Mike Lord

Mike Lord was born in London within the sound of Bow Bells, just as the WW2 was about to explode. He was evacuated to the country as a small boy and then was brought up in Berkshire. His family moved to various places, including three years in Singapore from 1949, which had a curious effect on his later life. Mike has spent the vast majority of his working life in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, and now lives and works in Vietnam. Mike became a consultant by accident when a local work colleague in Lagos in Nigeria asked him to visit his upcountry pig farm. The pigs had partially lost the use of their back legs and Mike remembered reading an article, probably in the New Scientist, about the effect of a vitamin deficiency in pigs. He advised his colleague to feed his pigs on the papaya fruit which grew plentifully around the pig farm, and some vitamin supplements and the pigs recovered. The colleague, who became a lifelong friend, spread the news of Mike’s diagnosis and demands for his services abounded, in particular among the military governors in various states in Nigeria at that time. Mike likes to read the history of the various countries in which he is working, and particularly in Asia. He discovered, for instance, that the Pashto language of Yusufrai Pathans, in the Swat valley in the North West Frontier province in Pakistan, was first translated into English by a medical officer in the British Army in Afghanistan in the late 19th century, and that in Ceylon the Mahawansa was discovered by a British colonial officer, who was stationed in a provincial town in the early 20th century. The Mahawansa contains a great deal of the written history, not just for Sri Lanka but also for a large part of northern India, and a great deal of mythology from the sub-continent. Mike has lived and worked in Vietnam since 1997, where he lives in a provincial city with his wife, and has constant stream of visitors from the families of their seven adult children. Last year he completed an historical novel featuring the beautiful wife of the 18th century Emperor Quang Trung, who is still revered all over Vietnam.