Peter Fieldman

Peter Fieldman was born in North London in 1943. After a grammar school education he took a gap year. He first worked in a factory in France’s Dordogne region to improve his knowledge of French as well as appreciate the delights of French food and wine. Then he crossed the Atlantic to live in the United States; an adventure, which began dramatically the day after President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. On his return to Europe an interest in bullfighting led to several visits to Spain during Franco’s regime, following Hemingway’s footsteps in Pamplona and Madrid.

He began a career in advertising, journalism and public relations in London but

having fallen in love with France at an early age he seized the opportunity to work in Paris and found himself on the left bank in May 1968 witnessing the student uprising and the last years of Charles de Gaulle’s presidency as well as meeting his future Italian wife.

His life turned into a tale of two cities alternating between London and Paris. As well as writing he discovered an interest in real estate and was at the forefront of the British expansion across Europe investing and developing offices and shopping centres for an international real estate company.

As a committed European he also became involved in politics standing as a liberal candidate in Kensington and took a backseat role in his wife’s London restaurant looking after the wine, which became a passion.

During this period he and his wife purchased a property in Sussex, from where he took friends to Battle Abbey and made numerous trips across the channel to the Somme and Normandy, gaining an excellent knowledge of the two world wars and especially the Norman invasion of England.

In 1988 with his wife and two sons he finally said goodbye to England and returned to France acquiring a property close to the Mediterranean coast near Aix en Provence. Although investing in real estate in Marseille and Aix, as a member of the NUJ he regularly contributed articles and photographs on European topics.

In 2003 he and his wife spent a sabbatical year in Spain to study at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid joining one of their sons living in the Spanish capital. Their other son spends his time between London and Beijing. After more than two years of research the historical novel, 1066 The Conquest, was published in London in 2009. After two visits to the Cannes Film Festival his screenplay based on the book has yet to be taken up by a production company. His award-winning blog: “Peter’s Views” - www.pfieldman.blogspot.com - covers a wide variety of topics with stories and images from around the world.

Finding himself between Paris and Madrid at the outset of the financial crisis he became disenchanted with the political and corporate world and the greed and corruption, which had become endemic in so many countries. It was while in Madrid in 2011 that he followed the Los Indignados demonstrations and read Stephane Hessel’s book “Time for Outrage.” It was the catalyst for researching and writing “The World at a Crossroads.”

Although Peter and his wife still retain the villa near Aix en Provence they divide their time between Paris, Madrid and his wife’s home city, Florence.