Quite a story behind the J.R. Hartley books. A writer named Michael Russell (not known to me) got a flyfishing author, Peter Lapsley (who was known to me, I met him a couple of times, a real James Bondean behind-the-scenes British ex-military man – his remarkable, flinty eyes, back in the 1970s-‘early 80swhen I met him had almost certainly seen things nobody would care to see, I reckoned), to help him produce a real paper version of a then non-existent JRH book that featured in a much-loved British TV Yellow Pages ad, and the two of them produced not only a surprisingly very readable, well-written book but also a screaming best-seller. Two more JR titles followed, which also sold well to a largely non-fishing public.
Stranger than fiction and somehow very apt for these fake-real real -fake times.
Lovely to see those again.
Quite a story behind the J.R. Hartley books. A writer named Michael Russell (not known to me) got a flyfishing author, Peter Lapsley (who was known to me, I met him a couple of times, a real James Bondean behind-the-scenes British ex-military man – his remarkable, flinty eyes, back in the 1970s-‘early 80swhen I met him had almost certainly seen things nobody would care to see, I reckoned), to help him produce a real paper version of a then non-existent JRH book that featured in a much-loved British TV Yellow Pages ad, and the two of them produced not only a surprisingly very readable, well-written book but also a screaming best-seller. Two more JR titles followed, which also sold well to a largely non-fishing public.
Stranger than fiction and somehow very apt for these fake-real real -fake times.