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John Firth is 47 and lives in Wakefield. He is married with a seven year old boy who has Autism. When
his son was diagnosed with Autism, he resigned his position to give the care and support that their son
desperately needed. He was not the sort of person to sit around doing nothing however, so he started up
a plumbing business that is now flourishing. What precious spare time that he has is taken up by writing
and obviously following Sheffield Wednesday, which is a huge passion in his life.
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Philip Algar, B.Sc. (Econ.) F.I.J., author of 'Goodbye Old Chap, A life at sea in war and peace', has written
five previous books. For many years, as a freelance editor and writer, he contributed regularly to UK and overseas
publications on energy, economics and crisis management. He also wrote a regular and humorous column, on business
topics, for a national newspaper and for a business magazine, but is now concentrating on writing books. Goodbye
Old Chap is the story of his father, a Merchant Navy captain, and his life at sea which spanned two world wars
and a long period of imprisonment in Germany.
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Jackie Toaduff, the son of a coal miner, was born in County Durham in the 1930's. He became a coal miner
and at the same time he was making a name for himself as a tap and clog dancer and became the British Clog
Dancing Champion eventually making 17 solo appearances at the Royal Albert Hall, his dancing admired by
the Prima Ballerina, Margot Fontain and he danced with the likes of Hollywood star, Ginger Rogers and
Princess Margaret (and then back to work down the pit the next day). He won a talent competition, which
eventually enabled him to leave the pit and become part of a double act, entertaining in theatres and
clubs worldwide.
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Andrea Jane Finney was born in 1966 in the village of Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancashire. She attended
Westhoughton High School and then Bolton College and now works in the Commercial Property Industry. Andrea
was married in 1990 to Nigel and has one son, Alex. From a very early age Andrea was fascinated with history
and Andrea has now transformed the lives of her ancestors into a fascinating book based on the true events
of the tragic Pit Disaster a century ago.
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A graduate of Brasenose College Oxford, Trevor Snow made teaching his career and was Head of Modern Languages
at Taunton School for over twenty years before starting up his own company taking people on holiday to France.
His love of France and long experience of visiting the country, including two periods of living there, have given
him a deep knowledge of the different regions and their culture. He lectures on a wide range of topics to do with
France. The Best of France is his first book.
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Lyndsey works for a Breastfeeding Support Company, supporting Breastfeeding groups in Derbyshire. She
is also Managing Director of EAT...Derby Magazine. She is married to Mike, and has two sons, Jacob (3)
and Nathanial (1) and a dog called Riley.
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Chris Coley was born in Birmingham. After studying Art he worked as a graphic designer before joining
the teaching profession in 1994 eventually becoming the Headteacher of a secondary school. He was
inspired to write his first novel, Amber Wolfe and the Shifters, by the courage and determination
of his own profoundly deaf daughter.
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While completing his working life as a management consultant specialising in presentation skills, Robert
Alan-Haven's passion for self-exploration led him to the world of the dolphins and their apparent kinship
with humankind. He has observed and swum with dolphins, in captivity and in the wild, all over the
world, and delights in writing and speaking about his adventures.
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Author, playwright and scriptwriter Bolwar Mohammed Kunhi (b. 1951) introduced Muslim culture into creative Kannada prose. He has eight short story collections, one novel, two stage plays and six children's books to his credit, besides several other editorial works. He was conferred three Sahitya Academy Awards from Karnataka Sahitya Academy, including a lifetime achievement award (1997). He has also won National Awards for his contribution to Kannada Films. His works have been translated into other Indian languages.
A post-graduate with gold medal in Kannada literature from Mysore University, Kunhi is presently chief manager, publicity, for Syndicate Bank at it's Bangalore Corporate Office.
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John Butcher
Author location: Derbyshire
Latest Book: The Lethe Fund
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John Butcher landed his first full time journalism job on the Warminster Journal, one of England's few
remaining independently-owned newspapers. He entered the world of financial journalism in 2000, writing mainly
about the expanding international hedge fund business. Work took him from London to New York, where he began
writing his first book, The Lethe Fund, from an apartment in downtown Manhattan. Work on the book continued
in China, when he took a job working for the Beijing Review.
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With an Honours degree in Fine Art, his career somehow began as a professional mouth-harp player, touring
Europe with the Folk/Blues band he'd formed at University. That led him into Art Direction for a multi-national
record company. He moved into Creative Direction, taking on marketing and advertising for national museums and galleries, publishers, tourist
boards etc. Older, if not wiser, he moved into Art and Design education as a Senior Lecturer. In recent years he's
been Visiting Faculty and External Examiner with the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
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Zoë Speakman grew up in the small town of Alcester in Warwickshire. After graduating from The University
of Sheffield in 1996 with a degree in English Literature, she went to teach English in rural China with
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) for two years. Since then, she has worked in both the voluntary and
university sectors, largely in training and advice roles. She became a primary school teacher in 2008. Her
experiences in her first teaching post in Rotherham inspired her to write 'Not Quite There', her first
novel.
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Ph.D., Counseling, Professor, RN.
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