Nigel Cawthorne is a prolific writer. Four of his publishers tell him that he is the most published living author in the UK. This is difficult to verify as he works under many different names and assumes other writers do too.
He was born in Wolverhampton and was brought up in what was then rural Surrey, now commuter belt. His first job was milking cows.
The Joys of Journalism
He went to London to study physics at University College London. To support himself, he became a printer’s message. At IPC Business Press, he spotted a wanted ad on the notice board for a features writer on Nuclear Engineering International. He applied immediately. Instead he was offered job on a weekly tabloid for the white goods trade called the Electrical and Electronic Trader.
He fled to the US after having an affair with a gangster’s wife. As an illegal immigrant he wrote for pornographic magazines in New York. Then a new newspaper called The New York Trib started. He began writing for it. When it failed, he was employed by the Financial Times, then went freelance.
Troublesome Books
After a trip to Hanoi, he wrote The Bamboo Cage, showing that US servicemen were held prisoner in southeast Asia after the Vietnam war. Although the book was not published in the US, he was called to testify to the US Senate. He followed up with The Iron Cage, showing 31,000 British prisoners of war disappeared into the Soviet gulags in 1945. Questions were asked in both Houses of Parliament.
Full-time Author
Deciding to write books full time, he started with Takin’ Back My Name – The Confessions of Ike Turner and went on to write the twelve-volume Sex Lives… series, beginning with Sex Lives of the Popes, which was a bestseller in Brazil. Other titles included Sex Lives of the US Presidents which led to an appearance on The Joan Rivers Show.
More Media
Serious books followed, garnering large advances and great reviews. Most recently, he wrote Prince Andrew, Epstein and the Palace which got him in the press and on TV worldwide.
He has now published 226 books as Nigel Cawthorne, Al Cimino, Alexander Macdonald, Gordon Bowers, Opel Streisand, Karl Streisand, Owen Wilson and Sam Kimberley.