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Meet Ian R. Thorpe
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"In 1997 Ian R. Thorpe (the R is to let you know he's the non swimming Ian Thorpe) was at the top of his profession and having just completed a major project based in Stockholm, Sweden when a massive brain haemorrhage turned his life upside down. Despite several weeks in acute care and a very gloomy medical prognosis he decided not to allow himself to be written off although nobody was prepared to rate very highly his chances of getting out of hospital let alone walking again or making a new career for himself. The author's oldest ambition was to be a novelsist. "I was a classic intelligent under-achiever at school" he says, "early on things came easily to me and I quickly lost interest. OK, they were going to tell me how to calculate the square root of pi. So what? Why did I need to know that. My final examination results were an embarassment to parents and teachers. And when I told the careers advisor I intended to be a writer it went down like the proverbial lead zeppelin. But I had won a story competition in the Shrewsbury Chronicle when I was ten and from that moment was seduced by the allure of wealth and fame."
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| "Life sometimes takes us in unexpected directions and despite some early successes in writing that led to many stories and articles appearing in newspapers and magazines and some of my work featuring in BBC programs I always needed a day job to provide the basic necessities of life - drink and entertainment. My early career was chequered, I had various office andf factory jobs, worked as a salesman, did some construction site labouring and spent time travelling in Europe and the U.S. At the age of 22 I became an itenerant trader working in street markets around the North of England with occasional forays into Wales and Scotland. It was a great way to live but when I married Teri and the first child came along a sense of responsibility was required" |
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"One of my early jobs had involved using a Powers Samas tabulator, a sort of H.R. Geiger nightmare data processing machine. It was the size of a small house and had the intelligence of an earthworm. But that experience and above average IQ was enough to get me transferred from the factory floor to the computer department. Even as my career started to take off I still was determined to be a writer but when I had the chance to go freelance as a telecommunications analyst and earn serious money family considerations forced my hand. Once I progressed from freelance analyst to consultant writing my novel seemed a distant dream. I enjoyed what I was doing and the rewards were fine, but it never truly fulfilled me. Even my occasional wild adventures as a radio presenter, discotheque promoter and rock band manager, though they were fun, never gave the same satisfaction as writing.
Over the fifteen years I worked freelance the world of business changed and the level of pressure constantly mounted. So one morning I awoke ~ three days after going to sleep as it happened ~ and realised my life was changed. I could give in, wear the stereotype of a stroke victim and fade away or I could take control of my life. And then came the realisation that there was no longer anything stopping me from being a writer." |
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Although Ian has largely recovered from the stroke there is some paralysis that causes him to be stiff and clumsy in movement and he will never be fit enough to work again. The brain damage will never go away but his brain has been retrained to work aound it. He is now engaged in a number of writing projects and plans further adventures in the realms of video and audio.
Ian lives with his wife Teri in Lancashire, England. They have two children, both now grown up. Son David is a musician and acted as musical director for the TWO FACED POET project. Artist daughter Gabrielle provided painting for some images used.Why not go online and visit Ian's homepage: http://www.authorsden.com/ianthorpe |
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Pictures. Top left : Ian in November 2002
Right, from top.
Portrait of the author as a young man
Eyesore - a spectacles fancy dress competition
Do you feel lucky punk? About 1995
Surf City - the local pub used to hold a beach party on December 26th.
Row Row Row the boat - 1989 (not bad for a man past 40)
Ready for a party, as Freddie Mercury
Lost in showbiz - in my performing days
Bottom Row, stills from videos.
Left: Talking to a rubber frog
Right: Top, During his "facelift" in Perfect
Below, With friend in Vampire |
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