- Home
- Site Index
- About Me
-
My Books
- Book List & Themes
- Strictly for Adults Novels >
-
Tales from Portlaw
>
- No Need to Look for Love
- 'The Love Quartet' >
-
The Priest's Calling Card
>
- Chapter One - The Irish Custom
- Chapter Two - Patrick Duffy's Family Background
- Chapter Three - Patrick Duffy Junior's Vocation to Priesthood
- Chapter Four - The first years of the priesthood
- Chapter Five - Father Patrick Duffy in Seattle
- Chapter Six - Father Patrick Duffy, Portlaw Priest
- Chapter Seven - Patrick Duffy Priest Power
- Chapter Eight - Patrick Duffy Groundless Gossip
- Chapter Nine - Monsignor Duffy of Portlaw
- Chapter Ten - The Portlaw Inheritance of Patrick Duffy
- Bigger and Better >
- The Oldest Woman in the World >
-
Sean and Sarah
>
- Chapter 1 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- Chapter 2 - 'The early years of sweet innocence in Portlaw'
- Chapter 3 - 'The Separation'
- Chapter 4 - 'Separation and Betrayal'
- Chapter 5 - 'Portlaw to Manchester'
- Chapter 6 - 'Salford Choices'
- Chapter 7 - 'Life inside Prison'
- Chapter 8 - 'The Aylesbury Pilgrimage'
- Chapter 9 - Sean's interest in stone masonary'
- Chapter 10 - 'Sean's and Tony's Partnership'
- Chapter 11 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- The Alternative Christmas Party >
-
The Life of Liam Lafferty
>
- Chapter One: ' Liam Lafferty is born'
- Chapter Two : 'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Three: 'The early years of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Four : Early Manhood
- Chapter Five : Ned's Secret Past
- Chapter Six : Courtship and Marriage
- Chapter Seven : Liam and Trish marry
- Chapter Eight : Farley meets Ned
- Chapter Nine : 'Ned comes clean to Farley'
- Chapter Ten : Tragedy hits the family
- Chapter Eleven : The future is brighter
-
The life and times of Joe Walsh
>
- Chapter One : 'The marriage of Margaret Mawd and Thomas Walsh’
- Chapter Two 'The birth of Joe Walsh'
- Chapter Three 'Marriage breakup and betrayal'
- Chapter Four: ' The Walsh family breakup'
- Chapter Five : ' Liverpool Lodgings'
- Chapter Six: ' Settled times are established and tested'
- Chapter Seven : 'Haworth is heaven is a place on earth'
- Chapter Eight: 'Coming out'
- Chapter Nine: Portlaw revenge
- Chapter Ten: ' The murder trial of Paddy Groggy'
- Chapter Eleven: 'New beginnings'
-
The Woman Who Hated Christmas
>
- Chapter One: 'The Christmas Enigma'
- Chapter Two: ' The Breakup of Beth's Family''
- Chapter Three: From Teenager to Adulthood.'
- Chapter Four: 'The Mills of West Yorkshire.'
- Chapter Five: 'Harrison Garner Showdown.'
- Chapter Six : 'The Christmas Dance'
- Chapter Seven : 'The ballot for Shop Steward.'
- Chapter Eight: ' Leaving the Mill'
- Chapter Ten: ' Beth buries her Ghosts'
- Chapter Eleven: Beth and Dermot start off married life in Galway.
- Chapter Twelve: The Twin Tragedy of Christmas, 1992.'
- Chapter Thirteen: 'The Christmas star returns'
- Chapter Fourteen: ' Beth's future in Portlaw'
-
The Last Dance
>
- Chapter One - ‘Nancy Swales becomes the Widow Swales’
- Chapter Two ‘The secret night life of Widow Swales’
- Chapter Three ‘Meeting Richard again’
- Chapter Four ‘Clancy’s Ballroom: March 1961’
- Chapter Five ‘The All Ireland Dancing Rounds’
- Chapter Six ‘James Mountford’
- Chapter Seven ‘The All Ireland Ballroom Latin American Dance Final.’
- Chapter Eight ‘The Final Arrives’
- Chapter Nine: 'Beth in Manchester.'
- 'Two Sisters' >
- Fourteen Days >
-
‘The Postman Always Knocks Twice’
>
- Author's Foreword
- Contents
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two
-
Celebrity Contacts
-
Thoughts and Musings
- Bereavement >
- Nature >
-
Bill's Personal Development
>
- What I'd like to be remembered for
- Second Chances
- Roots
- Holidays of Old
- Memorable Moments of Mine
- Cleckheaton Consecration
- Canadian Loves
- Mum's Wisdom
- 'Early life at my Grandparents'
- Family Holidays
- 'Mother /Child Bond'
- Childhood Pain
- The Death of Lady
- 'Soldiering On'
- 'Romantic Holidays'
- 'On the roof'
- Always wear clean shoes
- 'Family Tree'
- The importance of poise
- 'Growing up with grandparents'
- Love & Romance >
- Christian Thoughts, Acts and Words >
- My Wedding
- My Funeral
- Audio Downloads
- My Singing Videos
- Bill's Blog
- Contact Me
Celebrity Contacts
At the end of each day, I frequently allow my mind to drift back to years gone by. I start to think about the people in my life who have made the greatest impact on me. Ironically, the poorest people I've ever met have enriched my life more than any millionaire ever did and the most profound and moving of thoughts and words that have impacted on me have more often come from the mouth of the least academically-gifted speaker. Similarly, the most generous people I have ever met have come from the ranks of the poorest among us! It is as though when God made the human species, He gave the world's poorest nations the most beautiful countries and landscapes in the world to live and He gave the most economically-impoverished of us all a greater capacity to freely give and share what little they possess.
One only has to see an orange cloudy sky at a Cuban sunset to realise that the more wealthy western hemisphere has nothing to compete with this spectacle along with other beautiful landscapes enjoyed by the world's poorest, and then contrast this beauty with the horrors of the daily poverty such good people have to endure in order to survive. Likewise, were one to break down the class divisions of all the doners to any disaster fund and measure the ratio of the gift to the purse total it came from, one would soon come to realise that the poorest are the best givers!
On the other side of the coin, I have found that the greater the celebrity I have ever met, the bigger a star they are in the human firmament. Between 1990 and 2005, I invited celebrities and famous-named people into Yorkshire schools to read from my published children's books. Over 850 local, regional, national and international celebrities accepted this invitation that was designed to help the children 'feel special' and to 'raise awareness' of many topical issues that children find difficult to cope with and resolve.
During these years, readers and supporters of my work came from all walks of life and included two presidents, three princesses, two prime ministers, the chief inspector of schools for Ofstead, actors, Archbishop of York, writers, singers, film stars, television presenters, politicians, church leaders, chief constables, drug czars, chief rabbi, corporation leaders, arctic explorers, artists and stars from the fields of football, cricket and rugby etc.
The Queen gave me a medal in 1995 for my services to the West Yorkshire community. When the princes William and Harry were aged 7 and 9 years, Princess Dianna requested that I send her two of my books, 'Douglas the Dragon' and 'Sleezy the Fox' for her to read to them at their bedtime. Dame Catherine Cookson liked one of my characters so much that she and her husband Tom funded the publication of a 500 limited-edition publication of the 'Action Annie' book. Nelson Mandela once phoned me up to tell me that my African story book was 'lovely.' Former chief inspector of schools for Ofsted, Chris Woodhead, described my writing to the press as 'high quality literature.'
All of my books were sold directly to Yorkshire schools; mostly in 'limited-edition publications.' The total profits of more than £200,000 from their sales was given in its entirety to national charities and charitable causes. All funding costs of my charitable projects never came out of book-sale profits and were met and paid for by different contributors and activities, as well as myself.
The following articles are some of my memories over my years of celebrity contact. Enjoy
One only has to see an orange cloudy sky at a Cuban sunset to realise that the more wealthy western hemisphere has nothing to compete with this spectacle along with other beautiful landscapes enjoyed by the world's poorest, and then contrast this beauty with the horrors of the daily poverty such good people have to endure in order to survive. Likewise, were one to break down the class divisions of all the doners to any disaster fund and measure the ratio of the gift to the purse total it came from, one would soon come to realise that the poorest are the best givers!
On the other side of the coin, I have found that the greater the celebrity I have ever met, the bigger a star they are in the human firmament. Between 1990 and 2005, I invited celebrities and famous-named people into Yorkshire schools to read from my published children's books. Over 850 local, regional, national and international celebrities accepted this invitation that was designed to help the children 'feel special' and to 'raise awareness' of many topical issues that children find difficult to cope with and resolve.
During these years, readers and supporters of my work came from all walks of life and included two presidents, three princesses, two prime ministers, the chief inspector of schools for Ofstead, actors, Archbishop of York, writers, singers, film stars, television presenters, politicians, church leaders, chief constables, drug czars, chief rabbi, corporation leaders, arctic explorers, artists and stars from the fields of football, cricket and rugby etc.
The Queen gave me a medal in 1995 for my services to the West Yorkshire community. When the princes William and Harry were aged 7 and 9 years, Princess Dianna requested that I send her two of my books, 'Douglas the Dragon' and 'Sleezy the Fox' for her to read to them at their bedtime. Dame Catherine Cookson liked one of my characters so much that she and her husband Tom funded the publication of a 500 limited-edition publication of the 'Action Annie' book. Nelson Mandela once phoned me up to tell me that my African story book was 'lovely.' Former chief inspector of schools for Ofsted, Chris Woodhead, described my writing to the press as 'high quality literature.'
All of my books were sold directly to Yorkshire schools; mostly in 'limited-edition publications.' The total profits of more than £200,000 from their sales was given in its entirety to national charities and charitable causes. All funding costs of my charitable projects never came out of book-sale profits and were met and paid for by different contributors and activities, as well as myself.
The following articles are some of my memories over my years of celebrity contact. Enjoy
Contacts with Celebrities |
More Contacts with Celebrities |