1st November: LS Lowry and National Author's Day

L S (Laurence Stephen) Lowry was born on this date in 1887. Here are 10 things you might not know about Lowry:

Photo: A. Carty at en.wikipedia

1. He never gave up his day job. After leaving school with no qualifications he joined Pall Mall Property Company as a rent collector, and stayed there for 42 years, until he retired. All his art studies were on a part time basis, although the firm allowed him extra annual leave to pursue his art.
2. Although he depicted working class scenes, he was a lifelong Tory voter.
3. He holds the record for turning down honours - he refused an OBE, a CBE, appointments to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) and a knighthood.
4. He never married, and claimed he was a virgin at the age of 88.
5. He was an official war artist in 1943, and the official artist at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
6. Lowry enjoyed attending Football matches and was an ardent supporter of Manchester City.
7. An intensely private person, there are numerous tales about his eccentricity although they may not be true. When he became famous, strangers would call at his house and he hated it. His strategy for getting rid of them was allegedly to leave a suitcase by the front door so he could pretend he was about to leave. Until one day a particularly helpful young man insisted on giving him a lift to the railway station, forcing him to actually go through the charade of buying a ticket and hoping the young man didn't notice it was only for the next station. Another story is that he had a collection of clocks in his home, all set to different times. He would say to some people that he didn't want to know what the real time was, and to others that he didn't want to be deafened when they all chimed at once.
8. Prime Minister Harold Wilson, used Lowry's painting The Pond as his official Christmas card.
9. In February 2011 a bronze statue of Lowry was installed in the basement of his favourite pub, Sam's Chop House.
10. Not all his paintings were of industrial scenes and "matchstick men". After his death, a series of erotic drawings was found. These are kept at the Lowry Centre but are not on display. If you want to see them, you have to ask.

Today is also National Authors Day This celebration was first proposed by Mrs. Nellie Burt McPherson to celebrate American authors and to encourage and inspire new authors. It has been celebrated on November 1, since 1928. 

I'll be celebrating now that I'm officially an author, and have sold some books, even though I'm not American! 

You can help me celebrate by buying my book, Death and Faxes, a ghostly crime story: 

Paperback  Amazon 

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle (Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free!)