Post by PeterW on Jul 2, 2011 16:09:12 GMT -5
Hi Dave,
In the Duesenberg thread you wrote:
James Leasor, or Thomas James Leasor to give him his full name, did indeed write the historical book Green Beach about the Dieppe raid, but I don't think he was on the raid.
Leasor was one of Britain's most prolific authors of the 1960s and early 1970s and wrote something like 70 books including spy thrillers and non-fiction historical books about various aspects of war from the Indian Mutiny onwards.
During the war he was commissioned in the Lincolnshire Regiment, fighting in Burma where he was badly injured in the leg and declared unfit for further active service.
For the rest of the war he wrote for the British forces newspaper in the far east, and after the war joined the Daily Express where he became foreign correspondent and eventually Beaverbrook's private secretary.
He rarely did very deep research for his non-fiction books. "I leave that to academics," he once said to me. "They spend years on research and then turn out a book with footnotes on almost every page citing sources. Quite often they're so badly written it's like stirring cold porridge. They write for students and for other academics. I write for the general public and haven't got time for that sort of research. I would hate to read in a review that any of my books were boring to read."
He was always very careful to get the outline of his historical books correct but was sometimes accused (along with film script writers) of writing "faction" - fact with a bit of fiction thrown in to make it more interesting. That's where you may have got the impression that he was a radar technician on the raid.
In about 15 years he wrote something like 70 books including ghosting several biographies.
I'm fortunate in that writing for newspapers and magazines comes easily to me, and have been moderately successful including being awarded two gold pens as Business Press Writer of the Year. I have also written, or in a few cases co-authored, about a dozen technical books, but an output like Leasor's leaves me speechless for sheer industry.
I feel honoured to have known him.
PeterW
In the Duesenberg thread you wrote:
Peter, just a note too on James Leasor. I'm pretty sure he was the author of 'Green Beach' which was the story of the raid on Dieppe in August 1942 by (mainly) Canadian forces. Overall it was a bit of a disaster but they did learn something about the German radar system - Freya I think - and the experience helped with the D-Day landings. If I remember correctly James Leasor was a radar technician and he was involved with that side of things on the raid.
James Leasor, or Thomas James Leasor to give him his full name, did indeed write the historical book Green Beach about the Dieppe raid, but I don't think he was on the raid.
Leasor was one of Britain's most prolific authors of the 1960s and early 1970s and wrote something like 70 books including spy thrillers and non-fiction historical books about various aspects of war from the Indian Mutiny onwards.
During the war he was commissioned in the Lincolnshire Regiment, fighting in Burma where he was badly injured in the leg and declared unfit for further active service.
For the rest of the war he wrote for the British forces newspaper in the far east, and after the war joined the Daily Express where he became foreign correspondent and eventually Beaverbrook's private secretary.
He rarely did very deep research for his non-fiction books. "I leave that to academics," he once said to me. "They spend years on research and then turn out a book with footnotes on almost every page citing sources. Quite often they're so badly written it's like stirring cold porridge. They write for students and for other academics. I write for the general public and haven't got time for that sort of research. I would hate to read in a review that any of my books were boring to read."
He was always very careful to get the outline of his historical books correct but was sometimes accused (along with film script writers) of writing "faction" - fact with a bit of fiction thrown in to make it more interesting. That's where you may have got the impression that he was a radar technician on the raid.
In about 15 years he wrote something like 70 books including ghosting several biographies.
I'm fortunate in that writing for newspapers and magazines comes easily to me, and have been moderately successful including being awarded two gold pens as Business Press Writer of the Year. I have also written, or in a few cases co-authored, about a dozen technical books, but an output like Leasor's leaves me speechless for sheer industry.
I feel honoured to have known him.
PeterW
