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Author - Ley Kenyon |
| The British
author was not only a noted writer but a gifted artist and underwater photographer
and cameraman. His drawings are everywhere: like Hass's "Under the
Red Sea" and "Men and Sharks", and Peter Keeble's "Ordeal By Water", just
to name a few. On the acclaimed "Man and the Underwater World" by
Latil and Rivoir, not only did Ley Kenyon design the dust jacket, he's
the diver on the dust jacket. His drawings and paintings of course
were not just limited to dive matters. In 1974 (or thereabouts),
he teamed up with Kendall McDonald to produce a set of Tea Cards for the
British tea company called Brooke Bond, a series of fifty colelctable cards
called "The Sea Our Other World". McDonald wrote the text, whilst
Kenyon did the drawings.
He was a true war hero, one
of the forgers in the German WW2 prisoner of war event called The Great
Escape. All the forgers were rolled into one character played by Donald
Plescence in the famous film of that name; Kenyon advised on the book and
the film. He was a professional artist between the wars. Aftr capture
by the Germans, he continued to paint on scraps of paper from the Red Cross
parcels. His skill was noticed and he was the forger of the documents for
the escape committee. His work was so fine that it damaged his eyesight
and so was not allowed to escape, which saved his life as most escapees
were soon captured & shot. He painted and tought painting all his life
till he passed away in 1991.
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Lee Kenyon died 15 November 1990. |
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AQUALUNG DIVING
A Complete and Practical Guide to the Underwater World Ley Kenyon and Werner de Haas. First published under the title Tauch Mit by Albert Muller Verlag, AG, Zurich, 1959. Revised edition 1966. First published in England by George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1970. Hardcover, dustjacket, 348 pages, 120 drawings and 28 mono photographs. Covers the usual basic training, physiology and medicine; chapters on underwater photography, cinematography, underwater archaeoogy, fish and other inhabitants of the sea, diving clubs. [ps] |
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COLLINS POCKET GUIDE TO THE UNDERWATER WORLD
Diving in British and European Waters. Ley Kenyon. Published in 1956, Collins, London. Hardcover, dust jacket, 256 pages, many mono plates throughout. The author is a most experienced British diver who has worked with Cousteau. Of all the British diving books, this one is perhaps the best in that it covers a great deal of material particularly on underwater photography, marine life, and archaeology - but surprisingly short on physics and physiology. The photographs, particularly of equipment, are interesting. An importaant contemporary work and still a great read. Of high historic interest. [ps] |
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DISCOVERING THE UNDERSEA WORLD.
Lee Kenyon. Published by the University of London Press in 1961 Hardcover with dust jacket and 144 printed pages. Dimensions 20mm tall by 14mm wide. Contains 14 monochrome photographs and numerous drawings done by the author. Part 1 has details of a Mediterranean expedition, split into 8 parts with sections such as "The Sunken Harbour", "The Fish Hunt", "Wrecks Ancient and Modern" and "Deep Dive". Part 2 is a “Reference Section” covering subjects such as “Diving Today”, “Why Does Man Explore the Sea”, “Modern Diving”, and the “History of Diving”. The book concludes with a section entitled “Things to Do” like joining a club (the British Sub-Aqua Club) and it also gives a large list of possible books to read as well as help understanding "diving terms". Throughout, the whole book has illustrations done by the author himself and they are to a very high standard. The book is almost worth owning just for them. [pt] |
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