Harry Blake was born in Belfast. His mother Mary, is English and his father Jimmy Blake was Irish, a member of the Freedom Fighters and murdered by Magnus Brannagan of the IRA on the day Harry was born. Raised by his aunt Briony, a nun, in a convent close to Carpienne, Marseillles, his life was influenced by two men as he grew. Zarak, a Maltese man who worked at the convent, and Marcell Goutier, a brothel keeper from the Algerian Quarter of the city, and weekends were spent aboard Marcels boat, Expatriat on which the young Harry acquired his love of the sea.
Having grown into a tall, sturdy and strong young man, Harry's dream had always been to join the SAS but because of his love of boats and engines, he choses the Marine Commandoes instead, in which he rises to the rank of Captain. While becoming adept in unarmed combat and an expert sniper, he excells in exlosives and demolition work, his physique improves also with military discipline and he grows to 6'3" and 200lb. He has blue eyes and fair hair cropped short and is constantly chased by beautiful women. His life begins to change almost from the day his mother remarries and Andrew Bellamy, a high ranking SAS officer, becomes his step father. At the time he applies for a job overseas with the Foreign Office, his application is netted by MI6 and he finds himself head-hunted by the Diplomatic Service for British Intelligence.
On his official demob, Marcel gives Harry his boat and the young man choses to live aboard, making it his home, becoming a recognisable and popular figure on the Marseilles waterfront, dressed in a straw coloured suit over a bare chest, with sleeves rolled up and white shoes with no socks, speaking fluent French and Arabic as well as English he is becoming a hot potatoe for the watching eyes of MI6 and at the time of upset in his family, when efforts to catch Jimmy Blake's killer nears its end on Malta, he is pressured by MI6 to join them but Harry choses to follow the lucrative work he had found in the Middle East and goes to the island of Masirah to earn his fortune.
Shortly after his mother and father are killed in a car crash leaving him very wealthy, Harry finds himself involved in an incredible situation, when he is framed by MI6 and sent to jail, charged with spying while on the island. Inside, he meets the Kurd, Tarik Aziz and Bob Pilbeam a cockney safe cracker both of whom play a huge part in his future, After only 6 months in Parkhurst jail, MI6 admit the their treachery to catch Harry and ask him to go 'undercover' in a gang suspected of planning a heist on Ramat Gan, the diamond centre in Tel Aviv and it is here that he meets Sir Phillip Ransom, a young MI6 agent of the same age and physique as himself, who becomes a life-long friend.
The use of Harry's boat with the Diplomatic Service as a Hospitality Boat, it changes his life completely and when recruiting his crew, he meets friends Bronco Stevens, an American pilot and falls in love with a beautiful young Iasraeli woman called Ruth Sapperstein. During a fight with Iraqui terrorists, Harry is almost killed and suffers very bad facial injuries which mark his appearance with noticable scars aross forehead and right cheek, which do nothing to dimninish his rugged good looks but rather make his personallity even more appealing to the people he meets.
After a dangerous mission in Israel during whch his boat is severly damaged, everyone is surprised when Tarik Aziz becomes the new President of Kurdistan and because of the assitance given by Harry on their behalf, Tarik presents Harry Blake with a brand new boat Expatriat 11 which will be his base for future excapades.
While their relationship strengthens, and he recovers from injuries, Harry and Ruth, spend many hours discussing ways to help Third World countries and Harry developes a plan that could revolutionise Charity Air deliveries. They also become involved in religious discussions and hours of research is done on Christianity and Judaism leading to heated discussions about holy relics such as the Arc of the Covenant, completely unaware that it is this fabulous treasure that will stamp an indelible mark on them and millions of others during the Eve of Millennium.
my 'EXPATRIAT'
My boat on Lake Garda
Monday, 8 February 2010
THE 'EXPATRIAT' LEGACY
Though the 'Expatriat' in my story, is a boat, I am by nature and through lifes fortunes, an 'Expatriate' myself. Because of my chosen path in life, I became one of those intrepid individuals who prefer to work in another country perhaps for a better life in many respects but certainly for a tax-free income. The wealth I amassed during my expatriate days enabled me to own the most beautiful boat you could ever imagine and I have her now, on Lake Garda, my spiritual home.
After a lifetime as a mariner, I worked for the British Foreign Office and was based on an island in the Arabian sea called Masirah and it was while on this desolate outpost that I realised how easy it would be for anyone to gain access to top secret information and even pass it on to a potential enemy. This is part of The 'Expatriat' Legacy - foreign workers finding themselves on many occasions privvy to information and material otherwise deemed secret but because they are 'friendly workers', very few restrictions are put on them. In my case, though the island was the officil British Eastern Relay Station, from which the World Service radio programs were transmitted, Masirah was also a military base, for SOAF the Sultan of Oman's Air Force and, before I left the island, the Americans began buidling their forces there also. When one considers that it was during a time leading up to the Iraq war, the entire island was becoming a hot potato, a highly secret place. Each weekend, on walks around the airfield and from nearby hills, I saw with my own eyes, new structures being built which I learnt later, were nuclear arsenals holding Cruise missiles, nuclear bombs and rockets. I saw nuclear bunkers being constructed and special hangars for the latest jet fighters. The runway size was increased to take the most powerful aircraft and even the giant Galaxy could land and bring in troops and equipment. It was all so clear to see and easy to pinpoint on any simple map of the place. During my stay there, the island of Masirah had become a threat, no doubt about it.
A short time later, while sipping beer aboard my beautiful 'Expatriat' on Lake Garda, I contemplated this expatriate phenomenon, and considered the incredible free access these people have to delicate situations as well as their natural ability to live among people of other cultures like Moslems for instance. How valuable it would be, I thought, for British Intelligence (M16) to recruit agents from these highly knowledgable foreign workers, for the purpose of providing valuable information that could be interpetted for use in revealing terrorist activities.
So I taught myself to write, and created a character who bore great resemblance to myself and many other expatriates, his name is Harry Blake. He was also based on the island of Masirah and it is from there that The 'Expatriat' Legacy begins. By shear coincidence, Harry is an Englishman, he has a boat also called Expatriat
and when he is recruited by MI6, he begins to build up his team, with his American buddy, Bronco, Sir Phillip Ransom and Cockney locksmith Bob Pilbeam.
I found it incredibly easy to create stories about terrorism especially in Middle Eastern countries and realise that The 'Expatriat' Legacy could even fall into the same genre as the James Bond stories. I was becoming another Ian Fleming and Ernest Hemingway thrown into one, though with only a trace of their talent I suspect.
I am writing this blog hoping to bring together other expatriates who have seen themselves grow into this legacy perhaps, a person who is able to live among other cultures and a person who sees exactly what is going on without restriction. Ask yourselves, if you were that type of person, would you have information which could be sold to a potential enemy? If the answer is yes, then I suspect you have become part of this incredible legacy too. How many of you working in a moslem country on 9/11 can honestly say that they did not feel a trace of hatred, despite their closeness. like being caught in Berlin on Sept 15th 1939! Think about it. If you have experiences of your own which you could share here, perhaps we could collude and create of story together.
As I write, there are three books out in The 'Expatriat' Legacy series which I hope you will all read at some stage. The first story is called Conspiracy of Eagles, which tells about how Harry Blake found himself as an expat hunting terrorists. Anybody interested in the IRA, the Island of Malta and counterfeit money, look no further. The second story is Jericho Light which sees Harry and his team chasing a hoard of diamonds previously stolen by Saddam Hussein and fighting off a chemical attack on Tel Aviv. This is a top read believe me. My third story can only be described as an incredible blockbuster. Rabinski's Tear will grip anyone who buys the book, If you like Dan Brown or enjoyed his Da Vinci Code you'll love this and it will certainly blow you away when you read about the sensational new twist to the Resurrection.
Take time out to read the blogs for each book and purchase from here in complete safety. Please send me your feedback so I can create even better stories about your friendly expatriate Harry Blake. Thank you.
After a lifetime as a mariner, I worked for the British Foreign Office and was based on an island in the Arabian sea called Masirah and it was while on this desolate outpost that I realised how easy it would be for anyone to gain access to top secret information and even pass it on to a potential enemy. This is part of The 'Expatriat' Legacy - foreign workers finding themselves on many occasions privvy to information and material otherwise deemed secret but because they are 'friendly workers', very few restrictions are put on them. In my case, though the island was the officil British Eastern Relay Station, from which the World Service radio programs were transmitted, Masirah was also a military base, for SOAF the Sultan of Oman's Air Force and, before I left the island, the Americans began buidling their forces there also. When one considers that it was during a time leading up to the Iraq war, the entire island was becoming a hot potato, a highly secret place. Each weekend, on walks around the airfield and from nearby hills, I saw with my own eyes, new structures being built which I learnt later, were nuclear arsenals holding Cruise missiles, nuclear bombs and rockets. I saw nuclear bunkers being constructed and special hangars for the latest jet fighters. The runway size was increased to take the most powerful aircraft and even the giant Galaxy could land and bring in troops and equipment. It was all so clear to see and easy to pinpoint on any simple map of the place. During my stay there, the island of Masirah had become a threat, no doubt about it.
A short time later, while sipping beer aboard my beautiful 'Expatriat' on Lake Garda, I contemplated this expatriate phenomenon, and considered the incredible free access these people have to delicate situations as well as their natural ability to live among people of other cultures like Moslems for instance. How valuable it would be, I thought, for British Intelligence (M16) to recruit agents from these highly knowledgable foreign workers, for the purpose of providing valuable information that could be interpetted for use in revealing terrorist activities.
So I taught myself to write, and created a character who bore great resemblance to myself and many other expatriates, his name is Harry Blake. He was also based on the island of Masirah and it is from there that The 'Expatriat' Legacy begins. By shear coincidence, Harry is an Englishman, he has a boat also called Expatriat
and when he is recruited by MI6, he begins to build up his team, with his American buddy, Bronco, Sir Phillip Ransom and Cockney locksmith Bob Pilbeam.
I found it incredibly easy to create stories about terrorism especially in Middle Eastern countries and realise that The 'Expatriat' Legacy could even fall into the same genre as the James Bond stories. I was becoming another Ian Fleming and Ernest Hemingway thrown into one, though with only a trace of their talent I suspect.
I am writing this blog hoping to bring together other expatriates who have seen themselves grow into this legacy perhaps, a person who is able to live among other cultures and a person who sees exactly what is going on without restriction. Ask yourselves, if you were that type of person, would you have information which could be sold to a potential enemy? If the answer is yes, then I suspect you have become part of this incredible legacy too. How many of you working in a moslem country on 9/11 can honestly say that they did not feel a trace of hatred, despite their closeness. like being caught in Berlin on Sept 15th 1939! Think about it. If you have experiences of your own which you could share here, perhaps we could collude and create of story together.
As I write, there are three books out in The 'Expatriat' Legacy series which I hope you will all read at some stage. The first story is called Conspiracy of Eagles, which tells about how Harry Blake found himself as an expat hunting terrorists. Anybody interested in the IRA, the Island of Malta and counterfeit money, look no further. The second story is Jericho Light which sees Harry and his team chasing a hoard of diamonds previously stolen by Saddam Hussein and fighting off a chemical attack on Tel Aviv. This is a top read believe me. My third story can only be described as an incredible blockbuster. Rabinski's Tear will grip anyone who buys the book, If you like Dan Brown or enjoyed his Da Vinci Code you'll love this and it will certainly blow you away when you read about the sensational new twist to the Resurrection.
Take time out to read the blogs for each book and purchase from here in complete safety. Please send me your feedback so I can create even better stories about your friendly expatriate Harry Blake. Thank you.
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