There are a number of specific places in South Africa that are firmly lodged in my memory of earlier years. Most contain happy memories, some not so much and some are a mix of happy and sad. Hillbrow falls into the latter category. The Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow was largely developed after World War II. […]
Chris writes video scripts (one written, directed and presented by Chris) , weekly blogs plus the life story of Peter Warren and his creation of ExoBrain.
Chris writes first science fiction comedy for the new black TV channels, followed by other popular drama series.
Chris helps pioneer entertainment movies written specifically for black audiences.
When I was still working in the local South African film industry, probably in the 1980s, I met Diana Ginsberg and Lionel Friedberg. Lionel was an up-and-coming cinematographer in the local industry and Diana was a really creative film editor. They later married and went to Los Angeles where they both carved out successful careers […]
After leaving school in 1954 and travelling 2,500 miles by train from outside Durban on the East Coast to the West Coast of Southern Africa, I arrived in Walvis Bay in Namibia. Walvis Bay has had a curious history. It was first visited by the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias in 1487 on his expedition to […]
I have briefly mentioned the Kingdom of Lesotho in an earlier blog. Let me start with the story of my first, rather bizarre trip in the 1960s to the beautiful mountainous enclave, completely surrounded by South Africa. It is, in fact, the only independent state in the world that is entirely 3,281 feet above sea […]
I’ve mentioned my dad quite often in my blogs, but not in great detail. I’ve just spent a few days recently considering what kind of a person he was – in particular, what kind of a father was he to me. I’ll start with his family background which greatly influenced his life, especially as a […]
In 1982, on a bus trip between Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles (three days and three nights), I got talking to one of the drivers, an African American. We discussed sport, mostly rugby versus American football. Then he said, “Guess who I think is the greatest athlete in the world today?” Bearing in mind that […]
Harry worked on the gold mines in South Africa all his life. He had three children and a loving wife; they lived in the unfashionable suburb of Rosettenville in Johannesburg. Despite his modest income, he somehow managed to send his two sons to St. John’s College, one of the top five private schools in South […]