Paul Menzies
Author, historian and photographer of the North East.
A well-established North East author, Paul Menzies has worked for more than thirty years to inspire a renaissance of interest in the history and heritage of the North East of England. After graduating in history and education at Nottingham Paul travelled across the world working and learning ‘about life’ from other cultures. This included working with the military forces in Oman, teaching in Switzerland, Abu Dhabi and a stint as a soccer coach in North America. Inspired to set up in business, Paul ran his own successful company, Memory Lane Enterprises. A successful career in teaching saw Paul rise to the role of Deputy Headteacher in one of the evolutionary City Academies. Alongside this Paul became an established author, presenter and freelance interviewer across the media; since his retirement from education he has devoted his time to his writing, broadcasting and developing his new company, Images North East.
Following on from his first successful commission in 1985 to write about his home town of Billingham, Paul has gone on to write many books on the North East. His most recent book was ‘Middlesbrough and the Great War’ published by History Press to mark the centenary of the event and was accompanied by a radio series of the same name which he wrote. An exhibition on World War One, held in the Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough, accompanied the book. He confesses to being proud that his audio pieces on aspects of the war and the North East region, featured on the BBC World War One website, will be available in perpetuity.
Other commissions have included working with a number of other authors including Dr Peter Meadows of Cambridge University on his two volumes recording the Lost Houses of Durham and North Yorkshire. More recently he has been a contributor to Middlesbrough Gazette’s ‘Remember When’ as well as Middlesbrough Football Club’s matchday programme. He has also worked as a historical consultant including Granada Television’s ‘In Suspicious Circumstances’, and the acclaimed ‘ICI – 75 Years on Teesside’. Another commission was for the British Film Institute’s exciting Mediatheque project launched to media acclaim in Newcastle in July 2010. A testimony to his work as an author was his inclusion in the Northern Echo’s ‘Who’s Who in the North-East’.
Paul has made regular media appearances on both radio and television. He wrote and co-presented with TV presenter Diane Youdale a successful series of informative local history about the hidden past of Teesside for BBC Tees in 2009 and 2010. He was the author of the accompanying material on the BBC Tees website. In 2013 a BBC Tees programme celebrated Paul’s thirty years as an author promoting the North East of England. Since 2015 Paul has had a weekly broadcast on BBC looking at the history of the region working with a number of presenters including John Foster, Gary Philipson, Paul Gough and currently Bob Fischer. Paul has also made several appearances on BBC and ITV regional television too.
Never satisfied with just ‘the day job’ Paul has continued his interest in history gaining a Master of Arts degree and then researching for his PhD, focusing on the historical development of the North East of England. The latter remains unfinished yet – allegedly a task for his future retirement! Meanwhile Paul is actively involved in continuing his work as an author and broadcaster, as well as extending his collection of superb photographs of his first love – the North East of England. Through his company, Images North East he continues to promote the historical cultural and artistic heritage of the region.
