I must be one of the few people in the world who changed the country he lived in due to ideology. I was born and educated in the UK and in 1968 at the age of 22 I moved to Israel. I did so because I believed in the importance of the new Jewish state, then only twenty years old. After spending nearly twelve years living in the Negev desert, I live in Jerusalem today.
David Lawrence-Young
I have spent most of my life as a high school and university teacher and lecturer. This may account for a pedagogic flavor with some of my writing. Despite suffering from the world's most boring history in grammar school, I love writing about and researching English and military history and also Shakespeare.
Even though I retired three years ago, I still love teaching. Today I teach "children at risk" in a volunteer programme and give lectures to adult education groups on history, English and Shakespeare.
My family and students know that I am a Shakespeare freak. I have written three novels about him and one on Christopher Marlowe. I ran a Shakespeare Club for six years and I also write a regular blog which covers many different aspects of Shakespeare's works and life: s hakespearesbestfriend.blogspot.co.il
I have itchy feet and love travelling, especially when it is concerned with my writing. This explains why I went to Sarajevo in 2014 for my novel Two Bullets in Sarajevo as well as visiting Agincourt (Arrows Over Agincourt) as well as many other battlefields and historical sites.
Sarajevo was one of the three places in the world I had to visit. The other two were Alice Springs in Central Australia and Runnymede Meadow where King John sealed the Magna Carta. I went to both a few years ago, Runnymede figuring in my novel, King John-Twice Times Loser.
I am an impulsive rather than a disciplined writer. When an idea comes into my head, I spend all day writing and finish the first version as quickly as possible. It took me less than six weeks to write the first drafts of Arrows Over Agincourt, Bloody Execution and Who Really Wrote Shakespeare?
After writing and researching, I love photography. I work hard to take good photos when I am travelling or in the Jerusalem Zoo especially getting close-up shots of the animals with my very good zoom lens.
Even though I love classical music and "country," I am a very mediocre musician. My clarinet has had to play second fiddle (sorry!) to my writing. I also enjoy tinkering with machines and cars. I started learning how to do this when I had an old BSA motor-bike when I was a student in Sunderland.
When I return to England for visits, I love listening to the different accents: Cockney Geordie, Scottish etc. In Israel I also enjoy listening to the many different Australian, American, and South African accents.
