Shaun Lawton - Early Days

Early Days

Lawton was born in the iron-ore mining village of New Marske, in North Yorkshire. In 1944, his mother took him and his sick baby sister down to friends in Brighton. On the way they were caught in V1 and V2 raids in London, which was being evacuated, and had to take shelter. When the war was over they returned home to the north. From age 10 one of his chores was to gather seacoal from the beach with his father during the hard winter months. This was a fine black coal-grit dumped on the beach by the turning tide. This generally meant very early mornings in the dark as the tide was going out, often in blizzards and bitter north-easters, before others got there first and took it all away to sell on the streets.
His college football team was coached by Brian Clough and he was impressive enough to be offered a tryout for Middlesbrough Juniors as goalkeeper. He didn't take up the offer and because his parents were unable to finance his further education which meant he had to leave college prematurely, he instead took up a job in the petrochemical industry at Wilton ICI where he stayed for the next eleven years.
During this period, particularly the long night shifts, he began to write poetry and short stories. He also made several attempts at running the notorious Lyke Wake Walk - 41 miles across the hostile terrain of the North York Moors, finally getting his time down to an acceptable 8 hours. The long miles across barren moor helped to stimulate his fantasy. He was also responsible for starting a flying saucer scare, arousing a lot of interest. He then assumed the role of amateur astronomer and contacted the local press, expounding his theories on the possibility of life on other planets. Suitably convinced they printed his explanations in the evening editions.