‘Mad Mike’ Hoare biography launched
An uMgeni Park resident recently launched the biography on the legendary and enigmatic 'Mad Mike' Hoare.
IT has taken 12 years of meticulous research and sorting through archival material for local resident, Chris Hoare, to bring his father’s story to life. The uMgeni Park resident recently launched the biography on the legendary and enigmatic ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare.
The book titled ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare: The Legend follows Hoare’s father’s life story including the 1964-1965 rescue of 200 nuns and priests held captive in a communist rebellion in the Congo which later inspired a movie starring Richard Burton and Roger Moore.
The book also documents Mike’s jail time in South Africa after an attempt to overthrow the socialist Seychelles government using 50 men posing as ‘Frothblowers’, members of a beer-drinking club.
“This is an authorative work of separating the man from the myth. It has taken 12 years of writing and research. When I initially approached my father about writing the book, he wasn’t keen. He is a man that lives in the present and future, dreaming about what is to come, not recriminating or dwelling on the past. But in 2006 he agreed I could write the biography, and last year he agreed I could publish it.
“This has been a passion and love of mine to bring his story to life. He has written eight books himself and there are a number of works that mention him, so I had a number of reference points to draw on including more than 30 hours of recordings of my own interviews with him,” he said.
Mike, who is 99 and lives in Durban, was also present at the launch where Ian McIntosh, the former Springbok rugby coach, was the MC of the evening.
“My father was essentially a gentleman adventurer, probably the last of that breed. I like to think he was an officer and a gentleman with a bit of pirate thrown in.”
The book is available in both soft and hardcover. The softcover edition is signed by Chris Hoare and costs R350. The limited hardcover edition is signed by Mike and Chris and costs R700.
Hoare added there were plans in motion to have the biography available as an e-book at a later stage.
For more information, visit www.madmikehoare.com and order by emailing partner@iafrica.com.
For more from Northglen News follow us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also follows us Instagram
