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TPQ: What are you currently reading?
JC: Expository Preaching: Principles and Practice by Haddon W. Robinson. My late dad was a Presbyterian minister and my father in law is a retired Baptist pastor. I’ve always wanted to follow in the ‘family business’ (if that doesn’t sound like the Mafia!) And whilst I’ve had plenty of experience expressing myself as a journalist over the past 42 years, I’ve very little training as a preacher. This book has been invaluable in helping me put together some Gospel sermons. But at the moment, I’ve only managed a few children’s stories!
TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?
JC: Without doubt, the best book has been The Holy Bible. It has been the cornerstone of my Christian spiritual journey, through the good times and the bad days. My personal Christian faith is very important to me and I have received a lot of blessing from the various verses. As well as the Authorised King James version, I have found the Good News and New International Version translations most helpful.
The worst book was Hitler’s Mein Kampf. I read it as part of my research prior to doing a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp for a feature marking International Holocaust Memorial Day. I was physically sick as I toured the camp. How could this book cause the massacre of six million people - one and a half million in Auschwitz.
TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?
JC: The Children’s Bible. It contained the Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments and would be read to me by both my grandmothers. I got it as a nursery Sunday school prize at Westbourne Presbyterian Church on Belfast’s Newtownards Road where my late dad was assistant minister. I still have the modern version, The Lion Children’s Bible, which I use as a basis for my Puppet Ministry where I tell Bible stories using hand puppets.
JC: The Children’s Bible. It contained the Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments and would be read to me by both my grandmothers. I got it as a nursery Sunday school prize at Westbourne Presbyterian Church on Belfast’s Newtownards Road where my late dad was assistant minister. I still have the modern version, The Lion Children’s Bible, which I use as a basis for my Puppet Ministry where I tell Bible stories using hand puppets.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
JC: Eric Duthie. He wrote Around the World Adventure Stories For Boys. His work is very special to me. I had the opportunity to take my Primary Seven year at the Preparatory Department of Ballymena Academy. When my then headmaster at Clough Primary School heard I was leaving for the Academy, he told my dad it was a waste of time as I was “stupid”. I passed both my Eleven Plus and got a School Prize for that year in the prep and my prize was this work by Eric Duthie. I became hooked on his writings ever since.
TPQ: First book to really own you?
JC: The Gulag Archipelago Volume 2 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I was awarded this book as a prize for winning the Ballymena and District Boys’ Brigade Battalion Scripture 1st place in 1976. As a Christian, I am opposed to atheistic communism so this work gripped me to support the cause of the anti-communist dissident movement in the old Soviet Russia. He writes from the heart and without fear, indeed, his writing style has been a strong influence in my own personal writing style as a political and religious commentator.
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A Berlin Book Tower in memory of the Nazi book burning. |
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
JC: My fav male author is a strange one coming from me as a radical Right-wing Unionist - My Fight For Irish Freedom by Dan Breen. I’ve read it several times as its compulsive reading trying to get inside the mind of what constitutes an Irish republican and why they adopt the tactics they do. Everyone from the PUL community should read this work to understand what really makes republicans tick! In this respect, I’m also fascinated by the writings of Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin, especially his work Sinn Fein and the Politics of Left Republicanism. I have a signed copy of this work and had the privilege of interviewing him about his work. In my opinion, he runs Dan Breen as a very, very close second as fav male author.
My fav female author is Irish-based writer S J Michaels who produced fictional work such as Summary Justice, Dieback, and The Heir. I got to know her personally doing reviews of her work and she was of tremendous help in guiding me in my own - as yet unpublished - fictional work. Her work is about the Irish conflict and, as a journalist myself, some of the scenarios she recounts are scarily realistic.
TPQ: A Preference for fact or fiction?
JC: I’m a fact-based reader, especially any work in relation to Ireland. In this respect Lost Lives is always a ‘must read’, and as a lecturer in journalism, so is McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, the so-called ‘journalist’s Bible’ which has just had its 25th edition published. I’m not a great fiction reader; indeed, being honest I only read the occasional piece of fiction simply to study how to put together a novel or thriller as I would love to get my own fictional work published some day.
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
JC: I’m going to take a liberty here and mention three works which I have found fascinating. Firstly, and strangely for me as a Right-wing commentator, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson. Readers of the Quill and my other outlets during my career in journalism know that I’m no commie! But if ever an individual mastered the art of armed revolution, it was Che. Perhaps if Northern Ireland should ever find itself dumped out of the UK into a united Ireland, this would be compulsive reading for any dissident loyalist movement.
Secondly, Like The Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell by Simon Heffer. This is a superb insight into the political guru of the Right-wing. This work is especially poignant for me as I had the opportunity to interview Powell in person during an Ulster Says No rally in Ballymoney in the 1980s. I tried to be a Stephen Nolan-type interviewer and got torn apart in minutes! And Powell did it in such a courteous manner, so this was a ‘must read’ to get inside the mind of the man who blasted me in Ballymoney! Thirdly, Mandela The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson. My late dad had tea with Nelson Mandela in his home in South Africa when dad was there as an MLA and would tell me of his conversation with President Mandela, so I just had to read about the life of the man who made the journey from terrorist to president.
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
JC: Anything penned by the occultist Aleister Crowley. As a Christian, Crowley’s work represents everything I am opposed to spiritually. A number of years ago, a journalistic colleague offered me the chance to read one of Crowley’s works entitled Magick. I politely, but firmly declined. Indeed, I would refuse to read any work which promotes witchcraft or pagan religions.
JC: Anything penned by the occultist Aleister Crowley. As a Christian, Crowley’s work represents everything I am opposed to spiritually. A number of years ago, a journalistic colleague offered me the chance to read one of Crowley’s works entitled Magick. I politely, but firmly declined. Indeed, I would refuse to read any work which promotes witchcraft or pagan religions.
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
JC: Basic Christianity by John Stott. He is one of the great evangelical Christian theologians and has a tremendous gift to be able to explain Christianity without getting bogged down in ritual. Whilst he has written many great works, this one book would best explain the importance to me of my personal faith in Jesus Christ. I’m not a perfect Christian and never will be, but this specific book will outline how someone should look to Jesus Christ rather than me as a person to understand the true meaning of Christianity.
JC: Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty. This was for my wife Sharon, a former court reporter before becoming full-time mum. Not the sort of stuff I would read, but my missus talked about this work so I bought it for her to earn a few ‘brownie’ points!
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
JC: Angels with Blue Faces by Lyra McKee. This work by my late friend and colleague Lyra about the murder of South Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford should become a film as there are so many unanswered questions about his death. I was a young cub BBC freelance on the day in 1981 that he was shot dead. Lyra was already a literary and journalistic genius when she was tragically taken from us and would have given guest lectures for me during my time as a lecturer in journalism. She is very sadly missed so a movie based on this excellent work would also be another fitting tribute to her life and talents.
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
JC: I’m going to be totally egotistical here and go for my as yet unpublished political thriller entitled The Inner Force about collusion between loyalist death squads and the British state. The manuscript is written, I just need a publisher. I got into so much hot water in 1991 when I worked on the Channel Four Dispatches programme investigating allegations of collusion. When I was ‘hiding out’ in public relations, I wrote the manuscript. Its also a bit raunchy in parts, so I had to park the project when sections of it were leaked to a tabloid newspaper in 1998. My family was highly embarrassed by the revelations, but I’m still determined to get it published.
JC: I’m going to be totally egotistical here and go for my as yet unpublished political thriller entitled The Inner Force about collusion between loyalist death squads and the British state. The manuscript is written, I just need a publisher. I got into so much hot water in 1991 when I worked on the Channel Four Dispatches programme investigating allegations of collusion. When I was ‘hiding out’ in public relations, I wrote the manuscript. Its also a bit raunchy in parts, so I had to park the project when sections of it were leaked to a tabloid newspaper in 1998. My family was highly embarrassed by the revelations, but I’m still determined to get it published.
Listen to Dr John Coulter’s religious show, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 9.30 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM, or listen online at www.thisissunshine.com
Oddly, a search of Amazon UK reveals no author by the name of S J Michaels on their book list. Two of the titles are listed but, under the name of different authors, neither the plots of which seem to match Dr. Coulter's description of Ms. Michaels plots with reference to Ireland and "The Troubles".
ReplyDeleteCan it be that the author is unpublished ?
Nevertheless, a fascination insight into the man's ...er...development.
Rory - John Coulter has asked that you refer to the following.
DeleteHere are the ISBNs for Mr Carr to get these books.
Summary Justice ISBN 9780330305709;
Dieback ISBN 0333552644.
The Heir ISBN 0333577612.
' JC: I’m a fact-based reader, '
ReplyDeleteHardly when you cite Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
'
The worst book was Hitler’s Mein Kampf. ...... I was physically sick as I toured the camp. How could this book cause the massacre of six million people - one and a half million in Auschwitz.'
Yet like all right wingers, you are not against imperialism and its wars, which killed tens of millions during the 20th Century.
Books like Around the World Adventure Stories For Boys help to create the mindset in which it is OK to invade and subjugate others.
' Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life: Perhaps if Northern Ireland should ever find itself dumped out of the UK into a united Ireland, this would be compulsive reading for any dissident loyalist movement. '
Unionists claimed the moral high ground, often condemning Republican violence, yet here John is inciting these tactics.
Dr. John is a very mixed up kid.