damian-boyd-otleyDamian Boyd-Otley

Damian was born on Thursday 28th April 1960 in Andover in Hampshire.

He has spent almost all of his life in the beautiful county of Cumbria - famous for the Lake District. He is the son on Desmond Boyd-Otley 1925 to 2014, and Aileen Boyd-Otley 1931 to 2015.

Damian is best known as a Poet and Author for children and young adults.

He was a full-time carer for his parents during their last years. He is a member of ‘Writers as Carers’ - a group within the ‘Society of Authors’ of which he is a member.

Damian is an avid reader of books, his favourite authors include: Jane Austen, The Brontes, Marcel Proust and any Shakespeare play.

He also enjoys Latin literature - although his Latin is ‘pretty pedestrian’ - so he uses a large dictionary.

Damian is a member of the following societies:

  • The Walsingham Association
  • The Latin Mass Society
  • The Keys - Catholic Writers’ Guild
  • The Society of Authors
  • The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
  • Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust
  • Butterfly Conservation
  • The Edinburgh branch of ‘The Clarsach Society’

Noel - a young persons novel by Damian Boyd-Otley

The novel ‘Noel’, is written for the ages of 12+/young adults.

It is a supernatural/fantasy in design, and tells of a supernatural cat with magical powers who interferes in the lives of human beings. The humans are Pete and Ruth Jerome and their son Peter, all based in England, and Ned Terry, a young actor in Los Angeles. Ned is a pretty spineless character, and eventually betrays Noel - but Noel isn’t the type of person to meddle with.

The novel travels back in time to 1938…. but I’ll tell you no more.

The origins of the story… parts of the manuscript were written in June 1979, not long after Damian’s’ 19th birthday… he had the germ of the idea of the novel from researching into  the legends and myths of the ‘cat-wizards’ of Provence during the middle ages. These ‘cat-wizards’, were men with occult powers who spent part of their lives as humans, and the other times disguised in the form of cats…., Damian fount this somewhat intriguing as an inquisitive 19 year old… so the idea as born, in fact a star was born - called Noel…. the four hundred year old Tomcat who could sing, play the piano and generally re-arrange lives at will, no comparison to Noel Coward is intended… honestly.

If you would like to download the original manuscript of Noel, please click here.