Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

178 Writing and Journalism ALBERT “BOOTINS” ALKINS (1915-1995) F or almost 50 years he was a sports journalist and was the sports editor for the country’s leading newspapers at various times. He played many sports excelling as a lightweight boxer, a national footballer, a hockey player and a long distance runner. In 1977 he was awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit Gold. There have been other sports journalists and writers of note, among them Brunell Jones, Leroy ‘Fathead’ Williams and Mervyn ‘Pee Wee’Wong, the latter a statistician. MICHAEL ANTHONY (1930- ) M ichael Anthony is Trinidad and Tobago’s #1 go-to historian. He was born and raised in Mayaro. His passion for research and writing is boundless, and his impressive list of publications dates back to 1963. Once an avid swimmer, an athletics fan and football fan of the Tottenham Hotspurs (he resided near their home ground in London for some fourteen years in his early days), Anthony even in his later years is nearing completion of Volume 2 of his series of books History of Trinidad and Tobago in the 20 th century . While in England for a period of time he had the honour of communicating with Nobel prize- winning author V.S. Naipaul who encouraged him to pursue his short story writing. Thus evolved his first published novel The Games Were Coming , in 1963, followed by a long list of other novels up to High Tide of Intrigue in 2001. Other noted titles were The Year in San Fernando and Cricket in the Road . He ranks his personal favourite novel as All that Glitters , a detective fiction, and his favorite non-fiction works as Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago and Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago .