Author publishes ‘Gibraltar Conspiracy’ novel

By Frankie Hatton

‘The Gibraltar Conspiracy’ a new novel by Brian Hutchinson has been published and is a fictional story loosely based on and around the Rock and the near campo area.

The book speaks of locations the local community would all know and contains some fictional characters.

The story is one of intrigue, rivalry, international diplomacy, and corruption on a massive level.

Mr Hutchinson has also weaved in some of his own real-life experiences.

He has spent many years in the area, living in the family home in Torreguadiaro.

He first visited the frontier when it was closed but finally after it opened he recalled flying into the airport from the UK on Dan Air.

Since then he has been a visitor “well over 100 times in the past 50 years.”

This is the second book he has written since his retirement in 1975, with ‘Waiting in the Wings’ which is autobiographical being his first.

Mr Hutchinson’s father took him out of school at age of 15 without any certified education to join his acrobatic troupe.

The two-week voyage as they sailed from Southampton to Southern Africa with Boswells’ Circus, served as his training to be an acrobat.

During those days in the travelling circus he learnt to be a musician playing the sax and clarinet for the circus band and his life unfolded from there.

“It was easier to in the 1950-1970’s to succeed without formal qualifications,” he said.

Following a life in the circus, he has had numerous other roles such as a civil servant and a special advisor to a UK cabinet minister.

He became a music business executive, theatrical agent, a recording studio partner which led to him being the MD of a record factory.

His work brought him into contact with many people.

He became a Director of Brixton Business Centre and a Board Member of the Brixton City Challenge.

He was the General Manager on secondment to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and also a patron of the Macmillan Academy in Teesside.

His talents didn’t stop there as he became the Independent Assessor for Commissioner for (Ministerial) Public Appointments, a Corporate Affairs Director Allied Zurich Plc, Chair UK Trustees International Fund for Animal Welfare and a former Trustee for the National Centre for Circus Arts.

If that wasn’t enough, he was one of the youngest Justices of the Peace in the Inner London Juvenile Courts.

The story of this latest book has been developed over many years.

“Gib is such a unique place with the cross-border comings and goings, the Love/Hate relationship with Spain, and the intertwined and sometimes hidden relationships between the people of Gibraltar, La Linea, San Roque, and Torreguadiaro,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“There’s nowhere else quite like it.”

This is not the end of the story according to the author, this is just the beginning with follow up stories already in hand, and there are talks going on regarding a TV drama series.