Paul Anthony Harris (22 July 1948 – 24 May 2018) was an author and publisher, based in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. His first work was ''When Pirates Ruled the Waves'', which ran to four editions within a short space of time between 1968 and 1970. This was published by his own company, Impulse Books in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. His second book, ''To be a Pirate King'', extended the story into 1971 and caused a sensation in the Netherlands, where it was published by

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; ) is the largest Netherlands, Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, ''de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief since ...

. It led directly to him working for the British intelligence service, MI6, and a long time involvement in analysis of Libya and, later, the

Lockerbie disaster Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

. Following these, he branched out in the topics covered, including the oil industry, murder, and Scottish Art. As of 2012, he was the author of 42 published books. A third offshore radio book appeared consolidating and updating the previous books, entitled ''Broadcasting from the High Seas''. He was a founder member of the Scottish General Publishers' Association. The first meeting of what was to become what is now Publishing Scotland, took place in a late afternoon in 1973 in the offices of

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

in Jeffrey Street. He had an Honours degree in Politics and International Relations (Aberdeen University 1970). After fifteen years in publishing, he became a publishing consultant. As a result, he found himself trapped in Yugoslavia as war broke out there on 26 June 1991. His Airbus was bombed in the attack on

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

airport and he then stayed on to report from the front line; from children's hospitals; from refugee columns under fire; and, even, from the mortuaries in Christmas week. This also resulted in his book ''Somebody Else's War'', published in 1992. He stayed on and became a journalist, covering eighteen wars between 1991 and 2001. He worked for the London ''Daily Telegraph'' as

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

correspondent 2000–01 and was columnist for the ''Daily Mirror'' there, during which he released 'Fractured Paradise', a photographic analysis of the Sri Lankan conflict found critical of the terrorist group

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

. He was expelled as a danger to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

's national security in November 2001, at the behest of the Tamil Tigers. He was an editor on the ''Shanghai Daily'' from January 2002. The publishers Kennedy & Boyd (Glasgow) brought out an updated version of ''When Pirates Ruled the Waves'' in 2007, the fortieth anniversary of the

Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 The Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 (c. 41), shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act or Marine Offences Act, became law in the United Kingdom at midnight on Monday 14 August 1967. It was subsequently amended by the Wirel ...

. In 2009, his autobiography ''More Thrills than Skills: adventures in journalism, war and terrorism'' was published by Kennedy & Boyd After settling in Coldingham, Berwickshire, he established a gallery and auction house for Chinese art. He died on 24 May 2018, leaving behind his wife Sulee and daughter Lucy.

References

Sources

Testimonial from the 30th Anniversary of SPA
1948 births 2018 deaths Scottish non-fiction writers {{UK-writer-stub