H
e moved to France in 1973 and began a succession of contrasting careers, beginning with tour guiding and teaching English to Parisian businessmen. Over the next two years, he drafted the first version of “Zandernatis – the legend of our fantastic prehistory” in which he incorporated all the symbolic and visionary images he would never have the time – or the skill – to paint.
Crucially, this version included the description of how the ancient source texts were found in the “Haakon Urns” under the Antarctic ice in 1962. It also included a chronology of the Zandernation kings and a comprehensive bibliography of all the documents contained in the Urns. The original 190,000 word typescript was submitted to a few publishers, who judged it “too ambitious for a first book”.
D
uring the next fifteen years, Gordon played many roles. These included heading a team of 40 teachers at a major Parisian language school and then starting his own communications coaching, language teaching, creative translation and copywriting business serving over a dozen agencies in the huge Publicis Communications Group. In 1994, Gordon and his family moved to Nîmes in the south of France.
The internet and e-mail were just taking off, allowing him to work with his highly diverse range of international clients remotely. During these years, he honed his journalistic, creative writing and copy editing skills in an incredibly diverse range of fields for every imaginable type of audience; perfect grounding for what was coming next...
When the "Unwritten Legend" of 1970 was finally born !