Noel Bailey

By his own admission, the British-born author remains an un-fulfilled Jack of all Trades. A product of the post-war baby-boom, he grew up in Welling, Kent, enjoying what he describes as “an idyllic childhood and then some.” College life came to an abrupt end upon the early death of his father Colin and with his mother Joyce suffering ill-health, the British climate was assessed by doctors to be anything but practical. An intended re-location to Vancouver, Canada was averted by cosmic intervention and as Noel himself recalls “We ended up in Australia……by accident.” An ‘accidental’ stay that was to last forty-three years, two wives and five children. His bizarre resume reads thus: London store salesman, freight clerk, truck driver, taxi-driver, accountant, teacher, journalist, film critic, volunteer firefighter, actor, credit analyst for Dun and Bradstreet, real estate salesman, Licenced Private Eye, CD-Rom producer, author and marketing consultant. In 2005, he published an autobiography entitled “Cool Among the Flames.” His eldest daughter on reading it commented: “That couldn’t have happened!” In 2006, he married Katie, a Californian girl and moved to the United States – re-establishing domestic life on a third continent. Following years in small-town Nebraska, they moved to Longmont in Colorado late 2011. They have two young children – Michael, thirteen, Emmalyn, eleven.