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Former journalist publishes first novel at 79

A former regional newspaper journalist has had his first novel published at the age of 79 – more than 30 years after he started writing it.

Patrick Nicholson, who used to work at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and the Manchester Evening News, has had book Drink to the Devil published.

It tells the story of an ageing journalist on a troubled glossy magazine in the seventies using alcohol to cope with the pressures he faced and is partly based on his own experience of working in journalism with a drink problem.

Patrick started the book in 1979 while he was working at The Times and there was industrial action at the newspaper, leading to it being closed down for a year.

He said: “For a year we had no publication but we went to work every day, as we didn’t know when we were going to go back to publication. That is when I started writing it.

“I was in journalism and I had a drinking problem – the rest of it is fiction.

“After 30 years, it is quite a relief to see it in print. I have lost track of how many people I sent it to, but eventually the Willow Bank Publishers took it up.”

Patrick was delayed in completing the book after going into hospital for alcoholism and during the time when he got divorced.

He eventually finished writing it but had to then transfer it from his typewriter onto a computer and find a publisher.

Patrick’s first job in journalism was at the Kentish Mercury and he spent time working at a number of regional papers before working for the national press.

He retired in 1991 from his job as chief sub-editor for The Sunday Times Magazine and decided he wanted to write fiction, having a number of short stories published in women’s magazines and in an e-book.

  • Drink to the Devil is available from Willow Bank Publishers for £8.99.