Michael Briggs

The Probably True Adventures of Sparky Malone Michael Briggs

The Probably True Adventures of Sparky Malone is a roller coaster story of one man's life and adventures around the world, starting in 1941 and finishing seventy years later.

During those seventy years we follow Sparky through childhood, always up to some sort of mischief, often in trouble in a harmless and amusing sort of way. Then we watch him achieve his ambition of going to sea in the British Merchant Navy, despite much resistance by his father. His travels take him all over the world as a ship's radio officer, during a time of huge change and the building of a new world order after the ravages of the second World War.

Throughout his life he is never far from trouble, and often close to danger.

Sparky loved mountains and the sea in equal measure, and found endless opportunities to enjoy himself, continuing to seek adventure wherever he was. Eventually he would leave the merchant navy after eight years' service, he knew it was time to come ashore and carve out a different future for himself. His new life allowed him to enjoy the mountains more often, and over the years he would climb numbers of alpine peaks, and successfully reach the summit of the Matterhorn via the Hornli ridge. Over a forty-year time span he visited the Himalayas and Everest a total of four times, taking part in the Everest marathon in the year 2000.

Life was not all plain sailing, and Sparky would be involved in a number of personal, devastating tragedies and crises as the years rolled by. He knew what it felt like to fall from grace, and to be almost penniless on more than one occasion. Sparky trusted people, and found to his cost what happens when more ruthless and dishonest forces get to work. But through all of this he would fight back and overcome, re-establishing himself in the work he loved.

Within the pages of this fascinating story the reader will live through those fantastic years of history, things that in the 21st century will probably only be remembered by a certain generation of people...it was of their time. However younger people all over the world are urged to dip their toes into the not so distant past, and immerse themselves in a period of time which has contributed immensely to our lives in the world today.

"Apart from the great adventure of it all, I would like to think that this tale leaves the reader with a sense of understanding that within the spirit of Sparky, they are left knowing that they too should never give up..."