This is the man I want to write my story! Is this the best ghost-writer of our generation? Newcastle born Ken Scott will openly admit that as far as writers and authors are concerned he doesn’t exactly fit the bill. He left the old Manor Park Comprehensive School in the east end of Newcastle without a qualification to his name. Incredibly his English ‘O’ level was graded as unclassified. He didn’t start writing until he was forty years of age but recognition and success quickly followed and he is now in the fortunate position to be able to pick and choose what and who he writes for. Despite the lack of paper qualifications Ken immersed himself in books between shifts at the Newcastle Post Office in Orchard Street where he worked for nearly twelve years. Ken takes up the story. “Working in that environment undoubtedly molded my imagination and set out the foundations to enable me to write my first fiction novel. We had plenty of time to read during shifts and I worked with characters who have formed the basis of dozens of characters in my own novels and ghosted books too. It was without doubt the University of Life and I loved every second of it despite the poor conditions and low wages.” He likes a story he can get his teeth into and he will not shy away from a scandal. The ghost-writer to Dwain Chambers in his controversial autobiography, Race Against Me, there were calls to ban the book before it was even published and only recently he has completed a book with a convicted murderer serving life in HMS Wolds prison, near Hull. The prisoner who has served 18 years for a murder he claims he did not commit asked Ken to fly over and visit him from his home in Spain. Ken, by his own admission couldn’t get on the flight quick enough, the sort of story that is right up his street. He hit it off with the inmate immediately and finished the project within 3 months despite the almost impossible conditions placed on both writers by the prison authorities. They have become good friends. Scott has written and ghosted over a dozen books, to great critical acclaim. The recent autobiography he worked on with actress Crissy Rock, boasts an incredible 151, five star reviews. To put that into perspective that’s more than bestsellers, War and Peace, My Booky Wooky, Sharon Osbourne, Parky, Stephen Fry, Katie Price, Peter Andre, and fellow Geordies Ant & Dec. Crissy has nothing but praise for her ghost-writer and is working with him again on her debut novel to be published at the end of the year. Crissy says. “He’s an incredible lad, as daft as me and always up for a laugh. He makes you feel very comfortable and the content flows. When I first read my published autobiography I couldn’t believe some of the things he’d managed to extract from me. The book was described as up front and personal and I suppose that sums it up. Scotty jumps into your head and works with you, not for you and at times it was almost as if we were telepathic. On the new novel it’s spooky the way the plot develops. I don’t know how he does it but it’s almost as if he’s taken over a section of your brain, poking and playing with it until eventually it kind of happens and before you know it you have the basis of a great book.” There were similar words from another one of his subjects, Horace Greasley, who described Scott as his soul mate during the two years they worked together before Mr Greasley’s death in 2010. He was 91 when he died, his book, Do The Birds Still Sing In Hell? the memoirs of his five years in captivity at the hands of the Nazi’s during WWII. It was a turning point in Scott’s writing career when the book was optioned for film in 2012 by US based, Silverline Films. Cameras are expected to roll in September of this year, the ghost-writer will be on set by invitation. Scott confesses there are two big names already committed to the film and a top British director appointed, though is sworn to secrecy for the moment. In May of 2012 Buzzfeed, the US online publication published a list of the 40 most iconic photographs of the last 100 years. The list quickly went viral. At number 21 was Horace Greasley photographed with Himmler circa 1943. Below, Horace Greasley (left) and Jan Rose Kasmir. (right) Scott was bowled over and exactly one year later, the lady pictured at number 29, contacted him and asked him to pen her story. For Scott it was a defining moment, the photograph, “La Jeune Fille a la Fleur,” a photograph by Marc Riboud shows a young woman, Jan Rose Kasmir, protesting against the Vietnam war at the Pentagon in 1967. A Skype call was swiftly arranged and the unlikely lad from Newcastle and Jan Rose spoke for some time as she relayed her incredible story. Scott quickly agreed to take the assignment. “To have written one book out of the 40 photographs is a little bit special,” he says, “but to pick up two is simply beyond belief.” Scott was in the UK recently, for a series of meetings with the publicist, Paul Goff. Goffy is more than a little excited when talking about his latest client. “I’ve read several of Ken’s books now and I intend to get him the International recognition he deserves. He’s a north east lad and a genius at his craft. There can’t be many writers who can work with the likes of Crissy Rock, a 91 year old former POW and a convicted murderer, and in addition he writes his own novels and Hollywood screenplays.” During his recent UK visit the ghost-writer also met with London film director Reg Travis to talk about another of his books. The two men sat in a café in Oxford Street for three hours and by the end of the meeting Travis had agreed on his next film. Scott is writing the screenplay and pre-production will commence early 2014. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a Newcastle writer at the Oscar’s one of these days?
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:26:28 +0000