Neil Humphreys

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neil Humphreys was from Dagenham, Essex England and graduated with a First Class Honours degree in History. He is Singapore's best selling author and has written three books about the island, namely Notes From an Even Smaller Island (2001), Scribbles from the Same Island (2003) and Final Notes from a Great Island (2006). His latest book has been on Singapore's bestseller's list for several consecutive weeks, proving his writings' popularity among Singaporeans.

Neil arrived in Singapore 10 years ago and had initially planned on staying in Singapore for only 3 months. However, he instantly fell in love with the little island-state and decided to settle down here. Neil has always stayed in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats in Toa Payoh, a public housing estate in central Singapore, despite moving twice. Although he is a foreigner, he has chosen to assimilate himself into Singapore culture while he lived in Singapore by staying in HDB flats, eating at local kopitiams and trying out many other things that local Singaporeans do. He often pokes fun at Western expatriates working in Singapore by comparing their living habits with his own, criticising them for the aloofness to the local society and their extravagant lifestyles.

Neil has since migrated to Australia and resides in Geelong, a seaside town in the state of Victoria.

1 Family life
2 Early career
3 Career with Today
4 Notes From an Even Smaller Island
5 Scribbles from the Same Island
6 Final Notes from a Great Island
7 Migration
8 References

[edit] Family life

Neil is currently married, although his wife keeps a low profile. However, Neil writes about his wife quite frequently in his columns and books, although he only refers to her as 'my wife' or 'the missus'. It is mentioned in the second book, Scribbles from the Same Island, that his wife is indeed named Tracy.

Neil's mother now resides in Kent. In his writings, Neil's encounters with his mother are often memorable and usually done in an intentionally humorous manner. Most of the references to his mother are made while mentioning his early years spent growing up in Dagenham.

[edit] Early career

Neil spent the early part of his time in Singapore as a speech and drama teacher.

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Career with Today

Humphreys is a columnist with local newspaper Today, published by Mediacorp Press. He was also a contributor to the sports section of Today, mostly on news related to the English Premier League, as well as a contributor for the entertainment section, where his movie reviews were regularly published. He is best known for his humorous columns poking fun at various facets of life in Singapore. Through his columns, he also reveals snippets of his childhood in working-class London. He once said that he speaks with a Cockney accent.

[edit] Notes From an Even Smaller Island

This book was the first of three books published by Neil Humphreys. It details his experience of arriving in Singapore and adapting to the unique local culture of Singapore. After it was first published, it quickly rose to the top of Singapore's bestsellers list as the local Singaporeans could identify with his writings. It was after this book that he became well known and was subsequently hired by Today newspaper as a columnist.

[edit] Scribbles from the Same Island

This book is the second book to be published by Neil Humphreys. It is actually a collection of his weekly columns published while he was at Today. As the book was published in 2003, it only includes columns written by him before that. After the book was released under high expectations from the public, there was criticism that the material of the book was unoriginal as it was merely a compilation of his past columns. There were claims that this book was published to 'milk' the popularity gained from the publication of his first book. Nevertheless, the second book quickly rose up Singapore's bestsellers list as well.

[edit] Final Notes from a Great Island

This is the final book of the three published by Neil Humphreys about Singapore before he migrated to Australia. In the book, which was meant as a final look at Singapore before he left, Neil takes an island-wide tour of Singapore where he explores the lesser-known side of Singapore. He started from Toa Payoh as that was were he had always been staying for the past ten years.

After the book was published, some readers used it as a guidebook and followed the route Neil took around Singapore.

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Migration

When Final Notes from a Great Island was released in 2006, it became obvious that Neil Humphreys had decided on leaving Singapore. It was later revealed that he has decided to migrate to Australia with his wife. Neil explained the reason for his migration as having the 'travelling itch'. However, he has stated that he does not currently have any plans regarding what he would do in Australia.

Many people have written to Today after news of Neil's migration was announced, expressing their dismay at his decision to migrate to Australia. Many readers expressed heartfelt appreciation for his contributions to Today over the past few years. Sales of his books also jumped due to the publicity of his impending departure.