Mike Upton

Mike Upton was a highly successful businessman who retired in 2005 from full time corporate work and now devotes his time to running his own specialist business consultancy and writing novels - Ambition's End and it's sequels Winners Never Lose, Vortex Rising, The Last Change, The End is Always Final, followed by Arrow of Truth, The Boss, A Twist in the Tale, Footprints in the Snow, Open to Persuasion, A Surrogate Dilemma, The Track in a Forest and now his latest, The Beta File all of which have been published by Authorhouse

Mike's international business career spanned some 40 years, starting in quite a humble way in a London office of a Multinational company. He held Chief Executive and Managing Director appointments for many years and during his career he worked in America, Europe, Africa, South America and of course the UK.

Educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon, he was a keen member of the cadet force, rugby player and swimmer where he set many swimming records several of which lasted for a number of years after he left school. He left with a small clutch of 'O' levels and after a short working cruise on a Greek oil tanker joined an insurance brokers in London. He found this boring and so after a year he moved to the London office of Colman Foods part of the international company Reckitt and Colman.

It was here his career started to develop as he quickly showed the flair and business acumen together with a determination to work hard which characterised his subsequent business life. Like Mark - the central character in Ambition's End, Winners Never Lose, Vortex Rising, The Last Change and The End is Always Final - Mike himself fought his way up the corporate ladder until reaching positions of authority.

He spent some thirty years with Reckitt and Colman before being head hunted by the multinational Swiss owned food company Hero where he accepted an appointment to run their UK soft drinks business.

After three years he left to join a fruit business in Kent where he spent two years as Chief Executive helping them re-organise and become more efficient. Then a two year spell in the Midlands as Managing Director working with another soft drinks company, before his final Managing Director appointment with Greencore, an Irish based multinational where he ran their largest fresh food division, following which he set up his own business consultancy which he ran for ten years before retiring to concentrate on charity work and full time writing. Mike is therefore well qualified to write about corporate life, the trials and tribulations, the battles, the winning and the losing.

Although not autobiographical, Mike's books do draw on his extensive personal knowledge and the stories are carefully and well crafted bringing the inside of major companies into an easy to read and enjoyable format.

His third novel Arrow of Truth, although still set within the business world, departs from giant Multinational Corporations of his two previous novels and is instead set within a family owned food manufacturing business located in Norfolk which has run into financial difficulties. It is also different in that it is Mike's first "who-dun-it". His 4th book, The Boss, tells the story of a woman accountant struggling to build her own consultancy business while battling against the scourge of alcoholism. A moving and thought provoking story. A Twist in the Tale, Mike's fifth book represents a change in style and is a collection of four different stories. What is common to them all is that they each have an unexpected or unusual ending - not what the reader would be expecting. Also unexpected are the endings in, Footprints in the Snow, and The Track In A Forest, two books of ghost stories. You may find the hairs on the back of your neck rising as you come to the end of each of the stories! Ambitions End, Winners Never Lose, Vortex Rising, The Last Change and The End is Always Final is a series of 5 books each leading on from the previous title and all featuring the same central character - Mark Watson. They chart his life, career, wheeling and dealing, marriages and many affairs as he exerts his own unique brand of ruthless business acumen over the course of many years while managing a tempestuous love life. Open to Persuasion tells the story of two competing directors as they fight for the vacant Managing Director's job. Rob resorts to illegal methods of bribery and corruption to further his cause, while Caroline uses all her feminine charms and wiles to promote her case. A Surrogate Dilemma features Andrew Noble who, after a spell running a business in Zambia, returns to the UK to become a director in his father's firm. He meets and marries Becky and has an affair with Linda but the outcome of this ménage a trois is a surprise to all three of them. His latest novel, The Beta File, is set within the UK pharmaceutical industry where a whistleblower from a large Drug company, concerned at the immoral practices being undertaken, contacts a TV company who see investigating this as an ideal opportunity to revive their weekly investigative programme.

Mike lives in Norfolk in an old farm house which was bought as a wreck thirty two years ago and which he and his wife have renovated into the delightful home where he enjoys his retirement and his writing. He has been married to Brenda for 50 years and has two grown up daughters and one granddaughter.

Mike at home - photograph by kind permission of "Norfolk On My Mind" magazine - www.norfolkonmymind.co.uk