Biography
Picture © Niall McDiarmid
Pat is a member of the Crime Writers Association, having written three crime novels - Thermal Image, published in January 2002, Burn Out, published in Dec 2002 and Blowtorch – published in Hardback on 2nd February 2004 – all by Hodder and Stoughton.
Born in East London, he joined the army then the London Fire Brigade before leaving and working in Demolition before finally resuming his career in the London Fire Brigade.
His novels reflect an Urban Noir that is neither judgmental nor sentimental. Characters move through landscapes of light and shadow attempting to grasp control of their lives and impose an order that remains elusive and only glimpsed through a dark philosophical glass.
Throughout his life his passions have always been Martial Arts, Literature, Film and Walking.
The first of these led him to become a best selling author of three books on Kick Boxing - Kick Boxing a Framework for Success, Combat Kick Boxing and Advanced Kick Boxing. He has competed in the ring as a kick boxer at international level and fought 28 times. His opponents included three World Champions and Nigel Benn who went on to become the WBC World Middleweight Boxing Champion. He is a 6th Dan [6th Degree Black Belt] in both Kick Boxing and Karate Jutsu. He teaches both these Martial Disciplines in Essex.
In 2003 he completed thirty years service with the London Fire Brigade; twenty three of them as an operational Station Officer. In 1981 he became a Member of the Institute of Fire Engineers.
1991 saw him fulfil one of his ambitions by climbing Mount Triglav, the highest mountain in the Julian Alps [9,393 ft] and he has trekked through the backcountry in the Canadian Rockies, walking 75 Kilometres from Mount Norquay, near Banff, to Lake Louise through the Sawback Range.
Canada - July 2004
On a snowfield at Pulsitilla Pass 7, 200 Feet |
Fording a Glacier-fed stream |
Crossing the Arête of Mount Triglav in the Julian Alps |
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