V. Charles Ward

I was born in Barking, East London to my parents Viv and Lilian. Dad was Chief Perfumer at May & Baker, Dagenham. Mum took various office jobs as we got older. When I was about 2 years old we moved as a family to Leigh on Sea, Essex where I lived with my parents and younger brother Phil. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. At 7 years old I started to take piano lessons but did not get beyond Grade 2. By listening to old '78' records I learned to play a mean boogie and joined several bands playing local gigs. One of my bandmates told me that he had got a job as a clerk with a local firm of solicitors. And that's how I got into the law. I got my first break when I got a job at Unilever's London-Blackfriars office in which I was able to specialise in commercial and residential real estate.

I began writing for publication when I got my first word processor back in 1990. It was an Olivetti. It made it easy to write because I didn't have to start-over whenever I made a mistake. I signed up for a writing correspondence course and began writing for professional journals.

I mainly write about the work I do. I began more than 30 years ago writing for Legal Executive Journal as well as a weekly law page for Local Government Chronicle (LGC) and Mainly for Students' articles for Estates Gazette. Encouraged by Cris Derby, the then managing director of LGC, I published my first book, Local Authority Companies - 1996, which sold out on a 1000 print run. My first significant book was Residential Leaseholders' Handbook, originally published 2006 by Estates Gazette, whose book portfolio was later transferred to International publisher, Taylor and Francis. I am about embark on a rewrite of that book for the same publisher. I have also published some books myself using the KDP self-publishing platform.

I have two adult sons, Steve and Andrew, with whom I am close. I am currently living in Hounslow, West London, with Farida, my partner of 35 years. And our tortoiseshell cat, 'Princess'.