James Clarke

James Clarke (b. London 1934) has been a daily newspaperman in Britain, New Zealand and South Africa for most of his adult life. He is the author of 30 non-fiction books published in New York, London and South Africa.

In 1968 he wrote his first natural science book - "Man is the Prey" (London and New York) which examined the motives and methods of man-eaters and man-killers and was a best seller in the United States.

He had an abrupt switch in careers during the 1992 South African political crisis when he was asked to provide a daily dose of humour to cheer people up. Since then he has written nine books of humour .

His humour column - "Stoep Talk" in the Johannesburg Star - ran continuously for more than 20 years until 2013.

His book "Blazing Saddles" is an account of how, annually, he has led a band of six fellow newspapermen to explore "Darkest Europe and bring back to Africa tales of the funny natives there". An ebook version was published in 2011 on Amazon under the title "Blazing Bicycle Saddles".

This was followed in 2013 by two other books: "The Yellow Six" and "S*x for the Extremely Shy".

Another of his books - this one a serious natural science work investigating the rural African's view of wildlife - was published in 2012: "Save me from the Lion's Mouth.

Clarke lives north of Johannesburg,