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Nic Compton

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Nic Compton

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Born
in Bristol, The United Kingdom
Website

Genre

Influences

Per Petterson
Ernest Hemingway

Member Since
February 2016


Nic Compton is a writer/photographer specialising in sailing - but with a keen interest in environmental issues. After an idyllic childhood on boats in the Mediterranean, he returned to the UK at age 14 to complete his formal education, including in a degree in English with American & Commonwealth Arts at Exeter University. After a decade or so working as a journeyman shipwright, he studied Journalism at City University, eventually fetching up at the offices of Classic Boat in land-locked Croydon. He was deputy editor and then editor of the magazine from 1994 to 2000. That was when he gave up the security of the monthly pay packet for the vagaries of freelance life. Since then he has travelled the world as a writer/photographer, contributin ...more

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Nic Compton I get ideas for books all the time - sometimes from reading articles, sometimes from other books, sometimes just by wandering around or going for a ro…moreI get ideas for books all the time - sometimes from reading articles, sometimes from other books, sometimes just by wandering around or going for a row on the river. I usually have at least half a dozen book ideas in my head, and it's just a matter of seeing which one develops into a fully-fledged proposal. If they make it that far, they're usually good enough to get the thumbs up from a publisher. (less)
Nic Compton Working up various ideas into proposals.
Average rating: 3.77 · 687 ratings · 83 reviews · 36 distinct worksSimilar authors
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Off the Deep End: A History...

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Donald Crowhurst & The Mercy

Of all the tales of human tragedy at sea, few have caught the public imagination as much as the strange story of Donald Crowhurst. His tragic intervention in the 1968 Gold Globe Race has inspired several plays and books, as well as an art installation by Tacita Dean, a epic poem and even an opera. I devoted nearly a whole chapter to the story in my recent book book: Off the Deep End: A History of Read more of this blog post »
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Published on January 03, 2018 07:34
Playground
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“So there you have it: hearing voices at sea is not a pathological condition. It’s quite normal. Welcome to the world of illusions at sea. Of mirages, looming, towering, stooping and sinking. Of moons that change size, suns that change shape, horizons that bend, lights that change colour, and sounds that play hide and seek. Of waves that speak, ships that effervesce and whales that turn into baby elephants. For the sea has a lobsterpot full of tricks and illusions to confuse and beguile even the most rational 21st century sailor.”
Nic Compton, Off the Deep End: A History of Madness at Sea

“UKIP SHIPPING FORECAST by Nicholas Pegg After a UKIP councillor claimed widespread flooding in the UK was God’s punishment for allowing same-sex marriage, author/performer Nicholas Pegg wrote his own version of the Shipping Forecast. His recording went viral, receiving 250,000 hits in four days. ‘And now the shipping forecast issued by UKIP on Sunday the 19 January 2014 at 1200 UTC. There are warnings of gays in Viking, Forties, Cromarty, Southeast Iceland and Bongo Bongo land. The general synopsis at midday: Low intelligence expected, becoming Little England by midnight tonight. And now the area forecasts for the next 24 hours. Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire: south easterly gay seven to severe gay nine, occasionally bisexual. Showers – gay. Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher: women veering southerly 4 or 5, losing their identity and becoming sluts. Rain – moderate or gay. German blight, immigration veering north – figures variable, becoming psychotic. Showers – gay. Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth: benefit tourism 98%, becoming variable – later slight, or imaginary. Showers – gay. Biscay, Trafalgar: warm, lingering nationalism. Kiss me Hardy, later becoming heterosexual – good. FitzRoy, Sole, Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey: right or extreme right, veering racist 4 or 5, increasing to 5 to 7. Homophobic outburst – back-peddling westerly and becoming untenable. Showers – gay. Fair Isle, Faeroes, South East Iceland: powerbase decreasing, variable – becoming unelectable. Good. And that concludes the forecast.”
Nic Compton, The Shipping Forecast: A Miscellany

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“So there you have it: hearing voices at sea is not a pathological condition. It’s quite normal. Welcome to the world of illusions at sea. Of mirages, looming, towering, stooping and sinking. Of moons that change size, suns that change shape, horizons that bend, lights that change colour, and sounds that play hide and seek. Of waves that speak, ships that effervesce and whales that turn into baby elephants. For the sea has a lobsterpot full of tricks and illusions to confuse and beguile even the most rational 21st century sailor.”
Nic Compton, Off the Deep End: A History of Madness at Sea

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