When Edward Ormondroyd was about thirteen, his family moved from
Pennsylvania to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He and a friend began to read
Arthur Ransome's boating stories and, inspired by the adventures of
the Swallows, built their own fourteen-foot sailboat and tried to
re-create that English magic on the Huron River.
In 1943 he graduated from high school and joined the Navy. Destroyer
Escort 419 was his home for the next two years. "When the war was
over, she looked in on China and Korea, and came home. She did show me
San Francisco Bay at dusk. One look convinced me that I would like to
live by it; and I have, ever since."
After the war, Mr. Ormondroyd went to the University of California at
Berkeley. He graduated in 1951, and since then has been busy writing,
sailing as able seaman aboard a tanker, and working as a bookstore
clerk and machine tender. He lives in Berkeley, California. He is
married and has one son.
It was while Mr. Ormondroyd was at college that David and the Phoenix
first intruded into his consciousness. "_One day, when I was walking
across campus, I had a sudden vision of a large and pompous bird
diving out of a window, tripping on the sill, and falling into a rose
arbor below. I had to explain to myself why the poor bird was in such
a situation in the first place, and what became of it afterwards. The
result of my investigation was_ DAVID AND THE PHOENIX."
* * * * *