Clifford Thurlow (born 1952, in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

) trained as a journalist after failing to get a place at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and wrote his first book at the age of 23. He has been described by Penny Wark of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as "one of the UK's best

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

s." Thurlow worked as the English editor of the

Athens News ''Athens News'' was an English-language newspaper published in Greece. The paper had regular sections covering aspects of Greek news such as politics, social issues, business, arts & entertainment and sports, as well as international news. Featur ...

under Yannis Horn during the last years of the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

(1967–1974); he was 'asked' to leave the country when he reported on the anti-Junta speech given at the University by German author

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

, who was held briefly under house arrest. Rather than returning to the UK, Thurlow moved to India where he studied

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Dharamshala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855. The ...

and worked with the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

as one of a team translating Tibetan sacred texts into English. He traded gemstones in South East Asia and ran a travelling dolphin show in Spain before moving to Hollywood, where he penned

Carol White Carole Joan White (1 April 1943 – 16 September 1991) was an English actress. She achieved a public profile with her performances in the television play ''Cathy Come Home'' (1966) and the films ''Poor Cow'' (1967) and '' I'll Never Forg ...

's autobiography ''Carol Comes Home''. Thurlow is noted for creating memoirs in the style of a novel. Recent books are ''Fatwa: Living With A Death Threat'' (

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...

, 2005), which describes the flight of Jacky Trevane across the desert with two children to escape an abusive husband; ''Today I'm Alice'' (

Sidgwick & Jackson Sidgwick & Jackson is an imprint of book publishing company Pan Macmillan. Formerly it was an independent publisher; as such it was founded in Britain in 1908. Its notable early authors include poet Rupert Brooke and novelist E.M. Forster. In mor ...

, 2009) the story of Multiple Personality Disorder survivor Alice Jamieson, a ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' Top Ten best-seller; and two books set in Iraq with former infantry captain turned mercenary James Ashcroft, ''Escape From Baghdad'' (

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, 2009), the rescue of Ashcroft's former Iraqi interpreter and his family from Shia Death Squads; and ''Making A Killing'' (

, 2006) – on which

Andy Martin Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945), is an American perennial candidate who has never been elected to office, running as both a Democrat and a Republican. He has filed over 250 political lawsuits nationwide. ...

wrote in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'': "Ashcroft must have formed a good working alliance with ghostwriter Clifford Thurlow, because this diary of death and destruction radiates not just personality but that elusive, lyrical honesty the existentialists used to call authenticity." Thurlow's ''Runaway'' (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 2013), Emily Mackenzie's story of life as a child prostitute in London's Soho in the early 1970s, spent five weeks in the ''

'' Top Ten best-seller lists. Published in the wake of the

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...

child abuse scandal, Runaway was seen as having made an important contribution to the debate on the deficiencies of Britain's child care system. In 2011, Thurlow became a director o
www.yellowbay.co.uk
a publishing house dedicated to "edgy, daring and radical new writing". First digital/print-on-demand publications include Kindle best-selling trilogy ''The Killer 1,2 & 3'', by Jack Elgos, Thurlow's novel ''Cocaine Confidence'' and David Pick's Mrs May: A PsychoSexual Odyssey

Books

*2021 - ''Typhoon: The Inside Story of an RAF Fighter Squadron at War'', Wing Commander Mike Sutton leads 1 (Fighter) Squadron on 300 deadly missions against ISIS. *2019 - ''Operation Jihadi Bride'', John Carney's mission to rescue disillusioned jihadi brides from Islamic State. *2018 – ''Gigolo'', true life story of how working-class Ben Foster becomes a gigolo to the super-rich *2013 – ''Making Short Films, The Complete Guide From Script to Screen'', Bloomsbury Academic; 3rd edition *2013 – ''Runaway'', Emily Mackenzie's life as a teenage prostitute *2013 – ''Cool, Sexy & Dead'', anthology of short-stories *2012 – ''Cocaine Confidence'', novel, the Balkan drug wars move to London *2011 – ''The Second Rule'', novel exploring love, loss and early success. *2009 – ''Escape From Baghdad'', James Ashcroft rescues his Iraqi interpreter from death squads in Iraq *2009 – ''Today I'm Alice'', the story of

multiple personality disorder Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The di ...

sufferer Alice Jamieson *2006 – ''Making A Killing'', the story of Captain James Ashcroft *2004 – ''Fatwa: Living With A Death Threat'', the story of Jacky Trevane *2003 – ''The

Story'' *2000 – ''Sex, Surrealism, Dali and Me'', the story of Carlos Lozano's life as an "Ambassador" for the surrealist painter

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

. *1992 – ''Brief Spring: A Journey Through Eastern Europe'', co-written with Iris Gioia *1987 – ''Never Before Noon'', the story of Afdera Fonda *1982 – ''Carol Comes Home'', the story of British actress

External links

www.cliffordthurlow.comwww.making-short-films.comwww.makingakilling.co.ukwww.yellowbay.co.ukClifford Thurlow
ebooks-library.com

References

''The Daily Telegraph'' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3656361/When-theyre-not-trying-to-kill-you-the-people-are-friendly.html Making A Killing http://www.makingakilling.co.uk Literary Agent http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/authors/clifford-thurlow {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurlow, Clifford Living people 1952 births British biographers Ghostwriters