"Cool books for the Coolest kids"

Author's Name: LOOKMAN
 
 Where were you born?
I was born at home in a village called Salfords in Surrey in 1950. 

 Where do you Live?
I now live in West Sussex .

 Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Salfords in Surrey. The place is often mistakenly mispronounced by strangers as Salford near Manchester.		 
 What was it like?
The village was an ideal childhood adventure park, with plenty of trees to climb and swing on. We played in dark spooky woods, searched thickets looking at bird's nests, caught newts in ponds, fished in the river, and walked across farmland avoiding bulls and grass snakes. The place teamed with wildlife, wild flowers and mushrooms in season.
 What other things did you do?
I was an adventurer rather than a sportsman. I went on long bicycle journeys with friends seeking out distant towns and villages. At the railway station we used to stand on the footbridge train tracks to get enveloped in belching black smoke from steam trains. We explored deserted and broken buildings, derilict places and WWII defences. There was always the opportunity to meet the unexpected person or event.

 Did you make things?
We liked to make campsand go-carts from old pram wheels. I made working bows, and crossbows.
 Were you ever naughty?
Yes sometimes I was, but then it all seamed innocent enough. We sometimes got chased for scrumping in people's gardens and orchards, and being nosy around farmer's barns. One day with a group of friends we went into the neighbours garden to explore how far we could go. We were spotted and ran for our lives over two garden fences and took refuge on top of a garden shed in my garden. I lay down on top of flat roof. The angry neighbour an old man with a grey moustache followed in pursuit and climbed the fence in to my garden. I let off a volley of arrows from my home-made crossbow and he retreated thinking better of it. I later got thrashed by my father. Some other things I did I should not mention they were really stupid.

What were you like at school?

At primary school– I was gregarious, happy, and adventurous.
At secondary school- I was above middling, never stretched, never really worked, thoughtful, independent. I never tolerated bulling by others. I was good at Art and read a lot of science and history. I had a few minor run ins with the teachers.

 What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an architect at one time, but my cousin advised against it. Then a farmer later, perhaps unknowingly a philosopher. Most boys my age wanted to be train drivers.
 What was your favourite book?
Strangely enough 'The Short History of the World,' by H G Wells. I loved history and still do. I must confess I liked science rather than fiction and enjoyed cartoons.
 When did you begin writing?
I joined the Young Liberals and became an ace press officer and later I did this for my constituency party. I eventually became disillusioned with politics generally. Later I read a lot of deep philosophical books and wished to write non-fiction. It became a lot easier to write after going to university.
 When did you first get published?
I wrote and performed in three children's plays broadcast on BBC Southern Counties Radio. The radio studio was a strange dark place. The desk looked like a synthesiser and it had big reels of magnetic tape. My daughters helped me as the studio had no facilities and I provided my own sound effects. It was great fun.
 Why do you write under the name Lookman?
When in my 20's I converted to a Muslim-Sufi community and took the name Luqman by opening the Holy Qur'an at the thirty-first chapter. It should be pronounced Lookmarn with a lookmaan. Most English people cannnot pronounce the long aa in ...maan of Luqman. I converted it to LOOKMAN. Later I inserted two eyes where the o's are.		 
  How would you describe your books?
Action packed fantasies to take the reader between humorous episodes; switching to hectic swashbuckling action to horror, sometimes in mysterious bizarre realities. I hope they always a surprise the reader.

  Where do you get your ideas from?
Sometimes from the radio, TV or someone's comment. They really cook and steam when I am lying in bed in the mornings after looking at the clock and deciding it is too early to get up. Cinema is also a major source of my plots and stories. I am just a dreamer and like putting myself in situations beyond my normal experiences.
 Which book would you most like to have written?
The humorous works of Nasreddin Hodja (1208-1285), Shakespeare's plays, or the histories of some of the wonderful Sufi saints.

 What is your favourite film or movie?
I like all of the Monty Python films, especially The Life of Brian. and The Holy Grail. I also like any John Clease and Mr Bean film.

 What is your favourite music?
I have always had my own music in my head, perhaps I should have been a song writer or composer. I think it runs in my family. I like the Beetles, the Rolling Stones, but I have never bought any of their records. I like a good tune and creative lyrics. I also like Dvorak and Mozart.
 Who is your favourite Artist?
I like the surrealism of Salvador Dali with its cartoonish misrepresentations of ordinary things.
 Http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Salvador+Dali&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2. It is a bit like those plates and spoons that grow legs in children's nursery rhyme illustrations Modern art is often pretentious and older art is interesting, but often just photographs in paint. Art and sculpture has many functions.
 What is the funniest joke you know?
I always forget them, I have a terrible memory for such things. I can remember lots of supersonic carrots jokes I heard when I was about twelve and joke like the price of bacon will go up if pigs can fly.
 I found a Hodja joke; [Turkish]
While Hodja was walking through the streets some children stole the turban off his head. He tried to get it back, but the children kept passing it from one to another. He was like piggy in the middle. He gave up and went home to his wife.
She asked Hodja, "Where's your turban?"
He replied, "It remembered its childhood, so it is playing with the children."
 
 An ironic true story Sheikh Saadi. [Iranian]
There was once a Muslim holy man who had been invited to the kings palace for a banquet. He got up in his general day clothes and proceeded towards the palace.
A guard at the gate refused him entry, "You are an impostor I do not recognise you."
Sheikh Saadi returned home disappointed and put on his most lavish clothes with long draping sleeves and returned to the palace. The guard let him in without looking at his face and he got seated. The banquet began. Sheikh Saadi took his long sleeves and dipped them in the soup.
The king asked him, "What are you doing?"
He replied, "My clothes were invited to your banquet not me! So I am letting them drink."
 What is your most precious memory?
I think, holidays in southern Ireland with its happy mischievous people and hauntingly beautiful landscape. I have a strange relationship with my mother's homeland. One in ten of us has Irish ancestry.
 What is your advice for aspiring authors?
Keep at it! be original and learn to be a good story teller.		 
 What did you do after you left school?
I joined the Treasurer's department of Reigate Borough Council and worked in the costing and internal audit offices. I should have stayed on at school to sit more exams, my results were surprisingly good. I attended evening classes to get exams and studied with the Open University. I drifted from job to job dreaming my way through life while taking an interest in radical politics. I ended up the second youngest Councillor in England at the time.
 
Were you interested in politics?
Yes, in those days most teenagers were radical. We all wanted a fairer society and naively imagined we could achieve a heaven on earth. A few people were as mad as people as people are today like Asaama bin Laden and the Taliban, generally they were Marxists.
 What did the mad people do?
They chanted and ran around carrying the little red books of the Chinese leader Chairman Mao. Others set up desks in university entrances and tried to convert people like religious fanatics. They often argued by wagging their fingers at each other. Moderates fought for gender issues, drug liberalisation etc.
 What did you do?
Like most people I did not belong to the crazed Socialists, Marxists, or Red Brigades. I believed in more democracy and a fairer distribution of wealth. Things like democracy for children in running their schools and for workers to run their factories. In those days people did not believe that wealth could belong to one person, it was common to everyone. As a Young Liberal I was a pioneer on green issues, others I knew had plans to block Oxford Street and create pedestrian areas.....

 Did children really run schools?
Yes, in some places they did. It was not unusual for schoolchildren to go on strike and make demands from their teachers. Before that Teachers were like gods with a book in one hand and a cane or slipper in the other. They had corporal punishment then.
Were you ever given corporal punishment?
Not really. I had a few detentions and stood out in the corridor a few time as a punishment. To be honest I did not really know some times why we were punished. It might have been being noisy in class. The detention did no good, but talking about it later to friends must have reinforced the point the teachers made. I remember one boy being dragged across the playground for wearing an earring. I was more puzzled why he had one. In those days only gypsies and pirates in films had earrings, it was effeminate for boys.

Have you ever taught children?
No, unlike many children's writers I have not worked in a school. I have taught children on a one to one basis at home English as a foreign language at home to visiting foreign students and have taught blind students.

Is there some one special in your writing?
My Daughter since she was nine has stimulated the wonderful world in my books. When reading she loves being surprised by my fantasies, humour, action, to horror.


  
 
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