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by Wilbur Smith
Showing posts with label Wilbur Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilbur Smith. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Bestselling author Wilbur Smith dies aged 88
| Wilbur Smith |
Bestselling author Wilbur Smith dies aged 88
The Zambian-born writer published 49 books and sold more than 140 million copies worldwide
Sun 14 Nov 2021 03.29 GMT
Author Wilbur Smith died at his home in South Africa on Saturday after a decades-long career in writing, his office said. He was 88.
With 49 titles under his belt, Smith became a household name, with his swashbuckling adventure stories taking readers from tropical islands to the jungles of Africa and even Ancient Egypt and World War II.
This much I know / Wilbur Smith / ‘Poor Cecil the lion was going downhill fast – that dentist probably did his pride a favour’
| Wilbur Smith |
This much I knowInterview
Wilbur Smith: ‘Poor Cecil the lion was going downhill fast – that dentist probably did his pride a favour’
The novelist, 82, on coming up against death, being in awe of girls, and getting rid of his bad guys
Tim Adams
Saturday 3 October 2015
I wait for stories to come. It’s like hunting at a waterhole. You sit there and wait and wait for the game to appear.
I have homes in different places: London, Cape Town. I follow the sun. I am a bird of passage.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
Wilbur Smith / I lost my heart in... The Seychelles
| Wilbur Smith |
I lost my heart in... The SeychellesAuthor Wilbur Smith
Sat 15 Mar 2003 19.50 GMT
Why? It is so utterly beautiful. It's four degrees south of the Equator, so the water is always warm. The water also moderates the heat generally - so you don't get the terrible temperatures and humidity that you find on mainland Africa.
The best thing: I've got a home there - well, it's half an island! I have about 55 acres, with 2km of beaches with coconut palms, jetties and boats. I love the coral, the diving, the swimming, the snorkelling, and the fishing.
My ideal day: It would involve swimming, fishing and lots of 'loafing'. I'd get up, fall in the sea and frolic around in the water for about an hour, then head back to the house for breakfast and a read. I'd go for a long walk along the beaches before taking a siesta. Then I'd have sundowners on the veranda, listening to music.
My advice: If you go the Seychelles, don't stay only on one island. Go off and see the rest of them - each has its own unique character.
Getting there: Cheapflights (cheapflights.com) has flights between Gatwick and the Seychelles from £504 return.
Where was your best holiday? A hunting safari in central Africa. I enjoy shooting buffalo. They are big and they are ugly - and you know they would like to hunt you just as eagerly as you hunt them.
What is the best hotel you have ever stayed in? The Oriental, Bangkok, where they have the Wilbur Smith Suite on the 23rd floor. The concierge always greets me by saying, 'Welcome home, Mr Smith.'
Where do you want to go next? Tajikistan in central Asia, where my wife's family live. Or the Australian Outback.
What do you never travel without? My specs, my passport and a good book to read.
FICCIONES
DRAGON
DE OTROS MUNDOS
RIMBAUD
PESSOA
Monday, March 10, 2003
This much I know / Wilbur Smith
| Wilbur Smith |
Interview / Life and style
This much I know
Hilly Janes
Wilbur Smith, novelist, 70, London
Wilbur Smith
Sunday 9 March 2003
W
hen I was 13, my father presented me with my first rifle. It was a reward for defending our ranch in northern Rhodesia while my parents went on holiday. I was left in charge and one day lions got in and killed some of our cattle. I took my father's rifle, got on my pony and found the cattle dead in a field. I heard a growl and suddenly, looking over the top of a dead ox, were these big golden eyes. The lioness charged straight at me and I shot her. She fell at my feet. The other lioness was right by and I shot her, too.
Even after writing 29 novels, I hate the loneliness, the doubt. Usually halfway through a book I have a serious depression, so I go on safari on my ranch in South Africa, or fishing off my island in the Seychelles. When I come back and re-read it, I think: 'What was all that about, Smith? It's fine, just get on with it.'
The most effective way to kill any animal is for it to die before it even knows you are there.
At boarding school I would cry myself to sleep at night - but into the pillow, because if you were caught blubbing you were an outcast. It taught me stoicism and to endure.
I've eaten lion, leopard, crocodile, python. I don't recommend lion. It tastes exactly like when a tomcat comes into your house and sprays. Snake and crocodile are great - a cross between lobster and chicken.
In 1982, I decided on a whim to buy a great deal of en primeur claret. It turned out to be one of the best years of the century. But I realised every time I opened a bottle it was worth more than £500. I can buy a very good bottle of South African wine here in Knightsbridge for £8, so I sold the lot.
As a young man I was arrogant and I thought women were attracted by what I wanted - beautiful bodies. Then I realised that a lot of happily married girls are with ugly guys, but they are gentle, thoughtful people.
Elephant pee tastes foul. I've drunk it by mistake, walking for three days after an elephant. You find a waterhole, but the elephant's got there before you and peed in it. Boy, can you taste it.
I used to gamble at university, but my best friend's father, a highly respected headmaster, told me that gambling is no fun unless you play it for stakes you can't afford. I thought about that and gave it up.
The secret of a good sex scene is to write it at full throttle, then think about it.
I don't know how many lions and leopards I've shot. I've shot two elephants, which was enough - never again. It's a melancholy and moving thing to hunt an elephant. It's like shooting an old man.
Men make good buddies, but women are better long-term companions. They are a good investment.
I've been really terrified many times. When I was a boy I used to steal birds' eggs. Once there was a mamba in the nest - the most venomous of all snakes. We children were forced to wear a pith helmet and as the mamba struck I ducked instinctively. I hit the ground running, and when I stopped and looked at the hat, it had a patch of venom on it the size of both hands.
I am not a good father. I have not put in the time. But I've done what I thought was right at the time.
The one thing that still shocks me is man's inhumanity to man. When I was doing National Service in Rhodesia I saw little girls who had been held up by the legs and sliced down the middle. We had to fish them out of the pit lavatory. My mother asks me why I have to go into so many gory details in my books, but witnessing such brutality affects my characters, just as it has affected me.
The colonial society which I grew up in was unjust by 21st-century standards, but it was not brutal as Zimbabwe is today. People like Mugabe have the instinct of the fox. They are very hard to get rid of.
Danielle and I were very happily married for 40 years, but she developed a brain tumour. They cut away half her brain so she wasn't the same person. I lived more or less as a bachelor for six years. That's why I married again a few months after she died. I need a woman. I don't usually hit on strangers, but when I met a young, bright, fun-loving girl in WHSmith, a light flashed on in my mind and I thought - let's do it.
My new wife is 32 and I'm 70. She's rejuvenated me totally. It's so exciting to see life through the eyes of a modern girl. She's changed the way I dress. My mother and sister are delighted with her. They say I seem 20 years younger, and my mates ask: 'How did you get so lucky?'
They say if you drink Zambezi water with your mother's milk, you are always a slave of Africa, and I am.
FICCIONES
DRAGON
DE OTROS MUNDOS
RIMBAUD
PESSOA
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