William J Makin Books

Willim James Makin (1893-1944) was a British journalist and author of popular adventure fiction. However, he also wrote about the real adventures that occurred in his life. He served in the British Army during the First World War, until he was gassed in the Somme in 1916. His journalistic career took him to India, Burma, Malaya, China and South Africa where he covered uprisings and rebellions for his newspapers. After the safari with the then Prince of Wales, Makin toured the Red Sea region before returning to Britain and becoming a fiction writer.

African Parade by William J Makin (1934) is Makin's account of Edward, Prince of Wales's big-game safari in Central Africa, which he accompanied in 1924. Subsequently he toured Africa from Cairo to the Cape and journeyed into Abyssinia with the Duke of Gloucester (brother of Edward). It is full of extraordinary anecdotes and observations of the Prince and his brother on safari. He said... "There is nothing so interesting to the civilised man as a beast in the jungle. It was this truism which decided me to write this book".

South Of Suez by Willim J Makin (c.1931) is a fascinating acount of Makin's travels in Africa.

Across The Kalahari Desert by William J Makin (1929) is the account of an expedition across the Kalahari using Morris motor lorries led by Captain Clifford. Makin was there as a South African press representative. Captain Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford was the Imperial Secretary/assistant to the High Commissioner but was not well liked by his boss, Sir Charles Rey, describing him as "bumptious, conceited and a cad" in his book 'Monarch Of All I Survey'. Captain Clifford and his party set out from Mahalapye, Bechuanaland, travelled by night and rested by day, and after a hazardous and adventurous Journey, reached Victoria Falls in 21 days.

Red Sea Nights by William J Makin (1932) is an account of the author's travels in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.

Swinging The Equator by William J Makin (1936) is the account of Makin's travel from Cairo to Capetown interspersed with tales of war, politics, big-game hunting, treasure hunting and gold mining that reads like an adventure story.