Robert's Biography (yes, it's authorized!)
by Joyce Sandilands-Whittle

An Unplanned Career
In mid-1995, for the umpteenth time finding himself on crutches and unable to move around a great deal, my husband sat in front of his computer ... typing with 1-finger! (He says he can keep up to his thoughts this way.) Over the next few years, a wonderful new career began to take shape ... for having nothing else to do for the first time in his 62 years of life, Robert surprised us all by writing fiction ... and enjoying it! After that, a little voice in my head nagged so hard at me that in August 1998, I decided to publish the 3rd book he had written . . . Lizzie.

Robert now has 10 (by end of 2009) published novels, 3 of which are Canadian (BC) bestsellers. Each year he meets thousands of tourists and passersby in downtown Victoria, BC where he sells his books at his market stand at Bastion Square. This has been his position and passion for the past 9 years (April-Oct), and yes, some of these days are mighty cold! Some of the comments he hears are: "You are always so happy" or "friendly" or "good looking" or "what a wonderful voice you have" - the latter prompting us to produce an audio book of his bestselling book Lizzie and later, in 2005, a partial autobiography on CD entitled Laughing Through Life, Tales of a Yorkshireman.

Robert loves meeting his fans and prospective readers at markets, shows, and book signing events, although many now demand quite seriously, "Why aren't you home writing?" Have no fear readers, he's a fast writer and although he doesn't have much spare time he does make good use of it!  We are already planning the next book(s) for 2008 or '09 read what's new.

However, we need your help. From the reports we get, many thousands of you have already spread the word about our books and we thank you sincerely. Please don't stop. Without your help in persuading people to purchase (sorry, borrowing or loaning doesn't count!) these books, due to escalating costs, our publishing of Robert's wonderful books will be in jeopardy. So please spread the word to your friends, family, schools and libraries.  Ask them to purchase our books right here on this website or contact us - we now offer the same SPECIALS we have at Shows and some even lower DISCOUNTS (for online purchases only as phone order take more time) to help defray your postage cost! We want to show you we are appreciative that you purchase directly from Whitlands (our own company) where 100% of proceeds goes to the authors.                         

The Eldest Son
When you meet John Robert Whittle you are instantly impressed with his wonderful voice, ready smile and his 'largeness'.  At 6'2" this broad-shouldered Yorkshireman (born June 10th, 1933 in Grange Moor, lived in Lepton and Huddersfield) that I have known for 30 years is a gentle, loving, family man and a helpful friend to scores who have been lucky enough to meet him. Mind you, it could be said that I am slightly biased!

His lifetime of fascinating and unusual accomplishments has taken this raconteur/ entrepreneur to the four corners of the globe and blessed him with a remarkable life. Despite the normal family hardships of a poor working-class farm lad born pre-WW2 and the fact that he spent many, many months nursing serious work injuries in his early working life (due to his job as a mining engineer/disaster team leader), he remains the consummate happy-go-lucky fella. Bob loves people and kids in particular, loathing today's news stories that seem to relish in sensationalism and heinous acts. (You will discover as you read that this loathing is reflected in his writing, a style sans sex and gratuitous violence.)

This 'crazy Yorkshireman' or simply 'Uncle Bob', as many young people called him over the years, was the eldest son and second-born in a family of ten children. His parents were hardworking, happy, farming stock who taught him that hard work never hurt anyone. His father often said "I got me a hard-working horse when you were born, Bobby lad!"

Bobby Whittle, well-known in his village for an outgoing personality, was a scrapper even as a scrawny kid, who armed with secrets of defense gained from his pro wrestler grandfather, often took on bigger lad(s) in defense of others. His hardworking ethic began early in life getting up each morning at 4:30 am to milk the cows and deliver milk, even in the days before he added the 3- mile journey to school with his younger sister.  He was also a seasoned business-kid from the ripe-old-age of six thanks to his grandfather!!

But despite his full schedule, he somehow found the time to allow the love of sport to invade his young life playing soccer and County Cricket representing England at 13 years-of-age. He was particularly known for his skills at wicket keeping beginning at the age of 12  (trained by his mother throwing eggs - another story in itself!). At 16, he began a 10-year career as a highly sought after professional wicketkeeper around England, at the same time graduating from Leeds University as a Mining Engineer and having his own business on the side.

After graduating from Mining College with a Mining Engineering Degree at the age of 19, he was told that by British law he was too young to receive it and would have to rewrite the exams when he was 25! So, he was hired by the British Coal Board, who had given him the scholarship to university, recognizing his skills as those needed desperately in the dangerous field of underground coal mines. They were willing to wait until he was of age ... hiring him as a foreman and training him for the future.

Then, as a disaster team leader, he often suffered the consequences of the most extreme job of the era by spending too much of his early working life in hospital beds (however he certainly gained the respect and gratitude of the many lives he saved). Local hospital staff was often heard to comment that it was nice to have his pleasant personality around but they were sure glad to get back to normal when the fun-loving miner went back to work again.

In the mid-60s, he packed his family off to Australia seeking a quieter and less dangerous life. There, he soon found himself heading up a building crew in the Australian desert. From there in 1970, he moved in Winnipeg, Canada on a bet and again found himself working the extremes ... in the far north of Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, building a school and making friends of the Eskimos. He gained his Canadian citizenship in 1971, soon after arriving in Victoria, BC where he lives today. It was here in Victoria, Robert and I met some years later.  By the mid-80s we had formed a partnership, marrying some years later. In the meantime, he loved to dabble with his own business and as any true entrepreneur, he had several over the years and was never bored.

Robert's Stories
But let's move forward a wee bit...to the time of his first knee surgery in Feb 1994... knowing he would be out-of-commission for 6 weeks, I persuaded him to use our old XT to try his hand at writing. He had always entertained us by telling wonderful stories of his youth and I wanted him to begin his memoirs, particularly for his grandchildren and posterity. No one else is able to tell Robert's story quite like he can complete with Yorkshire and other dialects, a twinkle in his eye and a ready quip on his lips!

However, true stories were not in the cards for the moment and he began writing an adventure story of 18th C Yorkshire, a time he often said he wished he could have lived. Bob's mother must have fed him history from an early age when they lived in their Yorkshire farmhouse with its 18" stone walls because he remembers always having a thirst for the subject. He had also developed a wonderful ability to make-believe and these two interests quickly became intertwined. What developed next was the beginning of a horrific staph infection that over the next couple of years almost cost him his leg and would lay him up for the better part of four years. 

However, a miracle was also developing in the guise of three full-length novels!

An Unexpected Talent!
In his first book (unpublished to date), a historical novel about a lad named Josh, a storyline began to emerge of his beloved moors and some fascinating characters he quite possibly met in his youth. He read me bits and pieces and we were both amazed at his incredible ability to weave a story without any thought or planning. We had definitely found a hidden talent and with nothing but time on his hands he soon completed his first full-length novel. By the time his R&R ended after a major knee-replacement surgery almost four years later, he had completed his third full-length title!

It was this third novel that we found ourselves self-publishing in the Fall of '98.  As Robert was now a Senior Citizen, we decided not to waste any time waiting for the big break! So when Deborah Wright, of Precision Proofreading offered to help us proofread our manuscript, we jumped at the opportunity.

As a result, Lizzie: Lethal Innocence, a novel set in early 1800s England about a young girl much like Robert himself had been as a youngster, was born. We formed our own publishing company and began learning the ropes about the publishing business ... but we had no idea what we were in for! However, 2,000 copies and 16 months later we launched our first sequel, Lizzie's Secret Angels. We figured we must be doing something right with readers demanding a sequel and, as he had already written it (Lizzie is his favourite character), we obliged!

On April 1st, 2000, Lizzie's Secret Angels was introduced to eager fans at the Victoria Art Gallery, our first and only official Book Launch as from here on we usually launched each new book at whatever show we were attendion. Lizzie sales reached Canadian Best Seller status by late 2000. Today, we are into our 3rd printing - a magnificent feat for a self-published book of fiction, we were told! Over the next five years, we released the Victoria Chronicles Trilogy and the last two books of the Lizzie Series. The trilogy became hot sellers at the markets and shows we attended due to their factual content and his already well-loved style of no sex or graphic violence. These books became Robert's next two bestsellers and a Gold Medal winner in the 2000 IPPY Awards.

In 2003, we branched out into Audio Books (CD, MP3 and Tape) with Joyce narrating Leprechaun Magic and Robert doing a masterful job with Lizzie: Lethal Innocence (unabridged). You'll find more information on our audio page.

To purchase our books, if you can't get to our local BC shows etc., they're available through this website. Some Vancouver Island, BC. bookstores also carry our titles. We have been literally blown away by the success of all our books and by 2004 were being read in approx. 45 countries, every US State, and all over Canada thanks mainly to our sales to tourists and local readers.

Our Marketing Efforts
Over the past nine years we've attended appox. 1200 market/show days selling our books in all kinds of weather and often frigid cold. We've met literally thousands of wonderful supportive people and always many who are shocked to hear we've done this all ourselves! We sold books at the BC Ferry Terminal Crafters Market at Swartz Bay and Robert has been in Bastion Square for seven years now.

In 2003, Robert turned 70 on June 10th and family, friends and fans feted him at a local restaurant where he gave an impromptu talk telling us some hilarious stories of his young life in Yorkshire. In March 2004, Robert told more of his stories at another event attended by fans with Joyce producing, Laughing Through Life - a compilation of these wonderful true-life stories on CD, was ready for sale in late 2005. The picture at left shows Robert blowing out the candles on the wonderful 'book' cake our OA, Tara Poilievre made for the event.

In November and December, we attend numerous Christmas Craft Shows on Vancouver Island and the BC Mainland. Yes, we're trying to slow down a bit but Robert only seems to know about high gear. He says he's been working hard all his life and he loves it, especially if he's making money. We don't take many holidays so mostly we're at home always producing the next one for our fans. It's become a labour of love that we don't see to want to stop.

And for the record, yes, Robert is still writing when he can find the time. Have no fear, he is well ahead of his editor and publisher and there are always books/stories waiting to be published as time and finances permit. Check our newsletter page for news on upcoming titles.

Thanks for your support and for taking the time to visit us. We hope you'll come back often. If you would like to go on our mailing list just contact us.

Now, go and do something nice for yourself or someone you care about . . .

visit our book pages and buy a bestselling novel by J. Robert Whittle!!