A journalist for Europe’s biggest English language free newspaper, Euro Weekly News, Mike Walsh draws on a lifetime of interesting recollections to flesh out his popular weekly columns. I am often asked where I get my inspiration from. “The rich diversity of people I have kept the company of,” he replies.
These certainly include police officers. A good friend was a Metropolitan bobby with the unlikely name of Dick Turpin. It was Dick’s regret that the modern police service isn’t quite what it used to be. “I didn’t question him too closely on his meaning,” Michael smiles.
His main source of income comes from ghost-writing. He recently ghosted a fictional novel penned by ex-London cop, Will Murphy. The subject was the paranormal. Mike thinks it would have been far more interesting had he written instead about his experiences as a police officer in the 1960s.
As a ghost-writer and book publisher his clients include a diversity of interesting characters. These include a rogue who happily described himself as the most successful time share scammer on the Costas. Others include travellers or those with a unique background.
He recalls a lady who, with no credit given to her deceased husband, kept one step ahead of Social Services due to his unhealthy interest in children. Another who, as a Hamburg born youngster, suffered the British and American blitz. A client he turned away was arguably the North-West of England’s most vicious gangster.
“He was a control freak and loose cannon. “Mike says, “In his company I was on tenterhooks. The bobbies are welcome to him.”
With his Liverpool background the amiable ghost remembers police officers as friends. “Life was far less complicated then,” he says. “We would socialise and if one of my CID friends left early, after a few pints, it was because duty called. The stories I was told by Merseyside’s police officers, all part of their life’s rich tapestry, kept me enthralled.”
He says he welcomes ghosting offbeat recollections of the ordinary ‘bobby on the beat’. He thinks the memoirs of the top brass memoirs boring and says the real page-turners are reminisces of past officers from all branches of the illustrious service.
NOTE: This is a Press Release for a police service magazine. If you know of someone who has led a truly interesting life, perhaps they could be persuaded to set their thoughts down. Who knows; their book, small or paperback size could, with my help, be a best seller. Contact me, Michael (Walsh).
quite_write@yahoo.co.uk or visit www.michaelwalsh.es