David Diprose

About the Author

Welcome to David Diprose. The surname comes from de Préaux, which can be traced back to the time of William the Conqueror. Very shortly thereafter, family assets were sold off to fund participation in the Crusades that resulted from speeches made by Pope Urban II after 1095. Some time after 1540, the family accepted the beliefs of John Calvin and became Huguenots, a religion at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. There was considerable religious intolerance and persecution of the Huguenots, eased only when Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The situation deteriorated again in 1685 when Louis XIV, the Sun King, revoked that edict with his own Edict of Fontainebleau. The family de Préaux followed many other Huguenots to Kent but were forced to leave almost everything of any value in France.

In England, my ancestors began as agricultural labourers. Since then, although few were long-lived, none died violent deaths. There is no record of any divorce, any illegitimacy or any criminality. Some became skilled workers including glass-cutters and stonemasons. They appear to have done very little in the First World War. My grandfather was a remarkably unsuccessful businessman between the wars and my father, the only son of six children, served in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, mostly in North Africa.

I was born in 1946 and joined the Royal Air Force directly from school. I served as a pilot for twenty-five years, which included two extremely enjoyable tours with the Harrier Force in England and West Germany. I have been married since 1970 and have been blessed with two fine sons and several delightful grandchildren. My sons were the first generation in my family to attend university, although I later obtained a degree from the Open University. I ran my only half-marathon (a rather boring experience) in less than eighty minutes. I enjoyed orienteering at national level for many years and gained my RAF Colours in that sport. After I retired from the military, I spent seven rather disappointing years teaching mathematics. I then dabbled in politics but became utterly disillusioned very quickly. Now, I write to escape from the madness and, it has to be said, the unashamed dishonesty of the modern world.

Anybody with my level of military training must have known that Saddam Hussein could not have had the WMD that Colin Powell described to the UN Security Council in 2003; after the invasion, Powell did actually admit that his information had been ‘wrong’. Not only was it a massive fraud, in which the entire Western media conspired (nobody was allowed to express any doubts) but it was also a complete distraction from the pursuit of Osama bin Laden. Earlier, I lived in what is now Yemen for three years. The religious entrenchment of the people in that part of the world is not dissimilar to what existed in Europe a thousand years ago, when to say that the Earth went round the Sun was a heresy punishable by burning. Trying to impose the current Western culture on such people is a futile exercise. Certainly, it does seem that Western politicians can only replace admittedly harsh regimes with administrations that are unable to control the sectarian violence.

I write in longhand initially and then use Dragon software to turn that into text. I can produce about a thousand words a day but I have learned that trying to set a target is silly. The creative urge cannot be forced beyond its natural limit. My chapters generally vary between four thousand and eight thousand words and I usually need half a dozen chapters before I have a feeling for where the story is going, as I never have more than an outline at the beginning. The beauty of word processing is that it is very easy to make huge changes to the first few chapters after I have chosen the launch pad for the story. There is usually considerable redrafting, particularly after the advice of others has been obtained, and then my agent and I decide if we should go to publishing. I like to publish - it represents completion - and a bequest from a rich uncle will allow me that luxury for a further five novels.