LONDON ALERT (31 page)

Peter
George, the officer in charge of our language course in the RAF and author of
the novel
Red Alert
, on which the film
Dr
. Strangelove
was based, inspired me to
try and
write a similar novel.

Frederick Forsyth’s
The Day of the Jackal
reinforced that notion, and far
too soon – almost totally lacking experience – I wrote one, which I binned on
being told by a US editor that there was far too much philosophizing about physical
relationships.

London Alert
, written many years
later, benefits from more profound experience at home and abroad, and not least
from insights and snippets of information gained from people whose names I cannot
cite for fear that readers might jump to wrong conclusions. I hope those still
with us will realize how much I appreciate their unacknowledged contributions.

There are therefore
only three individuals whose encouragement and assistance I can properly acknowledge.

Hilary Tucker, my
proofreader, who, besides checking, commented from the female vantage point.

Marcus Trower,
my copy editor, who not only corrected and improved the copy, but also made
invaluable suggestions regarding characters and scenes that needed treatment in
greater depth.

And finally James Denny, a friend from way back, who made
me believe the book was good enough to merit going that extra mile to get it
really right.

Christopher Bartlett

Christopher Bartlett
 
initially trained as a mining
engineer.

As a teen he was a member of the British Interplanetary
Society, where Patrick Moore and Arthur C. Clarke figured prominently at a time
when believing in space flight was thought by many to be crazy. He completed
his two years’ military service in the British Royal Air Force.

After taking a degree in Modern Chinese and Japanese at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, he became, among
other things, a professional translator of Japanese technical material. He also
wrote for magazines in the Far East.

His
presence by pure chance in countries when and where headline air crashes
occurred enabled him to add local colour and extra details to a number of the
sixty narratives in his ‘classic’ - and in its genre best-selling -
Air Crashes and Miracle Landings
.