 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Back to Charles North |
|||||||||
|
Back to Charles Niven McIntyre North |
|||||||||
|
Back Great Grand Father Edwin Niven North |
|||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Following the separation of his parents he lived with his Mother and Sister in Oare House with Molly and Nigel Worthington (sort of adopted aunt and uncle, great characters) in the Lorna Doone Valley a most lovely place that must have kicked off his love of Somerset and then Devon. He attended Ravenswood Preparatory School where he seemed happy. When his mother remarried Eric Reynolds, he lived on a Dartmoor Farm, near Chagford. Much of his holidays were spent on horseback in a dripping wet riding coat! At he age of 13 he had a year at Kings College Taunton, but asked to be taken away, as he was uncomfortable with the other boys having wealthy parents. His life up to this point had been simple with the emphasis on a healthy outdoor life with many luxuries. Certainly his mother and step father were not very well off During this period he did not see his father, Jeremy who was living in America and not much help arrived from that quarter either. He joined his sister at QES Comprehensive in Crediton where he developed a love of writing and drama. Indeed by 1976, he knew he wanted to write and did any job that allowed him to do so. Groom, Waiter, Messenger, Vehicle repairs, Building Sites but he fitted in travel to France, Italy, Switzerland and South America too. In 1979 he went to Middlesex Polytechnic (Humanities) achieving a degree in English Drama, Art History and Philosophy. He lived variously in Tottenham, in a converted British Rail truck and in Muswell Hill. |
|
|
|
|
|
There followed another period of working at all sorts of jobs in order to keep writing, including: painting and decorating, film runner and fight sequences for pop videos. He lived in Hackney, Brixton, Clapham. In 1986 to 1987 he was a student again, gaining a PQE in film from arguably the best film school in the Uk at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. He found himself writing scripts for the other students and made many contacts in the film world which were to stand him in good stead later. |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He wrote proposals and scripts for corporate proposals, for Arena and Equinox documentaries, developing drama series for Channel Four, the BBC and ITV. This was a prolific time for writing novels too: three books. The changes in his life continued. Living in Kentish Town and then Muswell Hill he married his childhood sweetheart Abigail, who romantically was born on the same day of the same year. Three children followed: Esme, Diggory and Louie. |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
Between 1995 and 1997 he was writing freelance living in both Muswell Hill and a country home on Dartmoor next to his sister, where he wrote “The lie of the Land” which used her hill side farm as background. In 1997 he became a director of the literary agent AP Watt, running the film department but in 2000 moved to Dartmoor . Between then and 2007 he wrote three more books, as well as ghost writing two others and several film projects. He commuted to London once a week, as a part time director of literary agent Conville and Walsh |
|||||||||||||
|
Above: Sam with Esme in 1993 |
|||||||||||||
|
In 2007 he was appointed lecturer in creative writing at the University of Exeter and in 2008 is really enjoying the post. He is currently writing an untitled book and a pantomime. His father comments: “Sam is a strong family man and it is a delight to stay at their house and feel the bond with Abigail the Children and his mother Annabelle who lives close by. He has good ties to with his sister, nephew and niece who live 30 minutes across the moors. The house is usually full of friends. |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
Sam North and his books go: www.samnorth.co.uk |
|
|
|
Notes written November 2008 by his father Jeremy Iles-North |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||