{"id":15112,"date":"2024-11-29T16:42:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T16:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifebookmemoirs.com\/?p=15112"},"modified":"2025-01-29T13:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T13:35:24","slug":"our-co-founder-roy-moed-interviews-lifebook-author-richard-bassin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifebookmemoirs.com\/en-gb\/our-co-founder-roy-moed-interviews-lifebook-author-richard-bassin\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Co-founder Roy Mo\u00ebd Interviews LifeBook Author Richard Bassin"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In April 2024, our co-founder Roy Mo\u00ebd travelled to Florida to meet a few of our treasured authors. Richard \u201cthe Blue Fox\u201d Bassin sat down with Roy to share his experience of writing his private autobiography with us \u2013 a feat he had previously thought he would never achieve.<\/p>

For years, Richard\u2019s son had been asking him to write down his story for the family, but Richard wasn\u2019t sold on the idea. He felt sure that he would never finish if he tried to write it himself, and he wasn\u2019t convinced by any of the alternative methods on offer, such as using voice-to-text technology. He then alighted on an ad for LifeBook Memoirs, and talking with an interviewer sounded like a process he would enjoy …<\/p>

Writing your autobiography can certainly be a daunting prospect, but in the hands of his experienced project manager, Charlotte, Richard quickly relaxed. His growing sense of confidence about the project was furthered by his interviewer, who guided him through each interview and prompted him with thoughtful questions to help him expand on the fine detail of his stories. Richard prepared notes for each of his conversations with her, and his preparation helped the interviews to hit the ground running.<\/p>

Fox Tales<\/em><\/h2>

Covering a rich expanse of stories from throughout Richard\u2019s colourful life, Fox Tales <\/em>is an autobiography that positively bursts with personality, fun and wisdom.<\/p>

Richard\u2019s son was particularly keen to learn more about their family history, and Richard devoted himself to fulfilling this wish as his interviews got underway. He started by painting a vivid portrait of his parents, to whom the book is dedicated. Richard\u2019s mother and father, otherwise known as ‘Pinky’ and ‘the Duke’, are brought to life with fantastic descriptions, larger-than-life stories and enchanting photographs.<\/p>

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Dad was a gambler, a bon vivant, and a raconteur who ran crap games in the hull of a ship, of all places, during World War Two. He was also a troublemaker and a man with a million bromides. Some of them were good, some facetious, and some were sad. I remember him saying things like \u201cthey don\u2019t lock you up for robbing a bank; they lock you up for being caught!\u201d and \u201cI complained I had no shoes; then I met a man who had no feet.\u201d That was Dad to a tee.<\/em><\/strong><\/center>

Although they were a working-class couple from Brooklyn and the products of two world wars and the Great Depression, Pinky and the Duke were eccentric, fun-loving people who determinedly filled their lives with flamboyance and colour. The Duke, with his debonair moustache, resembled Captain Blood and was eternally charismatic, equipped with an endless supply of audacious one-liners and legendary stories. Pinky \u2013 so named because of her pink 1953 Cadillac \u2013 was dazzling but the more grounded of the pair. She would often go without to keep the family afloat. She also happened to be a formidable opponent in any game of Scrabble. Richard\u2019s devotion to his parents is evident throughout the early pages of his book, and the lessons he learnt from their lives are inspiring.<\/p>

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As small children, we lived in Bensonhurst, in the south of Brooklyn, nearer to Coney Island than Flatbush. My memories of life there are minimal, but those I do have remain in glorious Technicolor.<\/em><\/strong><\/center>

Richard also touches on his paternal grandparents, who fled the pogroms in Russia and struggled to emigrate to the United States. His family are surely fortunate to have had this history brought to life so wonderfully.<\/p>

Richard has two brothers, with whom he shares a bond as fiercely strong as the one he enjoyed with his parents. Inseparable and always up to mischief, their stories read as one adventure after another! While still a toddler in nappies, one brother heard the family\u2019s dentist hurting Richard, so he crawled in from the waiting room and bit the dentist on the ankle! When they were much older and their parents left them alone for an evening, the brothers would always throw a party. Perhaps inevitably, this led to some pointing of fingers when the clean-up operation hadn\u2019t been as thorough as first thought!<\/p>

Richard went on to \u2013 among other jobs \u2013 work in insurance, be a teacher and own a brassware company, a travel publisher and a launderette. Over the years, he experienced triumphs and setbacks, but always managed rise anew. It should perhaps come as no surprise, then, to read that one of the lessons he wants to impart to his family is to persevere, come what may.<\/p>

This is the most important of my life lessons. Never give up. Absolutely, irrefutably, a top lesson in life. Why? You cannot beat someone who never gives up. That\u2019s why. He or she will always be there, jogging away, giving their all.<\/em><\/strong><\/center>

Throughout Fox Tales<\/em>, Richard addresses his children directly in the narrative. This gives his book a lovely and very personal tone. It\u2019s a little like a fireside chat, and this makes for a highly engaging read. Achieving this tone required constructive feedback from Richard, and he worked with us to ensure that we struck exactly the style he wanted.<\/p>

All in all, mine is a happy story, and I choose for it to continue getting even more joyous with each and every year.<\/em><\/strong><\/center>

History preserved<\/h2>

Richard describes the end result of his autobiography project as a \u201cslam dunk\u201d, saying that it was “overwhelming” to finally hold his private autobiography in his hands. Delightfully, he is still in touch with his LifeBook project team, and his family are pleased with the finished article. The perfect embodiment of Roy\u2019s mission to provide not just beautiful private autobiographies but a valuable storytelling experience, Richard enjoyed recalling his memories, and he now has his personal and family history preserved for generations to come.<\/p>

But what of his ‘Blue Fox’ moniker? You\u2019ll have to watch Roy\u2019s conversation with Richard to learn more!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Written by Isabella Samuels, LifeBook Memoirs editor<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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