Dr Andrew Norman
Dr Andrew Norman | |
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I was born in Newbury, Berkshire, UK in 1943, and educated at Thornhill High School, Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia and at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. In 1970 I qualified in medicine and worked as a family doctor in the UK until 1983 when I sustained a back injury. I then decided to use my diagnostic skills in a different way and become a writer. I am married to Rachel.
Find out more:
The Desire to Write
An Enquiring Mind
Current Projects
Ideas for Books
As an author, I often think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who, like myself, was a doctor who used his medical ’detective skills’ in his writings. This is perhaps why, in so many of my books, there is a mystery to be solved! Such was the case with Agatha Christie: the Finished Portrait, and T.E. Lawrence: the Enigma Explained.
In my writings, I have found that it is often human contact which is the trigger to creativity. For example, I met a Fleet Air Arm pilot who escorted HMS HOOD on her last, fateful voyage, hence HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy. In Swanage, I met Enid Blyton’s former golf caddie. Johnny James, who, together with her late daughter, Gillian Baverstock, inspired me to write Enid Blyton and her Enchantment with Dorset. In nearby Harman’s Cross, I met the eminent late sculptress, Mary Spencer Watson – hence Dunshay: Reflections on a Dorset Manor House. In a nursing home, I met a patient, Helen Taylor, who recalled her days in the now ruined Dorset village of Tyneham – hence Tyneham: Portrait of the Lost Village.
My Dorchester ancestors were baptized by the Reverend Henry Moule whose son was a great friend of Thomas Hardy – hence Thomas Hardy: Christmas Carollings; and more recently, Thomas Hardy: Behind the Mask. In this, I was honoured to have the help and advice of Norrie Woodhall, the only person still living who actually knew Hardy! Jane Austen: an Unrequited Love was inspired by seeing some of her personal possessions displayed on the Antiques Roadshow! A Brummie Boy Goes to War is the story of my grandfather, Thomas Waldin.
My years in Rhodesia led me to wonder what has gone so terribly wrong with that country since its independence from Britain – hence Mugabe: Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant.