Terry Cunningham

Terry left school at 14, semi-illiterate due to spending much of the war in the London air raid shelters. He worked in the Soho tailoring trade, then spent 3 years in the army, followed by undertaking a variety of jobs including truck driver, security guard, labourer, and several years as a lifeguard in the big open-air lidos of the time. In his 30s Terry ran a London magazine called West 1, referring to London’s West End, telling readers where to find the best fashion, pubs and clubs and featuring test runs and reviews of the latest sports car. This introduced him to the world of printers, proofreaders, typesetters and above all writers. When the magazine folded he took up writing full time. Terry has now written, and in some cases illustrated, over a dozen successful books, usually on offbeat and unconventional subjects under his real name, but he also writes under various pen names. Furthermore, Terry writes articles for a magazine in Utah, USA and has produced a DVD movie about James Dean, and an audio production about music from the 50s. Now a widower and animal lover, Terry lives alone in central London with his cat, dog and parrot. He admires such writers as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but his all-time favourite writer is Jack London, who Terry is convinced was a time traveller, but that’s another story!