The Hero Maker

"The Dam Busters, The Great Escape and Reach for the Sky were all written by Paul Brickhill, an Australian hero of WWII. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth and the 25th anniversary of his death. In 1953, Paul Brickhill was the highest-earning author in Britain, with four highly successful books in four years including The Dam Busters, The Great Escape, and Reach for the Sky u story of legless fighter pilot Douglas Bader u...
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"The Dam Busters, The Great Escape and Reach for the Sky were all written by Paul Brickhill, an Australian hero of WWII. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth and the 25th anniversary of his death. In 1953, Paul Brickhill was the highest-earning author in Britain, with four highly successful books in four years including The Dam Busters, The Great Escape, and Reach for the Sky u story of legless fighter pilot Douglas Bader u three of which would also become hugely successful movies. Only years later would Brickhill recognise his formula for success: his books had created a cast of British heroes, in a dour postwar time when Britain needed them. Today, Brickhill's legacy endures: his war books continue to sell, the BBC has announced plans to make a miniseries of The Great Escape, Lord of the Rings producer Peter Jackson plans a remake of The Dam Busters, and Simon Pearson's 2014 book The Great Escaper, a biography of doomed Great Escape leader Roger Bushell, has become a UK bestseller. Yet there has never been a biography of Paul Brickhill, who died in Sydney in 1991 aged 74. Award-winning Aust