When Bill arrived in Thailand he wrote lots of marine articles for local Phuket -based magazines and newspapers. He enjoys reading humor, so that's what he prefers to write.
Most early musings were full of ego and poorly written. Luckily they were published well before the digital age and lost forever. The tsunami destroyed Bill's offices where he kept the hard copies. No great literary loss.
A few have survived and some are archived at Art Asia's Phuket Magazine history site. More will appear here or in the articles pages - if they get found.

Here's one that survived in digital form. It's about Billo being a Fat Bloke competing in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon. It's called "Fat Bloke's Fifth". A bit of a laugh.

In the early days of navigation in and around Phuket he didn't have a GPS or a sailing guide to help him get around. The local Phuket charts scale was too small to be safe.
Being a keen navigator and mudmap-maker he started recording the exact depths in relation to tides, taking notes and compass bearings so he wouldn't run aground so much. Running aground is dangerous, unprofessional and face-loosing.
So Billo kept these notes to pass on to the Thai captains in Amancruises and many became the basis for the first sailing guide to the area called "Sail Thailand" - first published by Art Asia in 1990.

Over the next 2 decades, Billo and sailing buddy Andy Dowden Co-Authored 3 more updated editions of "Sail Thailand" before joining forces with Grenville Fordham's Image Asia to produce the amazingly successful "Andaman Sea Pilot". ( ASP )



THE ANDAMAN SEA PILOT
ASIA'S NUMBER ONE SAILING GUIDE

Now famous in ASEAN waters the ASP is sold on the intenet and in boating books shops worldwide. It has been so well received that it is often referred to as the sailing guide industry bible in Asia. It is certainly on the bridge of all serious yachts in the Andaman Sea.

Keeping Phuket as home base, the ASP charts, technical info and shore-based facilities covers millions of square miles of Southeast Asian waters. Thailand waters east and west, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Andaman Islands, Mergui Burma coast, Vietnam, Cambodia and the passage west from Darwin Australia are all incuded.

BREAKING NEWS.
THE ANDAMAN SEA PILOT 2009-2010 edition is now called
THE SOUTHEAST ASIA PILOT
This new edition incorporates the Philippines, Hong Kong and more of Indonesia.
Launched at this years 2009 Phuket Race Week it's been very well received

 

Andy, Grenville and Bill are very excited about the new look publication.

 

 

Making a change from technical and humor writing, Bill recently completed his first screenplay titled "THE FLYING DOCTOR". For this project, he drew on his father's autobiographical books and his own early-life memories as the second son of famous Irish immigrant Doctor Timothy Joseph O'Leary CBE.



Dr. Timothy O'Leary with 'Billy' and 'Johnny' his 2 eldest sons in 1964

‘The Flying Doctor’ screenplay is a personal look at the life of this heroic Australian who contributed so much to our history. Opening scenes are Tim’s steeplechase accident as a teenager in Ireland that nearly cost him his leg, to landing penniless in Sydney, and 'picking' the Flying Doctor Job out of a cup. The script covers three decades of adventure including surviving the fatal RFDS plane crash in 1953 that killed his first wife Renee and best friend Captain Martin Garrett, to being attacked by spear-throwing aboriginals, swimming through flooded crock- infested rivers, and flying thousands of miles to save the lives of isolated Australians.

Twenty-one years after his death, it's time to tell this amazing true story. A charismatic hero's journey sweeping two generations and three continents filled with highflying adventure, tragic plane crashes, riveting life-saving stories and an unexpected 'twist' buried so deep even the most astute sleuths will be blown away. The final scenes reveal that Doctor Tim was ......

( Nah, sorry - you'll have to read it yourself or see the movie )

‘The Flying Doctor’ movie will be an Australian historical event so powerful and controversial; it evokes the full range of human emotions and asks deep moral and intellectual questions of all who view it.

The Flying Doctor Screenplay is a PDF hot link at the top of this page for all who would like to read it. Of course, if you know of anyone interested in producing these screenplays into movies, please let Bill know. 

Bill's just completed his second screenplay entitled TSUNAMI STORIES THAILAND. It's a movie script made up from the personal stories in the charity book of the same name.
If you'd like to read a copy, simply hit the hot link at the top of this page. 

The Asian Tsunami was a major traumatic event in all of our lives. Billo lost his entire office on the west coast of Phuket.
In the months following he coped by smoking again, overeating, under-exercising, nose-picking and writing the charity book 'Tsunami Stories Thailand'. The funds for printing 12,000 copies was donated by Billo, John Gold and Alan Cook with entire sales proceeds spent on education and living expenses for 13 orphaned children of the wave. www.TsunamiStoriesThailand.com (TST)





TST details the first-hand accounts of 16 survivors and gives an insight into the chaos of that fateful day and the failings and courage of our human condition. Every reader is invited to enjoy the book in PDF form - by clicking this link below.

Bill has completed the screenplay adaptation of this book for film or documentary - he still hasn't decided which it will be. Comment and opinion on works is much appreciated.

NEW WRITING PROJECT




THE FAT MAN AND THE SEA
A mix mash of bullshit stories from a lazy life earning a quid from working on hotel tourist boats.
Watch this space...