The Man Who Never Sleeps

The Man Who Never Sleeps is the autobiography of Tom Bell, who was the man chosen by Rupert Murdoch when he needed someone to help him revolutionise his newspaper empire in the UK.

What became known as the Wapping Dispute back in the middle years of the 1980s was a major gamble for Murdoch.

He believed that his News International business was at risk from left wing activists who he believed were targeting his papers.

Whether or not he could succeed was based on the idea of getting his newspapers through the massed militant pickets that were targeting his new Wapping base of operations.

How could he make sure this happened? He turned to Tom Bell, who had earned the nickname The Man Who Never Sleeps.

His start in life wasn't a wealthy one. No silver spoon in Tom's mouth. And his parents were so poor in their native Scotland that they resorted to the ruse of wallpapering his bedroom with sporting news pages. There was a lot of love, but not much money.

But three decades later and with a mixture of ruthless determination leavened with a natural compassion for his fellow men and women, it was Tom that helped Murdoch break the stranglehold that the print unions had had on Fleet Street for many decades, responsible for ensuring that the printed newspapers of the group were distributed throughout the United Kingdom in trucks owned and operated by the TNT courier firm.

However, it's not all about business in Tom's life; He has also helped raise millions of Ponds to ensure that the lives of tens of thousands of children who are disadvantaged by reason of poverty or mental and physical health problems were vastly improved. It was for this reason that Tom met the Queen and earned an OBE.

It's written in conjunction with David Walker and is an entertaining and engaging read.

It's published by The Book Guild at £12.99.