Mike Rossiter

I was born in London in 1948, and have stayed here on and off. I had an occasionaly rough childhood, and did not enjoy school, until I studied English literature, and joined the dramatic society. I later studied Law and enjoyed that also, but could never see myself in the profession. For several years I went frequently to Italy, and once considered working permanently on a fishing boat based in a southern Italian town. I remember one day hauling up in the trawl, amongst the writhing fish, an almost intact Roman amphora, still containing the ancient pitch that had been used to seal it. I felt enormously privileged. I started working in television however, making documentaries, and on my first location, Beirut during the civil war, I found myself avoiding sniper fire and artillery bombardments. I would have given the earth at times to be back on a fishing boat! Since then I've met Russian Generals and atom scientists, Government ministers, mercenary's, gun runners, spies, Nobel prize winners and olympic athletes. I can honestly say that the ordinary people I talk to for my books are as fascinating and entertaining as any of the people I met working as a documentary producer. Perhaps it started when I made a documentary about recovering a crashed B29 in Greenland some years ago, "B29 Frozen In Time". The stories of the crew and others in the Squadron were as remarkable as our present day efforts to get the plane flying again. My first book "Ark Royal", was a spin off from my efforts to find and film the wreck of the carrier in the Mediterranean. The recollections of the pilots and crew who served on her were gripping, and so I kept writing, telling stories of ordinary people who took part in and helped shape earth shattering events, and who otherwise might be ignored by history.