Okay, I know what you're thinking. Do I really believe my life has been any more adventurous and interesting than anyone else's?
Or is it pure ego that moves my fingers across the
keyboard in a quest to tell the world about my exciting odyssey of
discovery? Perhaps. But I was fortunate to have enjoyed a hugely privileged career and to meet some influential and truly inspirational people on my journey; exceptional human beings who made me count my blessings
and to think seriously about the world around me. TRAPDOORS is as much their
story as it is mine.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, naturally, and although I was lucky to survive many of the situations I found myself in, the experience did help me to create an angle: not just a series of diary
entries recording names and places, but a narrative based around the inescapable
fact that I am severely accident-prone. Humour, therefore, had to be the key, and
clearly unavoidable, because in the real world you just couldn’t write the
script.
And so I set about writing it all down, hampered by the occasional memory loss that comes with the blurring of time, ever mindful that offending
or misrepresenting those I had met had to be avoided at all costs, and setting
out to make even the bizarre and the unbelievable an accepted and entertaining
part of my erratic and eventful career.
It had not been my initial intention to publish the stories
in one hit. I tested the water with abridged versions in periodicals and newspapers and in this endeavour I was helped enormously by the online webcast
Broadcast Freelancer and The Veteran magazine, a quarterly
publication sent out to several thousand members of the TV industry, my stories rewritten for short-form consumption, complete with photographs and
illustrations that would not appear in the finished book due to copyright
restrictions (For my COPYRIGHT blog click on the Older Posts link below).
The feedback from these publications encouraged me to finally publish, after a
ten-year period of writing, rewriting and re-juxtaposing various chapters
(whilst staying true to the chronology), followed by an intense marketing phase, targeting
the informed and the famous, radio stations and the press (most notably a mention in Villages
in Focus and an article in The Chichester Observer), and by immense good fortune
attracting five-star reviews on amazon, which I sign off with in
the hope that the spreading of word, will, in time help to reach a wider
audience and make the whole journey even more worthwhile.
6 June
2019
Format:
Paperback Verified Purchase
Bob's
book is a fascinating journey through the ups and downs of many years in
broadcasting. Beautifully written with humour and jeopardy at every turn. If
you want a flavour of life behind the camera on many ambitious well-known TV
series, then this book provides a real insight. The only downside is yet again
I feel I was obviously born too late to enjoy the 'glory years' of working at a
time when there were so many exciting companies around.
14 June
2019
Format:
Paperback Verified Purchase
An
entertaining and well written account of a talented life in broadcasting. A
very enjoyable book.
27
February 2019
Format:
Paperback
This was
a very easy read. Bob Harvey’s trip through the history of his career in film,
video and TV production is a very engaging insight for anyone wanting a glimpse
behind the scenes as an industry (and the author’s career) evolved over three
decades. It helps to know a little of the jargon that he uses freely - as he
does the names of companies, locations and fellow professionals – along with
many of the celebrities with whom he has worked. Great fun – top marks.
Hello Ahmed. Any possibility of a translation?
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