Harry Morris, aka 'Harry the Polis' was a serving officer for twenty-nine years in various interesting departments throughout the Strathclyde Police region.

He first began writing down the many funny stories that surrounded him as a way to brighten up the police internal newsletter and called it 'Morris's Motorcycle News', but making people laugh, soon became Harry’s real passion and so with so many Crime Novels Published, instead of writing about the various criminal characters and serious incidents he was involved with, he decided to go the opposite way and write about the funny side of policing, and so the beginning of his popular 'Harry the Polis' series of short stories, as told in his highly popular and hilarious book series.

A YOUNGER HARRY IN HIS DAYS AS A BIKER WITHIN MEIKLEWOOD ROAD GARAGE

Harry Morris is now an established 'Stand-Up Storytelling' entertainer, after dinner / guest speaker, actor, script-writer and author with half a dozen books to his name and a full length novel, centering around his native Glasgow, 'BORN TAE BE WIDE', due to be published in the Spring 2009.

AN INTERVIEW WITH HARRY MORRIS

STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY

Listening to Harry Morris talk is a bit like watching Billy Connolly do stand-up but without the swearing. Here is a man born for the role, to be an entertainer and it is not surprising to find that he has been in a band. He is the epitome of the convivial man in the pub, an author of tall tales and modern folk stories utilising typically Glaswegian language and humour.

Harry Morris is the author of the Harry The Polis series of books and speaks in a broad Glasgow dialect and sounds not unlike that other famous Glaswegian Billy Connolly. His sentences, like his books, are peppered with the word and expressions of the native Glasgow speaker.

With books titled Even the Lies are True, Even More Lies, Nuthin’ Like the Truth, Ye’re Never Gonnae Believe it and his most recent Aye, That Will Be Right! he creates a world from Glasgow’s past. A place where dim-witted villains, cheeky coppers and crafty locals run free.

Writing success has come late in life to Harry - he left school prior to his 15^th birthday to become a trainee butcher working and studying to become fully trained. At 17 years, he left to manage his own shop in Pollok where he stayed until he joined Strathclyde Police aged 21. He spent the next 29 years in the force, which is where he started writing short, funny stories about his experiences at work. Although he doesn’t think he would have made it into the police force if he applied today. He says: “I would never get in – they want brain surgeons these days and I was never one of those”.

He endorses that Marion his loving partner, whom he says, shares his madness, organised and published his first book, mistakes and all, as a surprise Christmas present! He negates such experiences by writing his stories: “It’s such a serious job – I would take something from my life, embellish it and make it funny”.

The retired copper has never considered writing serious crime stories because it is so pervasive in the news. Instead, he wants to make people laugh and cheer them up. He says, “I try to go the opposite way and write about the humour. I don’t want to make fun of the police, but I like to show the humour that’s within the police”.

His many fans include former policemen and even people who he has arrested although he sometimes has trouble remembering which is which. He says: “The great thing about doing signing sessions is that I see faces I know. I recognise the faces but I may not always remember the name. So if I think it’s a policeman, I’ll say ‘How you doing Big Man?'

He then spins me a tale about a man who came to see him at a book signing and asked him to come to the pub afterwards for a drink. He was convinced that the “big, tall boy with the shaved head” was a former policeman. It was only when he thanked Harry for arresting him that he realised who he was. It’s a testament to Harry’s good nature and broad appeal that even former crooks are fans. Still, he remarks: “It’s the quickest pint I ever had”.

Even his fans are the stuff and legend in his hands, at a Greenock signing session a ‘wee woman with a headscarf’ told him she had been waiting to see him for over a year because she had nearly died laughing at one of his books. Apparently, this woman had picked up his book from her local library and decided to go to bed early and read it. She reached one story and couldn’t stop laughing. She was conscious that her neighbours might hear her, so she pulled the duvet cover over her head and continued to laugh. She then proceeded to have a coughing fit and took a suspected heart attack and had to alert her neighbours with her personal alarm. Her neighbours had to break down her door and phone an ambulance and ended up in hospital. He asked her if she was all right now. She said: “Aye – and I’ll take these two books”.

Although Harry seems to be confidence personified there is a different more sensitive side to him. When he describes his writing it is always in a genuinely deprecatory manner. As if he doesn’t believe that he has that great a talent, which seems a marked contrast in comparison with his generally easy-going, exuberant nature.

This contrast is apparent when talking to him about his Harry The Polis books and his new novel, which he is in the middle of writing. He says: “My idea of writing is to make it simple and basic. I find Harry The Polis easy to write that way and I don’t lose the humour. It’s also because I’ve had the stories in my head for so many years”.

However, when talking about writing his new book, there is a significant change in mood: “I’m writing a novel”, he pauses, “sounds great doesn’t it? A ‘novel’.”

“I’m not an avid reader and that’s a big problem if you are a writer, right? And I don’t have a great concentration span - that’s why I write the books that I do – because mine are short stories and you can read them from the back, the front, the middle, anywhere and get a funny story and a laugh”.

However, once he starts to talk about his latest project ‘Born Tae Be Wide’, he physically relaxes. It’s a significant change in style from his other books and although there is some humour in it, it is not a wholly funny story. As Harry says, “There’s a bit of sadness to everything that I do”.

The plot focuses on four brothers growing up in 1950s Glasgow and is semi-autobiographical. It is a coming of age tale based on his own experiences growing up with his brothers and sisters in Plantation, Glasgow. It even incorporates the Morris’ family photographs from that period to illustrate the book.

The vulnerable side of Harry emerges further when he describes how he first started writing and how that happy period ended due to family commitments and a heavy work schedule. He says: “I loved writing song lyrics, poetry, short stories and had even submitted TV scripts to shows like Taggart, but that all stopped”.

During the interview, he often speaks of making up for lost time and he certainly seems to have achieved that with his vigorous, determined energy to succeed. His books, which have reached the top three in the humour book charts and were in all the major book shops and up until recently (May 2006) published and marketed by the man himself. This is very unusual in an age of publicists and managers but reflects the personality and style of Harry and he is certainly very capable to sell himself.

He says: “I got myself into every Ottakers, Borders and Waterstones shops, and 44 WH Smiths in Scotland in 2004. I was very lucky that I got such great reviews. It helped when I phoned up companies to tell them that my book had been described as a ‘gem of writing’.”

Harry believes that he succeeded where others fail because of his gift of the gab and his sheer enthusiasm. He worked hard to get profiles of his books into newspapers and on the radio. And he knew exactly how to market himself , “as the ex-cop writing about funny things that happen on the job”. He tried to create a “wee enigma” around his character and wasn’t above asking people to take pity on him publicising his own books on a shoestring.

His lucky break came about courtesy of a fan on Radio Clyde, Alex Dickson of the popular Authors and Paper-Back Bookcase programme. He had reviewed them and described them as “classics of our time”. It was thanks to his rave review of Harry’s third book Nuthin’ Like The Truth that made his current publisher Black and White Publishing sit up and take notice.

He spent six minutes of the twenty minute show on the book and mentioned how amazing it was that no publisher had ever “snapped him up” which lead to a deal being struck to publish his books. Harry says: “He was brilliant and mentioned my name fifteen times in those six minutes”.

However, he doesn’t intend to let success go to his head - not that he could after all, as he tells me his mother wouldn’t let him. He says: “My mother’s 82 and she doesn’t grasp that while her son used to be a police officer, he is now a successful author.

He tells the story of the time he was being interviewed and his mother called: “My phone started ringing so I answered it. My mother said ‘Harry, it’s your mother here. Where are you?’ So I told her that was in a radio station recording an interview with a well known celebrity. So she said, ‘Well see when you’re finished, will you stop off and buy me a pan loaf and a pint of milk.’ Typical mother y’know – she brought me straight back down to earth with a bang.”

Now, with a publishing deal under his belt, he plans to expand his empire. He outlines plans to create a Harry The Polis show combining some of his best stories, releasing an audio version of his books and writing a sequel to ‘Born Tae Be Wide’. Titled, 'Paper Knickers with a Whisky Chaser'!

He seems keen to create a reputation outside of his police stories and to escape from their success and expand his remit. As he told me “I want to be known as Harry Morris, not just Harry The Polis.”

THANK YOU… ... ... NICOLA JOHNSTON,

STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT HARRY IN HIS DAILY BLOG.