The Jockey's Wife

Alex Willis is man of many talents. 'My dad can do anything,' say his children. 'Alexander the Great,' says his wife with a smile. Alex spent his early years with the sound of riveting hammers on the Clyde ringing in his ears. Then as the family outgrew the Port Glasgow home they moved to various houses around the suburbs of Glasgow. At the young age of 17, he left school and joined the Royal Navy. This was not a mutually happy arrangement and after three years being trained as an engineer, he left to explore other avenues for a career. His family emigrated to the USA in early 1967, bored and at a loose end he joined them in December that year. This turned out to be a fortuitous decision. Within a few months of arriving he had registered for the draft but was classified as 4A having already served in the Royal Navy. He was hired by the PT&T to work in the Palo Alto, California, telephone exchange, maintaining the switching equipment and short haul carrier systems. Not being challenged enough with his full-time job, he took to building and racing motorcycles on the clubman circuits of Northern California. One engine blow-up to many saw him change direction and declare he was going to build a boat and sail the oceans of the world. Plans for a 45-foot (later stretched to 51 feet by adding a bowsprit) ocean going ketch were purchased, space in the marina rented and construction began. As the building of the boat progressed, he met and married his wife, Nancy. Three years after starting construction, the boat was launched and suitably named, Nancy L. It wasn't long before the sound of tiny feet could be heard running up and down the deck. After sailing the San Francisco bay and short trips up and down the Pacific coast it was decided to sell the boat and relocate to England. On arriving in the UK, he sought employment within the telecom industry. He found a position as installation supervisor with a local private telecom company. This was short lived as the company over-extended itself and he was found to be surplus to requirements, made redundant. But all was not lost, he ended up becoming self-employed and very quickly became managing director of his own telecoms company. When his previous employer finally ceased to trade, some of their customers became his customers. For a hobby he took to making acoustic guitars and showing them at folk festivals. From his love of making guitars came his love of writing about guitars. The highly successful book "Step by Step Guitar Making" published by GMC publishing, was the result of this endeavour. Not satiated from writing his guitar making book, he turned to one of his first loves, storytelling. His first novel, "The Penitent Heart", inspired by the story of the Prodigal Son was the catalyst to inflame his desire to write. From there he started writing the DCI Buchanan series. Stories about a Glasgow cop, Jack Buchanan, seconded to the genteel town of Eastbourne. He now keeps busy chronicling the further exploits of DCI Jack Buchanan and his sidekick DS Jill Street, and publishing and marketing them through his own publishing house, Mount Pleasant Publishing. As an aside to writing, he has taken up basic bookbinding, and is always happy to find time to give talks on creative writing and self-publishing. The remainder of his time is taken up being a gregarious grandfather, househusband, going for walks with his wife, cycling and helping on the family allotment. You can read more about Alex on his webpage, www.alexwillis.me where you can get in contact with him by email.