The hero maker : a biography of Paul Brickhill / Stephen Dando-Collins.
Publication details: North Sydney, NSW : Vintage Books, 2016.Description: xi, 402 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : black and white illustrations, black and white portraits ; 24 cmISBN:- 9780857988126 :
- Hero maker : a biography of Paul Brickhill : the Australian behind the legendary stories The Dam Busters, The Great Escape and Reach for the Sky
- 940.544944092 23
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item reserves | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Melbourne Athenaeum Library | Biography | 940.544 DAN | Available | 065203 |
"The Australian behind the legendary stories The Dam Busters, The Great Escape and Reach For The Sky" -- Front cover.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 392-396) and index.
It was 1956 and the writer from Sydney's lower North Shore had every reason to feel blessed. Former journalist Paul Brickhill was the highest-earning author in the UK and two of his bestselling books - The Dam Busters and Reach for the Sky - had recently been made into blockbuster films. Another of his books - inspired by his experiences as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 3 in Germany during the Second World War - was attracting Hollywood interest. That book was The Great Escape. Yet, life for the enigmatic Brickhill was never simple. He was beset with mental-health issues and his marriage to model Margot Slater was tempestuous. He struggled with alcohol and writer's block too, as his success - and all accompanied it - threatened to overwhelm him. In the Hero Maker, award-winning author and biographer Stephen Dando-Collins exposes the contradictions of one of Australia's most successful, but troubled, writers. Brickhill's extraordinary story - from the youth with a debilitating stutter, to Sydney Sun journalist, to Spitfire pilot and POW, to feted author - explodes vividly to life on the centenary of his birth.
