Brian Lux - author

About me

Sorry folks, I am not a James Bond look-alike, as this photo shows, and although I still have all my own teeth (should think so, being a dentist), my hair line seems to have receded out of sight.

I was born in Derby….a long time ago, and have two sisters. We used to fight like cat and dog, but are good friends now. My father was a tailor and I always had a vivid imagination, writing stories about pirates, Cowboys and Indians, and Spitfire pilots. Of course, I was the hero.

Why did I decide to become a dentist? Looking back, I can say that when I was sixteen, I wanted to be either a fighter pilot or an engine driver. We kids, living in Derby, were steam engine mad, and to travel to London, then be able to shake hands with the engine driver was magic.

After spending two years as a Dental Officer in the RAF, I had my own practice in Cheshire, and was soon writing for many dental journals, It was seeing a weekly column called ‘With Children in Mind,’ in a well known Sunday newspaper that made me wonder if I could write for children. To my delight, five submissions were accepted and published before the column was- sadly- axed. So my love affair with writing continued. I used to make up stories about our house-trained rabbit, ‘Ruby’ for my two children at bedtime, and wondered about a book of her exploits, then ‘Watership Down’ was published, and my idea died.

I have always loved sport, and swam for my school, then became interested in sailing when I had qualified as a dentist, and in later life had the satisfaction of completing the London Marathon. This led me to continue road racing, completing many shorter races and another fifteen marathons, including New York.

Sailing is a great sport, and my son and I built a wooden dinghy, which we sailed on local lakes and on the sea. This opened a new avenue for writing and I have had modest success in a yachting magazine. I graduated to larger yachts, and now have my own which is kept in a Marina in Caernarfon. However, I needed a challenge so joined the Clipper98 Round the World Yacht Race, and sailed two Legs. What a challenge! But the satisfaction when sailing into Plymouth was immense, with family waiting for me.
The picture is at the finish with our Skipper.