University News Last updated 18 March 2014
Birmingham School of Media, part of Birmingham City University, will host a free event this week highlighting the importance of investigative journalism and its relevance to academic research.
In Tim Crook’s inaugural lecture for his appointment as Visiting Professor at the Birmingham School of Media, he will discuss the importance of investigative journalism and its close relationship with, and relevance to, academic research.
In 2005 the actor and poet Mike Shannon and his son Richard, an award winning playwright and director, asked Tim to help them do some family research into Mike’s father who apparently died in the battle of El Alamein in October 1942.
What he uncovered was more than Mike had bargained for. Not only did he introduce Mike to a huge family of half brothers, a half sister, nieces and nephews he hadn’t known about, he also revealed the fact that his father was one of the most significant popular thriller, spy and romance writers of his age, the author of 24 published novels widely praised and celebrated throughout the English speaking world. Tim discovered that Mike’s father’s involvement in intelligence and espionage extended beyond the fictional boundaries.
His father lived in cover and was as fictional as the characters in his books. The reality was devastating, but the visceral human consequences turned out to be warm and life-changing. Mike passed away in December 2010. The story, if that is the right word, continues.
The event takes place at Birmingham City University's City Centre Campus on Thursday 20 March at 5.30pm. To register to attend, e-mail Linda.Watts@bcu.ac.uk.