Biography
Giller was born in London's East End in the first year of the Second World War, and was evacuated with his mother and three brothers to a Devonshire farm. Educated at Raine's Foundation Grammar School in Stepney, he left at 15 to become a copyboy with the London Evening News. He started his reporting career with the Stratford Express in West Ham (1957), and arrived at the Daily Express after employment as a sports sub-editor with Boxing News, the London Evening Standard and the Daily Herald.
Giller has worked extensively in PR and for ten years represented former boxing world champions Frank Bruno, John H Stracey, Jim Watt, Maurice Hope (all managed by his best friend Terry Lawless), and (for his European fights) Muhammad Ali ("He needed a PR like Einstein needed a calculator", says Giller). He wrote regular newspaper and magazine columns in harness with Eric Morecambe for nine years, and also had collaborations with comedians Benny Hill and Tommy Cooper. Giller was commissioned to write six Carry On novels, sequels to the popular films. He also scripted an adult pantomime for EastEnders co-stars Mike Reid and Barbara Windsor, and was chief scriptwriter for the Laureus World Sports Awards when they were staged in Monte Carlo.
He was married for 45 years to Eileen, who passed on in 2006. Giller has two grown children, Lisa and Michael and four grandchildren. When Eileen died following renal failure, Giller raised more than £15,000 for the Dorset Kidney Fund by building a Wall of Love on the internet.
Hoping to reach 100 books before he leaves this mortal coil, Giller is currently based in Hampshire in the Test Valley where he runs a sports facts, figures and research service with his son, Michael. They organize themed quiz nights. Giller and his partner, Jackie Wright, specialise in Powerpoint-supported presentations on such themes as the life and music of Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwin brothers and Frank Sinatra; also the Footballing Fifties and Sixties, and the life and times of Billy Wright and Denis Compton, plus an illustrated lecture for literary associations and clubs entitled 'If You Can Write A Postcard, You Can Write A Book'. Giller was webmaster for the recently disbanded Wessex branch of the Frank Sinatra Music Society.
Read more about this topic: Norman Giller
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