Martin Gordon
Animo Non Astutia|“By Bravery Not Deceit”
Read a sample from my autobiography “No Love Here”.
"We don't publish fiction" a publisher told Martin Gordon, after reading a synopsis of "No Love Here". It has been said that 'truth is stranger than fiction'. This remarkable book strongly supports that theory.
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Quote of the Week
'The lion sleeps- rest in peace, Cesar.' Words attached to Sir Rod Stewart's wreath for Billy McNeill.
The Man
Who is martin Gordon? This is A difficult question to answer, as one may be accused of egotism in the process. I recall one night outside a theatre in Limerick, when I was being abused by some angry people who had been disappointed by a concert I had staged that night; and may I say so with justification. Eventually, one young lady said to the others: “He sounds like a nice man.” That is how I have always thought of myself: “A Nice Man.”
But after the priesthood I met many men who were not so nice. This came as a shock to me, reared for so long in the safe environment of the seminary. Even in the confessional I had not met such evil as I was to come across in my business life. I became a print rep- resentative for a firm called Donbro Ltd. And after four years had become its Sales Director. Part of this success was down to being a ”Nice Man.” But corruption also played its part, as many printers paid ‘back-handers’ to print buyers. I found this part of the job distasteful. My part in this was to hand over the monthly brown envelopes to the company’s clients.
Entertaining was also a large a part of my job. So it was not unusual to find me giving lunch to a client before the cup final at Wembley, and then entertaining him to dinner in a West End restaurant afterwards. I would book a table for a number of clients and their wives each November and December for the Catholic Stage Guild Ball - I had once been their chaplain at Sadler’s Wells - or the Variety Club Ball, both held in either the Dorchester or Hilton Hotels. It was indeed a hard life.
To sum up about the man, Martin Gordon: he has always been motivated by his religion to be kind and helpful to his fellow man and by the Gordon clan motto:
“By Bravery Not Deceit”.
I leave it to others to say if I have lived up to them.