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Painting with words  My career began in a monastery. I was living with the monks of Caldey Island, off the coast of South Wales - spending a week with them, while following the story of the first Welshman to join the community for generations. I was a student on the MA in Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, and the experience of being a "fly on the wall" witness to somebody's life-changing moment was exhilerating. The opportunity to capture it in words struck me as being a tremendous honour. And so another journalist was born. The Caldey Island feature won me a reporting traineeship at the Derby Evening Telegraph, and ever since my life has been all about meeting interesting people, taking the time to talk to them about their lives, and revelling in the opportunity to write about their world. My career has taken me around the country, from the early days as a news reporter in Derby, to feature writing at the Hull Daily Mail, the Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucester Citizen, and more recently for the Bristol Evening Post and Western Daily Press. The enthusiasm I felt for feature writing in that moment on Caldey Island, more than a decade ago, has never diminished. | Notable interviews Sir David Attenborough, mountaineer George Lowe, Sir Bob Geldof, Mo Mowlam, Alan Bennett, Sir David Frost, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Britt Ekland, Quentin Blake, John Godber, Bill Wyman, Jacqueline Wilson, Francis Rossi, Lesley Garrett, Maureen Lipman, George Melly, Alexei Sayle, Ray Galton, Rodney Bewes, Jimmy Doherty, Janet Street-Porter, Simon Armitage, Joan Bakewell and Frank McCourt. | Testimonials It is David Clensy's colourful and pacy approach to telling these tales that lifts it well above the average walking book, Walking The Wolds Way, is an entertaining, fast-paced volume. Beverley Advertiser (book review of Walking The Wolds Way) "... a fantastically well-written article! Thanks very much." Carl Catterall, Travel Communications Manager for Saga Holidays I am very impressed with your book, it is very well written and I'm itching to get to visit Looe Island now!" Melanie Phillips, artist
David's love of the island shines through his well-researched, atmospheric narrative ... reminiscent in style of travel writer Michael Palin ...
John Weller, Hull Daily Mail (book review of Island Life)
... a fascinating book about the colourful history of this Cornish landmark ...
Oscar Morse, Cornish Guardian (book review of Island Life) |
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