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  Along the way, I have enjoyed a life that I could never have imagined. I have been privileged to meet people from all corners of the globe. I have been wherever my heart has desired and in the process my books have also taken readers to many, many places. I always say, I’ve started wars, I’ve burned down cities, and I’ve killed hundreds of thousands of people—but only in my imagination!

  I don’t have to write anymore—I haven’t had to financially for a long time—but I continue to do so because I derive so much pleasure from storytelling. Stephen King once, very kindly, said, “You can get lost in Wilbur Smith’s world.” Well I get lost in Wilbur Smith’s world too. At one stage in my life I was really excited by danger: I flew, drove fast cars, dated faster women, hunted dangerous animals, all the activities that pushed me to the edge of the precipice. I’ve had tough times, bad marriages, people I loved dearly dying in my arms, burned the midnight oil getting nowhere, but it has all, in the end, added up to a phenomenally fulfilled and wonderful life with a woman who has become my soulmate in the autumn of my days.

  My goal now is to write until I turn 100, living with the same zest as I imbue the characters in my books. I want to be remembered as somebody who gave pleasure to millions and had a wonderful time doing it. I look back on my life and I don’t have any regrets. Right now, in late life, as autumn leaves turn gold, burnished brown, blazing orange, I’m having so much fun. I won’t stop writing until I stop breathing and even then, the lid of the coffin will creak open and a bony claw will emerge and write THE END. As Hilaire Belloc wrote: “When I am dead, I hope it may be said: ‘His sins were scarlet but his books were read.’”

  APPENDIX

  The Monarch of the Ilungu

  Wilbur Smith

  (twelve years old)

  Dawn, gray and somber, stole softly across the terrible swamps that stood guard to the Ilungu forests. A leechuwee barked softly at the dawning day and a flight of wild ducks whistled swiftly overhead. A moorhen gave its harsh cry and a goose settled unwarily on the glittering reed-studded water—a slight splash and a startled cry as the bird disappeared in the crystal waters; a few feathers, driving slowly across the surface, marked its grave. A second later a crocodile pushed its hideous snout above the surface and then with a swirl it was gone.

  Two days travel across this dreary waste and the glistening tree-tops of the Ilungu rose on the barren horizon. This was the domain of the king of the elephants, the Monarch of the Ilungu. His gnarled shafts of ivory, as thick as a man’s thigh, had battered man and beast alike to shapeless pulp and had thrown to earth trees whose mightily balks would have balked a charge of dynamite; while, lodged beneath his seared and furrowed hide, were six primitive arrow-heads and a hunk of lead that had left the muzzle of a Gibbs 450 high velocity rifle traveling at 3,000 yards per second; but the man who had fired it paid dearly, he had borne the whole fury of those smashing ivory shafts and pounding hoofs.

  Then, for three months, the old bull lay on the brink of death, groaning horribly and sucking short gasping breaths; with only the strength in his wasted frame to drag himself down the slight slope to the water hole. At last he could stand and for three more months he stayed resting and feeding while his gaunt frame filled out and the same weariness and cunning attended his movements that had been there six months before that journey through the swamp.

  Now he sallied out to find his herd, rumbling deep in his throat and grazing steadily along. He came upon them a wee bit later. It was dawn. Dew sparkled on the grass and trees; while the monkeys chattered shrilly from the branches and a lion heralded the day with a long low roar.

  The herd stood in among the trees, the cows sleepily fanning their ears back and forth and the calves noisily having breakfast. The old bull squealed his delight but the herd hesitated to come to him. He called again and this time he saw the reason for the uncertainty; another bull left the herd and slowly strode in his direction, swaying slightly from side to side—a huge bull this, with 120 lbs. of tusk gleaming dully in the new light, his rugged gray coat scarred and torn and his eyes gleaming redly as he came on, rumbling a challenge.

  The big bull hesitated; then went in, catching the youngster’s tusk in his trunk and ripping it out by the roots; using this as a weapon, he beat the other to his knees.

  Ten minutes later the clearing was deserted except for a ring of vultures surrounding it and a pair of jackals who had come across the scene of carnage and now fought greedily over the battered flesh.

  Half a mile away the old bull grumbled with content and led his regained herd down to the swamp.

  INDEX

  (the initials WS refer to Wilbur Smith)

  Achebe, Chinua, 313

  Achilles, 183

  Africa:

  romance of, 35

  safari hunting in, 3–4

  African buffalo, see Cape buffalo

  An African Journal (Hemingway), 185

  African National Congress (ANC), 97, 206, 210, 212, 215, 217, 224

  Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, Prince, 232

  All Blacks, 222

  Alty, Dr. Thomas, 72–3

  ANC Youth League, 212

  Andrews, Jacobus Michael Charles, 215

  The Angels Weep (Smith), 200, 255

  apartheid (see also Mandela, Nelson):

  and ANC, 96–7, 206, 208

  and Botha, 209

  end of, and positive changes for WS, 217

  and Gold, 147–8, 152

  and PAC, 96–7

  Pick on, 131, 222

  and Springboks, 221–2

  stigma of, 221

  taint of, 131

  WS decides to tackle, 207

  Argosy, 25–6, 28

  As You Like It (Shakespeare), 71

  Bailey, Col., 225

  Baker, Stanley, 143

  Barnard, Dr. Christian, 218

  Barrow, 255

  Barry (friend), 42–53, 54, 57, 178–9

  Battle of Britain, 126–7, 132, 204

  bears, 248–52

  Beckett, Samuel, 295

  Bell, Karamojo, 7, 191–2

  Belloc, Hilaire, 315

  Ben Gurion, David, 135

  Beyers, Justice, 97–8

  Big Hole, 93

  Biggles (Johns), 32, 34, 126, 312

  Biko, Steve, 209

  Birds of Prey (Smith), 172–3, 274, 277, 283

  Black Consciousness Movement, 209

  Black Hawk Down, 285

  black mamba, 38–42, 43–4, 284

  Blair, Tony, 218

  Blücher, 147, 154

  Bono, 218

  Botha, Boots, 112, 113, 115–18

  Botha, P. W., 209

  Boyun, Joy Gould, 150

  Bradbury, Ray, 26

  British South Africa Police, 202–4

  Brown, Jim, 145

  Buchan, John, 35

  Bunting, Brian, 96

  Bureau of State Security (BOSS), 216–17

  Burmese Days (Orwell), 296

  Burnham, Frederick Russell, 200

  The Burning Shore (Smith), 115, 158, 173, 207, 304–5

  TV film of, see Mountain of Diamonds

  Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 26

  Butler, Colin, 27

  Bvumba, 163

  Caine, Michael, 144, 159

  Cairo, 233–4, 235, 238, 256

  Canby, Vincent, 150

  Cannery Row (Steinbeck), 263

  Cap Colibri:

  described, 272, 277

  first sight of, 273

  Cape buffalo, 52–4, 186

  Cardiff, Jack, 145

  Carlin, John, 218

  Carter, Howard, 231–2, 234

  Central African Republic, 182, 219

  Cerf Island (see also Seychelles):

  fish off, 278

  memories attached to, 278

  secret of, 273–4

  Charles Pick Consultancy, 305 (see also Pick, Charles)

  Choy, Capt. Cornelius, 256

  Churchill, Winston, 146, 182


  Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians’ Union (ACTT), 147, 152

  City of the Dead, 234

  Cleland, John, 96

  Cloete, Stuart, 103–4

  Cohen, David, 270

  Cold War, 208–9

  Cordwalles boarding school, 58–62 (see also Smith, Wilbur: schooldays of)

  library of, 60

  WS enrolled at, 58

  WS’s form prize at, 61–2

  Cry Wolf (Smith), 105

  Currey, Hillary, 109–19

  Damon, Matt, 218

  The Dark of the Sun (Smith), 83, 100, 201, 253, 308

  banning of, 100

  and censorship relaxation, 104

  and cinema, 145

  launched in US, 253

  de Klerk, F. W., 209, 214, 224

  Dean, James, 264

  Democratic Republic of Congo, 219

  The Diamond Hunters (Smith), 118, 159, 163

  and cinema, 94

  as mini-series, 158

  research for, 92–3

  diamonds:

  creation of, 93

  and WS’s research, 92

  Dickens, Charles, 224, 297

  Dickens, Monica, 297

  Diemont, Justice, 97–8

  Doubleday Bookstore, 303–4

  Douglas-Reid, Sir Archibald, 232

  Drysdale, Andrew, 133

  In Dubious Battle (Steinbeck), 263

  Duncan, G., 98

  Duncan, Patrick, 96

  Durrell, Lawrence, 26, 312

  Eagle in the Sky (Smith), 105, 131, 133, 253

  and Israel, 137–8

  launched in US, 253

  release and success of, 144

  research for, 133–8, 235

  WS’s screenplay for, 156

  East of Eden (Steinbeck), 263

  Eastwood, Clint, 218

  Egyptian Museum, 234–5

  El Alamein, 236

  Elephant Song (Smith), 188, 189–90

  Endurance, 120

  England, Edward, 275

  Equity, 148

  The Eye of the Tiger (Smith), 118, 144, 237, 272

  A Falcon Flies (Smith), 199, 200

  Fanny Hill (Cleland), 96

  Faure Williamson, A., 101

  For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), 263

  fishing-boat work, 109–17

  Fitzpatrick, James Percy, 38, 144

  Forbes, Mr. (teacher), 60–2

  Forde, Dudley, 69–70

  Forester, C. S., 21, 26, 35, 62, 67, 312

  Forever Amber (Winsor), 60

  Forsyth, Frederick, 304

  Freeman, Morgan, 218

  Geldof, Bob, 218

  Gerhard, Dieter, 213

  Get Carter, 144

  Giza, 235

  glasnost, 208

  Globe, 224

  The Gods First Make Mad (Smith—rejected novel), 22, 23, 25, 26, 223, 295

  Golan Heights, 137

  Gold, 147, 151, 152, 156 (see also Gold Mine)

  and censors, 149

  and critics, 156

  released, 149

  Gold Mine (Smith), 79, 85, 91, 92, 94, 144, 149, 159, 163, 253

  and bestseller lists, 147

  censors pleased by, 104

  and cinema, see Gold

  launched in US, 253

  Golden Fox (Smith), 173, 210–13, 222, 309

  Golding, William, 313

  Gone with the Wind (Mitchell), 313

  Goodyear Tire and Rubber, 76

  Gordimer, Nadine, 222–3

  Gordon Davis, John, 82–3

  Gould, George Jay, 232

  The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck), 263

  Great Barrier Reef, 155, 256

  Great Zimbabwe, 161–3, 164, 166, 231

  Green Hills of Africa (Hemingway), 189, 263

  Greene, Graham, 26, 56

  Grey, Zane, 312

  Haggard, H. Rider, ii, 7, 21, 35, 162, 166, 200, 243, 312

  Halt All Racist Tours (HART), 221–4

  Harry Potter . . . (Rowling), 313

  Hassan, Muhammad Abdullah, 285

  Hawaii, 256

  Hawkins, Jack, 151

  Hector, 183

  Hemingway, Ernest, xi, 4, 21, 62, 185, 186, 189, 226, 258, 263, 291, 310, 312

  on writing, 310

  Henderson, Chick, 64

  Herbert, George (Lord Carnarvon), 231–2

  “High Flight” (Magee), 11

  Hillary, Richard, 127

  HJ Smith and Son, 179

  Hodges, Mike, 144

  Hold My Hand I’m Dying (Gordon Davis), 83

  Holm, Ian, 154

  Homer, 19, 183

  Hungry as the Sea (Smith), 123

  Hunt, Peter, 149, 150, 151

  hunting, 185–93

  and ancient Greeks and Romans, 186

  and conservation, 4, 182, 186, 193

  Hemingway on, 189

  impulse, 6

  as part of ecosystem, 185

  as way of life, 37

  in WS’s books, 188–90

  WS’s grandfather on, 188

  “If” (Kipling), 312

  Inglourious Basterds, 146

  Introduction to Modern English and American Literature (Maugham), 62

  Invictus, 218

  Inyanga Mountains, 81–2, 83–4, 189, 201, 308

  Israel, 134–9

  Israeli Air Force, 134, 136

  Jean-Claude (boatman), 278, 283, 284

  Jock of the Bushveld (Fitzpatrick), 38, 144

  Johannesburg gold mines:

  and education, 90–1

  and racial harmony, 148

  and WS’s research, 79–92

  Johannesburg Star, 149

  John Ross, 123

  Johnson, Boris, 242

  Judith (estate manageress), 267, 271–2

  Just William (Crompton), 32, 34, 312

  Kafue River, 29, 31, 45, 111, 126, 130, 132, 169, 178

  Kalahari, 233

  Kaunda, Kenneth, 42, 219

  Kenny, Andrew, 222–3, 224

  King, Larry, 76

  King Solomon’s Mines (Haggard), 32

  King, Stephen, 314

  Kingfisher, 112–21

  Kipling, Rudyard, 184, 309, 312

  Klinger, Michael, 143–4, 147, 148, 151, 152, 166

  kudu antelope, 4, 45–6, 47, 49, 187, 227, 228

  KwaZulu-Natal, 63, 219

  Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lawrence), 312

  L’Amour, Louis, 312

  Lanner falcon, 43

  Las Vegas, 252–3

  The Last Enemy (Hillary), 127

  The Last Lion, 151, 189

  Lawrence, D. H., 312

  Lawrence, Steven, 25–6

  Lee, Sky-High, 76–7

  Leibrandt, Robey, 207

  The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (Smith), 108, 196, 197–8, 200, 205, 206–7, 255

  Leopard Rock, 200, 227–8

  JS sells, 282

  Levasseur, Olivier, 274–6, 283

  Livingstone, David, 182, 200

  Lord, Dick, 133

  Lord of the Flies (Golding), 313

  Los Angeles Times, 102, 149

  Luangwa Valley, 12–13

  Lubowski, Anton, 213

  Luderitz, 93

  Luftwaffe, 126

  Luxor, 229, 236

  Madiba, see Mandela, Nelson

  Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie, 211

  Madonsela, Thuli, 183

  Magee, John Gillespie, 11

  Mailer, Norman, 288

  Mandela, Nelson, 182, 218

  becomes president, 209

  illness and death of, 220

  jailed, 97, 206, 208, 220

  released, 131, 209, 210, 218, 224

  and Rugby World Cup, 218

  steps down from presidency, 210

  as WS’s hero, 218, 220

  Mandela United FC, 212

  Mandela, Winnie, see Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie

  Manderson, Tim, 297

  Margo,
Cecil, 134

  marlin, 155–6, 256–9

  Marvin, Lee, 147, 151, 152, 155–9, 256

  Matoka, Peter Jr., 42

  Matoka, Peter Sr., 15–16, 18, 42, 169

  Maugham, W. Somerset, 62

  Men of Men (Smith), 200

  The Mercenaries, 145–6 (see also The Dark of the Sun)

  MGM, 102, 147

  Michaelhouse school, 58–70, 109, 160 (see also Smith, Wilbur: schooldays of)

  cycle of violence in, 64–5

  and sporting distinctions, 69

  WS enrolled at, see Smith, Wilbur: schooldays of

  WS establishes magazine at, 66

  Mimieux, Yvette, 145

  Mitchell, James, 242–3

  Mitchell, Margaret, 313

  Mobutu Sese Seko, 219

  Moffat, John, 200

  Moffat Mission, 199–200

  Moffat, Robert, 200

  ‘The Monarch of the Ilungu’ (Smith), 317–19

  “The Monarch of the Ilungu” (Smith), 61–2, 298

  reproduced as appendix, 317–19

  Moore, Luisa, 152

  Moore, Roger, 147–8, 149, 150–1, 152–4, 156, 159

  Morley, Sheridan, 144

  Mountain of Diamonds, 158

  Mugabe, Robert, 201, 205, 216, 219

  Müller, Siegfried, 145

  Namib Desert, 109, 164, 207, 233

  Namibia, 90, 93, 110

  Natal Mounted Rifles, 38

  National Steinbeck Center, 263–4

  New York Times, i, 131, 150

  News Hour, 222

  Nile, 164, 234, 240, 242

  modern dam across, 235–7

  Niven, Cecily, 144

  Nobel Prize, 56, 222–3

  Nofal, Emil, 145

  The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway), 62, 258

  “On Flinders’ Face” (Smith), 25–8, 92

  Ord, George, 250

  Orwell, George, 87, 296–7

  Ossewa Brandwag, 225

  O’Toole, Peter, 143, 230

  Page, Geoffrey, 128

  Palestine, 136

  Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), 96–7, 206

  Pan Macmillan, 81, 107, 305–6

  Pelser, Quintus, 105

  Perelman, S. J., 26

  Pick, Charles, 56, 100, 104, 131, 143, 159, 221, 253, 296–300, 305

  as WS’s agent, 305–6

  Pick, Martin, 299

  Pienaar, Francois, 218

  Playboy, 96

  Playing the Enemy (Carlin), 218

  polio, 55, 69

  political correctness, 182

  The Power of the Sword (Smith), 207