, with the German actor Hardy Krüger in the lead role.
Leasor was lucky with his films. Passport to Oblivion was turned into Where the Spies Are (1965); David Niven played a somewhat over-urbane Dr Love. An even better movie, which also starred Niven, was The Sea Wolves (1980), adapted from Leasor's Boarding Party (1978), about a real-life British attack on a German spy vessel in the waters off Portuguese – and so neutral – Goa in 1943.
Leasor was admired by editors for his ability to deliver to deadlines; he viewed writing as a serious job – although he once pointed out that he wrote thrillers "because I enjoy writing them" – and just about anything was grist to his mill.
He ghosted several "autobiographies", including those of the actors Jack Hawkins and Kenneth More, as well as that of ex-King Zog of Albania (who made him a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem as a kind of pourboire), and was the guiding hand behind the Duke of Windsor's memoirs. At one stage, under the name Douglas Anderson, he solved emotional problems on Woman's Own magazine, and in 1971 he wrote the book for the off-Broadway musical Look Where I'm At!, based on one of Thorne Smith's hilariously rambunctious comic novels Rain in the Doorway (1933). In his late sixties he started using a pseudonym, beginning a new series of high-powered thrillers as Andrew MacAllan.
Jack Adrian
Published: 22 December 2007
Thomas James Leasor, journalist and novelist: born Erith, Kent 20 December 1923; married 1951 Joan Bevan (three sons); died Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire 10 September 2007.
James Leasor was a writer of boundless enthusiasm, who could turn his typewriter to most genres, and seemed equally happy producing entertaining non-fiction as the thrillers that were his trademark during the 1960s and 1970s. While Ian Fleming had Bond and John le Carré had George Smiley, Leasor had Dr Jason Love, a country GP who has to keep taking time off from his practice to battle his country's ruthless foes (usually in the Middle East), armed with an automatic pistol, a knowledge of unarmed combat and a very fast car.
Throughout his life, Leasor was a lover of very fast cars and, like Fleming before him, once admitted to a fondness for the thrillers of Dornford Yates, one of whose skills was regularly to transform a description of a simple car-chase into something approaching poetry. When in the money, Leasor bought himself a 1937 American Cord sports car – "one of the few open Cords in Britain" – which he lovingly maintained till the day he died.
His put his auto-knowledge to particular use in those of his thrillers narrated by the anonymous classic-car dealer of Aristo Autos – They Don't Make Them Like That Any More (1969) and Never Had a Spanner on Her (1970), in which, as well as telling a cracking yarn, he had a good deal of fun with the slightly iffy business of car salesmanship. Some years later, Dr Love and the proprietor of Aristo Autos appeared together in Host of Extras (1973).
When, after 15-odd years of working on newspapers and turning out moderately successful biographies, books of wartime adventure, and historical works, Leasor hit the jackpot with his first Jason Love novel Passport to Oblivion (1964), he cannily registered himself as a limited company, Jason Love Ltd, thus protecting his and his family's future.
James Leasor was born in Erith, Kent in 1923, and educated at the City of London School from 1935 to 1940, where one of his contemporaries was the slightly older Kingsley Amis. For a short while before call-up he studied medicine and then was a reporter on the Kentish Times (1941-42). He joined the East Kent regiment, was sent to India and commissioned into the Lincolnshires, ending up a Captain and enduring several hair-raising experiences (including having his troopship blown apart under him in the Bay of Bengal and spending six hours in the water).
While in India he wrote his first novel, a comedy, Not Such a Bad Day (1946), sending instalments by airmail to his mother to type out back in England. She managed to interest a small publisher in Leicester, who paid £50 for the rights, and then proceeded to sell nearly 30,000 copies to a public starved of comic novels. Back in Britain, Leasor read English at Oriel College, Oxford, where he also edited Isis and began to churn out articles for the "man's adventure" monthly The Wide World.
For a few years Leasor worked for the Beaverbrook organisation, as gossip columnist (for the Daily Mail), reporter, foreign correspondent and feature writer. For a fraught period he acted as Beaverbrook's secretary, enduring the press baron's notorious whims at first hand and getting sacked and rehired on a regular basis.
During the 1950s, he wrote a number of entertaining popular histories, including The Red Fort (1956), an account of the siege of Delhi during the 1857 Mutiny and, with the American journalist Kendal Burt, The One That Got Away (1956), the story of the only German POW to escape British captivity. Later the director Roy Ward Baker turned it into a hugely successful film, with the German actor Hardy Krüger in the lead role.
Leasor was lucky with his films. Passport to Oblivion was turned into Where the Spies Are (1965); David Niven played a somewhat over-urbane Dr Love. An even better movie, which also starred Niven, was The Sea Wolves (1980), adapted from Leasor's Boarding Party (1978), about a real-life British attack on a German spy vessel in the waters off Portuguese – and so neutral – Goa in 1943.
Leasor was admired by editors for his ability to deliver to deadlines; he viewed writing as a serious job – although he once pointed out that he wrote thrillers "because I enjoy writing them" – and just about anything was grist to his mill.
He ghosted several "autobiographies", including those of the actors Jack Hawkins and Kenneth More, as well as that of ex-King Zog of Albania (who made him a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem as a kind of pourboire), and was the guiding hand behind the Duke of Windsor's memoirs. At one stage, under the name Douglas Anderson, he solved emotional problems on Woman's Own magazine, and in 1971 he wrote the book for the off-Broadway musical Look Where I'm At!, based on one of Thorne Smith's hilariously rambunctious comic novels Rain in the Doorway (1933). In his late sixties he started using a pseudonym, beginning a new series of high-powered thrillers as Andrew MacAllan.
Jack Adrian
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The History of Mormugao By Pio Esteves
During his tenure as the parish priest of the Church of St Andrew, Vasco da Gama, Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas did an investigative study of Mormugao and finally came out with a well-researched book titled ‘Mormugao’s Rich Heritage’.
According to his findings, St Andrew’s Church was the first church in Mormugao built by the Jesuits in 1570.
Fr Mascarenhas has undoubtedly taken pains to provide the history of Mormugao by placing various documents before the reader found in the different archives of the Church, the state government, the municipality and other sources.
Despite poor health, sheer zeal and enthusiasm encouraged the author to collect factual data made available in some dusty Portuguese documents as is evidence from the extensive quotes made by Fr Mascarenhas at the end of each chapter and the bibliography at the end of the volume.
The minute details provided about the places of worship indicate that over the centuries the Hindus, Catholics and the Muslims lived in harmony in Goa.
In the first part of the book, the author has made efforts to put forth the brief history of Mormugao. According to Fr Mascarenhas, in the early sixteenth century, Mormugao included the present areas of Sada, Jetty and Bogda and until the nineteenth century, according to oral sources, sea water from Baina beach freely mixed with the Zuari waters in Vasco Bay.
A mention is made as to how Christianity stepped into Mormugao and how the Jesuit missionaries entered Salcete and while they were based at the church of Cortalim, they were equally responsible for the evangelisation of Mormugao in 1570.
Assisted by some black and white photographs, Fr Mascarenhas has provided minute details about the fortified city of Mormugao in the sixteenth century, followed by the ups and downs in the eighteenth century and with the entry of the port and the railway in the nineteenth century, how Mormugao came into existence on its own in the 20th century.
In the second part of the book, the author makes the reader walk through the different wards existing in Mormugao. And with the inclusion of coloured photographs, Fr Mascarenhas takes you around the St Andrew’s Church, over the hill and dale, up and down Swatantra Path, from the church to the city and finally from the Destero parish to the Headland Sada and Baina with several inputs.
In the third part of the book, the Diocesan priest has delved in detail about the history and other important aspects of the churches and chapels existing in Mormugao over the years, including the extinct chapels.
And finally the author concludes the book with the parish priests of St Andrew’s Church, priests from Mormugao and the bibliography.
‘Mormugao’s Rich Heritage’ will definitely serve as a reference work for future researchers as it contains all aspects of the Mormugao taluka and its relation to other parts of Goa. And as the book is a masterpiece, it should definitely be in possession of all lovers of history.
According to his findings, St Andrew’s Church was the first church in Mormugao built by the Jesuits in 1570.
Fr Mascarenhas has undoubtedly taken pains to provide the history of Mormugao by placing various documents before the reader found in the different archives of the Church, the state government, the municipality and other sources.
Despite poor health, sheer zeal and enthusiasm encouraged the author to collect factual data made available in some dusty Portuguese documents as is evidence from the extensive quotes made by Fr Mascarenhas at the end of each chapter and the bibliography at the end of the volume.
The minute details provided about the places of worship indicate that over the centuries the Hindus, Catholics and the Muslims lived in harmony in Goa.
In the first part of the book, the author has made efforts to put forth the brief history of Mormugao. According to Fr Mascarenhas, in the early sixteenth century, Mormugao included the present areas of Sada, Jetty and Bogda and until the nineteenth century, according to oral sources, sea water from Baina beach freely mixed with the Zuari waters in Vasco Bay.
A mention is made as to how Christianity stepped into Mormugao and how the Jesuit missionaries entered Salcete and while they were based at the church of Cortalim, they were equally responsible for the evangelisation of Mormugao in 1570.
Assisted by some black and white photographs, Fr Mascarenhas has provided minute details about the fortified city of Mormugao in the sixteenth century, followed by the ups and downs in the eighteenth century and with the entry of the port and the railway in the nineteenth century, how Mormugao came into existence on its own in the 20th century.
In the second part of the book, the author makes the reader walk through the different wards existing in Mormugao. And with the inclusion of coloured photographs, Fr Mascarenhas takes you around the St Andrew’s Church, over the hill and dale, up and down Swatantra Path, from the church to the city and finally from the Destero parish to the Headland Sada and Baina with several inputs.
In the third part of the book, the Diocesan priest has delved in detail about the history and other important aspects of the churches and chapels existing in Mormugao over the years, including the extinct chapels.
And finally the author concludes the book with the parish priests of St Andrew’s Church, priests from Mormugao and the bibliography.
‘Mormugao’s Rich Heritage’ will definitely serve as a reference work for future researchers as it contains all aspects of the Mormugao taluka and its relation to other parts of Goa. And as the book is a masterpiece, it should definitely be in possession of all lovers of history.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Goenkarachem Daiz, Margao
From: "Diana Pinto"
>
> To: goanint@yahoo.co.uk
>
>
>
> Dear Mr. Rene Barretto,
>
>
> It has come to our knowledge that you are in the
> vanguard of the movement to keep Goa's flag flying
> high. We know that you have really stretched yourself
> in an endeavour to preserve Goa's fast fading culture
> and ethos. We are therefore pleased to inform you of
> the birth of a new organisation called Goenkarachem
> Daiz, based in Margao, with the following objectives:
>
>
> 1. For caring, nurturing, preserving, propagating and
> safeguarding our common Goan ethos, namely Konknni
> language, literature, culture, history, art, music,
> folklore and other related subjects.
>
>
> 2. To set up a modern "SONDORBH GRONTHALAYA"
> (reference library), to house a treasure of over 2000
> books belonging to Antonio da Piedade Morais, sponsor
> of the Konknni Obheas Kendr (Konknni Research Centre),
> Goa, Altinho, Fatorda, Salcete, Goa covering Konknni
> language, literature, culture, history and other
> subjects including books in the possession of other
> individuals.
>
>
> 3. To update the reference library with the latest
> publications and other material that will cater to the
> individual needs of students, researchers and
> scholars.
>
>
> 4. To provide research, guidance and library
> facilities to Ph.D. students and other scholars.
>
>
> 5. To work for Konknni culture through a scientific
> study and promotion of the Konknni language,
> literature, folklore, theatre, study of the Konknni
> people, their dialects and other social linguistic
> work, including work in the fields of education and
> research in Konknni.
>
>
>
> 6. To provide scholarships to deserving students as
> well as publish research material and other literature
> pertaining to the Konknni language, literature,
> culture, history, art, music, folklore and other
> related subjects.
>
>
>
> 7. To organise seminars, meetings, conferences,
> gatherings, symposia, exhibitions etc. that will aid
> in the fulfilment of the above aims.
>
>
> 8. To co-operate with other institutions having
> similar objects.
>
>
> 9. To raise funds to meet the expenditure incurred in
> the pursuance of the above aims and objects.
>
> 10.To do such other things as are in consonance with
> the main objects.
>
> 11. To work towards the preservation of Goan heritage,
> its flora and fauna.
>
> 12. To preserve, sustain and promote Goan customs,
> habits, characteristics, traditions and moral values.
>
>
> 13. The objectives which are not mentioned but related
> to the Society's objects shall be taken into
> consideration by the Society and decided upon from
> time to time.
>
>
> Names, designations of the members of the Executive
> Committee
>
>
> Dr. Francisco Colaco - President
>
> Adv. Prakash Borkar - Vice President
>
> Mr. Edwin Pinto - Secretary
>
> Mr. Tadeu Dias - Asst. Secretary
>
> Mr. R. C. Dharward - Treasurer
>
> Mr. M. K. Shaikh - Asst. Treasurer
>
> Dr. Rajendra Hegde - Member
>
> Dr. Uday Barad - Member
>
> Prof. Arun Nadkarni -- Member
>
> Fr. Planton Faria - Member
>
> Mr. N. Shivdas -- Member
>
> Ms. Jayanti Naik - Member
>
> Mr. Antonio da Piedade Morais - Member
>
>
>
> We would be grateful if you could publicise the
> existence, aims and objectives of this organisation
> amongst the Goan diaspora. This organisations has
> recently been registered and we hope to commence our
> various projects as we go along. Should you need any
> clarifications, please do not hesitate to get in
> touch.
>
> Edwin Pinto
> Secretary
>
> 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
>
> To: goanint@yahoo.co.uk
>
>
>
> Dear Mr. Rene Barretto,
>
>
> It has come to our knowledge that you are in the
> vanguard of the movement to keep Goa's flag flying
> high. We know that you have really stretched yourself
> in an endeavour to preserve Goa's fast fading culture
> and ethos. We are therefore pleased to inform you of
> the birth of a new organisation called Goenkarachem
> Daiz, based in Margao, with the following objectives:
>
>
> 1. For caring, nurturing, preserving, propagating and
> safeguarding our common Goan ethos, namely Konknni
> language, literature, culture, history, art, music,
> folklore and other related subjects.
>
>
> 2. To set up a modern "SONDORBH GRONTHALAYA"
> (reference library), to house a treasure of over 2000
> books belonging to Antonio da Piedade Morais, sponsor
> of the Konknni Obheas Kendr (Konknni Research Centre),
> Goa, Altinho, Fatorda, Salcete, Goa covering Konknni
> language, literature, culture, history and other
> subjects including books in the possession of other
> individuals.
>
>
> 3. To update the reference library with the latest
> publications and other material that will cater to the
> individual needs of students, researchers and
> scholars.
>
>
> 4. To provide research, guidance and library
> facilities to Ph.D. students and other scholars.
>
>
> 5. To work for Konknni culture through a scientific
> study and promotion of the Konknni language,
> literature, folklore, theatre, study of the Konknni
> people, their dialects and other social linguistic
> work, including work in the fields of education and
> research in Konknni.
>
>
>
> 6. To provide scholarships to deserving students as
> well as publish research material and other literature
> pertaining to the Konknni language, literature,
> culture, history, art, music, folklore and other
> related subjects.
>
>
>
> 7. To organise seminars, meetings, conferences,
> gatherings, symposia, exhibitions etc. that will aid
> in the fulfilment of the above aims.
>
>
> 8. To co-operate with other institutions having
> similar objects.
>
>
> 9. To raise funds to meet the expenditure incurred in
> the pursuance of the above aims and objects.
>
> 10.To do such other things as are in consonance with
> the main objects.
>
> 11. To work towards the preservation of Goan heritage,
> its flora and fauna.
>
> 12. To preserve, sustain and promote Goan customs,
> habits, characteristics, traditions and moral values.
>
>
> 13. The objectives which are not mentioned but related
> to the Society's objects shall be taken into
> consideration by the Society and decided upon from
> time to time.
>
>
> Names, designations of the members of the Executive
> Committee
>
>
> Dr. Francisco Colaco - President
>
> Adv. Prakash Borkar - Vice President
>
> Mr. Edwin Pinto - Secretary
>
> Mr. Tadeu Dias - Asst. Secretary
>
> Mr. R. C. Dharward - Treasurer
>
> Mr. M. K. Shaikh - Asst. Treasurer
>
> Dr. Rajendra Hegde - Member
>
> Dr. Uday Barad - Member
>
> Prof. Arun Nadkarni -- Member
>
> Fr. Planton Faria - Member
>
> Mr. N. Shivdas -- Member
>
> Ms. Jayanti Naik - Member
>
> Mr. Antonio da Piedade Morais - Member
>
>
>
> We would be grateful if you could publicise the
> existence, aims and objectives of this organisation
> amongst the Goan diaspora. This organisations has
> recently been registered and we hope to commence our
> various projects as we go along. Should you need any
> clarifications, please do not hesitate to get in
> touch.
>
> Edwin Pinto
> Secretary
>
> 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Goan Musical Society UK
FOUNDER MEMBERS
Norman Cortez
Rene Barreto
Bernadette Pereira
Joao Paulo Cota
Paulo Colaco Dias
+
James Almeida (US)
Summer 1997 - The idea was born and the Goan Musical Society started.
Back to the Main Page
This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page
Norman Cortez
Rene Barreto
Bernadette Pereira
Joao Paulo Cota
Paulo Colaco Dias
+
James Almeida (US)
Summer 1997 - The idea was born and the Goan Musical Society started.
Back to the Main Page
This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page
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