C. J. Bruce

Chris Bruce was born in England and educated in Namibia and South Africa. After a long career in the construction industry in South Africa, Namibia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Oman and the United Arab Emirates and a spell setting up and operating a fresh and processed sausage factory in Bangkok, he finally retired to Hua Hin in Thailand. Not being Thai, unable to speak the language, no longer a part of the construction “EXPAT NETWORK”, it was not long before he became somewhat bored with life. One way to alleviate the boredom was to write. He decided to use his knowledge of the sausage industry to write a book of sausage recipes, The Gourmet’s Guide to Making Sausage Vol. I. This was followed by Vol. II and two volumes of liqueur making methods and recipes, The Connoisseur’s Guide to Making Liqueurs Vols. I and II. After completing the recipe books and realizing that many people do not have much time to read a little humor he encouraged friends from around the world to send him jokes, anecdotes and cartoons by email. This resulted in eight humorous books under the banner of the TAKE ME TO THE TOILET SERIES which include Plain Funny, Plain Funny Too, Plain Family Fun, Funny But Risqué, Funny But Risqué Too, Golfing Stories, Gay Tales and Great Tales for Grandpa to Tell; all intended for reading on planes, trains and buses and in the “Thunderbox”, as it used to be called, that most private of places where the internet, the source of much modern humor, is not normally accessible. The series has added much amusement to the otherwise idle moments spent in the “BOX” by numerous readers. His most recent book is Autobiography of an Unknown Man; it’s the story of his life from his birth in war torn England, his family’s emigration to Namibia and his childhood and primary schooling there and high school and university in South Africa, his successes and failures in the construction industry including piloting and crashing his own aircraft, his company, Hochland Construction, which continued construction along the Namibian/Angolan border throughout the South African/Angolan Border War and suffered land-mine, rocket and mortar attacks and ambushes. After moving Hochland Construction to South Africa and its initial success it collapsed under the effects of sanctions imposed on South Africa by the UN. The company's collapse was followed by a broken marriage and Chris' move to the Far and Middle East in pursuit of re-establishing his self esteem and construction career and another failed marriage before meeting and marrying his Thai wife and retiring to Hua Hin in Thailand.