WHY BARCELONA? ALL DOWN TO FOOTBALL AND ASTON VILLA

When I sat down to write The Hit-and-Run Man I needed a foreign city for seduction and a reckless night of passion. Some of the preparatory action would take place during the flight, but I didn’t want that to be over-long from London, so I had to look to Europe. For detail I could always have gone to the library for a tour guide, but I wanted somewhere I had visited, so had a feel for. Unfortunately, at that time, my foreign travel experience was very limited, being down mainly to football (soccer to my U.S. friends) and the club I have supported since childhood, Aston Villa.

   Winning the pre-Premiership First Division in season 1980-81, saw Villa the following season in the European Cup, where, against all predictions outside of Birmingham (and some from certain areas inside too!), Villa battled to a Final against Bayern Munich. As a long-standing season ticket holder and home and away supporter, getting a ticket was no problem, but the club insisted, with crowd behaviour still blighting the game at that time, that everyone receiving a ticket had to join the Travellers Club.

However, there was no insistence on using the official travel services, so two friends and I made our own way via train and cross-channel hydrofoil. From this wild adventure (not really, I know) and a subsequent related trip, I had my only three options for my story.

   The Final was in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, but we decided to travel the day before, with an overnight stop in Belgium en route. So to my first option, Antwerp.

   The second most populous city in the country, after Brussels, and one of the largest sea ports in Europe, it certainly had something going for it. A splendid 14^th century cathedral overlooked a city with an interesting mix of history and modern-day life. No lack of culture either, as artist Rubens had lived there and was buried there. A centre of the diamond trade, if my main character had been a diamond merchant, it might have stood a chance, but for an advertising executive falling prey to the charms of a beautiful, sexy lady, it didn’t really do it for me.

   So, next day it was on to my second option, Rotterdam. To be fair, I didn’t see that much of Rotterdam, as focus was on the big night. The second largest city in the Netherlands, it boasts one of the largest and busiest sea ports on the world. It sees itself as cultural competition for Amsterdam. If my main character had been a boat or ship spotter (just when does a boat become a ship?), it may have stood a chance, but I couldn’t somehow see it as a backdrop for seduction and a reckless night of passion.

   We did stop overnight in Rotterdam, but started our long, return journey home fairly early the next morning. Interestingly, our railways in the U.K., even more so than now, were compared unfavourably with those in the continent efficiency-wise, but our train back to Ostend ran so late, we missed our hydrofoil connection.  

   So, how did Barcelona get in on the act? It had been a great night in Rotterdam as Aston Villa won the European Cup with a 1-0 victory over Germany’s Bayern Munich, a Peter Withe goal scored agonisingly via the post right in front of where my friends and I were sitting. That win put the club into the following season’s European Super Cup, a one-off tie over two legs against that season’s winners of the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup (I hope non-football people are following this. Do keep up!). Yes, you will have already guessed that was Barcelona.

   Despite its grand title, my friends and I rated that match as little more than a glorified friendly, so made no plans to go to Barcelona, but for me fate took a hand.  

   At that time the company I worked for ran a sales incentive scheme with rewards of expenses paid trips to major sporting events home and abroad. The Union representing administration workers took issue with management over the exclusion of its members, despite their contribution to the success of the company. Whether it was a genuinely-felt gesture or management didn’t think it was an issue worth fighting the Union over, they made a few places available on the next trip, which just happened to be Aston Villa’s Super Cup away leg in Barcelona. A draw was made and my name was one that came out of the hat.

   This was my first time flying, so it is not difficult to imagine my thoughts on a cold January night as an hour before departure time a raging snow blizzard swept across Birmingham airport. However, take off was on time, the pilot informed us it was 15 degrees C in Barcelona, so the snow was soon forgotten.

   For the book it was really a no contest. With its wide avenues, a splendid Gothic Cathedral, a skyline of grandiose buildings overlooked by the fairy-tale spires of the unfinished Sagrada Familia Basilica, plus the sultry summer Mediterranean heat, Barcelona lent itself perfectly to seduction by a beautiful woman.

   The Husa Presidente, where the main character stays, is the hotel I stayed in and the Pable Espanyol de Montjuic – The Spanish Village – scene of the first encounter with the bad guys was on the sight-seeing tour. I have taken some liberties in the book with its immediate environment for dramatic effect, but I’m a long way from being the first author to indulge in that particular ploy. In fact, I was reminded just how good a company I was in on a recent visit to the ruins of the twelfth century Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle, the scene of Sir Walter Scott’s famous jousting tournament in Ivanhoe.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle

It seems the castle could not possibly have hosted such an event as described by Scott at the time the novel is set. That didn’t stop Ashby becoming a major tourist spot in Victorian times. It seems the blurring of fact and fiction is far from a recent phenomenon.

   For the record Aston Villa unluckily lost the first leg in Barcelona 0-1, but won the second leg 3-0, so adding the European Super Cup to its honours list. Champions of England, Champions of Europe, the European Super Cup - I have to wonder when Villa supporters will see such glory days again.       

The Hit-and Run Man is published as an e-book by Amazon for download to a Kindle or other devices using Amazon’s free reading app.   

DID THE HIT-AND-RUN MAN STOP U.K. CINEMA RELEASE OF A JOHNNY DEPP MOVIE?

In the words of a fellow writer, who managed to get a piece or two published, “that is the question.” Not “to be, or not to be,” but did they or didn’t they?

   The Hit-and-Run Man was published originally in 1991. The e-book edition, now available on Amazon Kindle, is a revised version; the running order of a couple of chapters has been changed, which I felt enhanced dramatic effect, plus some characters and incidents have been fleshed out.

   Hollywood movie, Nick of Time, starring Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken and Courtney Chase, came to these shores in 1996. The movie first came to my attention through a brief preview in my local freesheet newspaper. The similarity between the described plot of the movie and the main plotline of The Hit-and-Run Man was staggering. Unfortunately, to go into detail would create spoilers for the book, and I like to think there are one or two things the reader does not see coming.

     So, can a connection between the book and the movie be established? Well, sometime after the book was published a business man friend of my brother, with literary connections both here and the States, took the book to America and made some presentations, though admittedly it was never published there.

   Around the same time I picked up on a U.S. agency, claiming to have Hollywood connections, asking for books to put forward for movie ideas. I made an initial enquiry, resulting in being asked to submit a detailed synopsis. Following this, I received a reply requesting a fee to progress. As it had always been drummed in to me that if agencies ask a fee to represent your work it is probably a scam, I continued no further.

   Possible legal action against a major Hollywood studio was never really a consideration due to the cost, but I thought there might be some publicity to be had, so issued some press releases. This was successful up to a point. It certainly hit the headlines locally, including Birmingham’s two well-circulated daily newspapers, but did not get picked up by the nationals. 

    Strangely, my publisher showed no enthusiasm to get involved, which didn’t help. I was interviewed on a local cable television station, but this was the early days of cable TV and I think this one was watched by one man and his dog – and that was in the evening. I went out live at around 11 o’clock in the morning! Still, I can claim to have been interviewed on television. Not every writer can claim that!

   Then events took an interesting turn. Feeling some responsibility as he had introduced the book stateside, the business man acquaintance asked me to put together a dossier of evidence with a promise he would take it to his lawyers over there. He told me if they thought it was a winnable case, he would tell them to proceed at no cost to me. The dossier I put together was impressive enough for the lawyers to feel I had a good case. Unfortunately, bearing in mind it would mean taking on in court the resources of a major Hollywood studio, the lawyers were unable to give my benefactor a strong enough guarantee of winning for him to justify the expense.

   Really good reviews from film critics who had seen previews meant no distribution problems in this country, yet the studio withdrew Nick of Time from a cinema release in this country, sending it straight to video. I remember Barry Norman on his weekly BBC film programme being at a loss as to why this had happened. Perhaps here I missed a trick. Sending him copies of the press stories might have got a mention for the book on national television. 

 The studio would have been aware of the publicity, as Birmingham’s two daily papers had approached them for comment. Not surprisingly, they had denied all knowledge of the book. In fairness, if the idea had been presented to them, they would not have been aware of any hidden sources.

   So, did The Hit-and-Run Man stop the U.K cinema release of a Johnny Depp movie? Admittedly the evidence is circumstantial, but none the less interesting for that. The truth, of course, will never be known. Nick of Time turns up on television occasionally, so there remains an opportunity to compare. Just remember, the book came first.

The Hit-and Run Man is published world-wide as an e-book by Amazon for download to a Kindle or other devices using Amazon’s free reading app.