Paul Anthony Harris (22 July 1948 – 24 May 2018) was an author and publisher, based in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. His first work was ''When Pirates Ruled the Waves'', which ran to four editions within a short space of time between 1968 and 1970. This was published by his own company, Impulse Books in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. His second book, ''To be a Pirate King'', extended the story into 1971 and caused a sensation in the Netherlands, where it was published by

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...

. It led directly to him working for the British intelligence service, MI6, and a long time involvement in analysis of Libya and, later, the Lockerbie disaster. Following these, he branched out in the topics covered, including the oil industry, murder, and Scottish Art. As of 2012, he was the author of 42 published books. A third offshore radio book appeared consolidating and updating the previous books, entitled ''Broadcasting from the High Seas''. He was a founder member of the Scottish General Publishers' Association. The first meeting of what was to become what is now

Publishing Scotland Publishing Scotland is a trade association for the publishing industry in Scotland. It was established in 1973 as the Scottish General Publishers Association with the support of the Scottish Arts Council. It was subsequently known as the Scottish ...

, took place in a late afternoon in 1973 in the offices of

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. It began ...

in Jeffrey Street. He had an Honours degree in Politics and International Relations (Aberdeen University 1970). After fifteen years in publishing, he became a publishing consultant. As a result, he found himself trapped in Yugoslavia as war broke out there on 26 June 1991. His Airbus was bombed in the attack on

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

airport and he then stayed on to report from the front line; from children's hospitals; from refugee columns under fire; and, even, from the mortuaries in Christmas week. This also resulted in his book ''Somebody Else's War'', published in 1992. He stayed on and became a journalist, covering eighteen wars between 1991 and 2001. He worked for the London ''Daily Telegraph'' as

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

correspondent 2000–01 and was columnist for the ''Daily Mirror'' there, during which he released 'Fractured Paradise' a photographic analysis of the Sri Lankan conflict found critical of the terrorist group Tamil Tigers. He was expelled as a danger to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

's national security in November 2001, at the behest of the Tamil Tigers. He was an editor on the ''Shanghai Daily'' from January 2002. The publishers Kennedy & Boyd (Glasgow) brought out an updated version of ''When Pirates Ruled the Waves'' in 2007, the fortieth anniversary of the Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act. In 2009, his autobiography ''More Thrills than Skills: adventures in journalism, war and terrorism'' was published by Kennedy & Boyd After settling in Coldingham, Berwickshire, he established a gallery and auction house for Chinese art. He died on 24 May 2018, leaving behind his wife Sulee and daughter Lucy.

References

Sources

Testimonial from the 30th Anniversary of SPA
1948 births 2018 deaths Scottish non-fiction writers {{UK-writer-stub