Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley (1915-1983) was born in Ireland and raised in England by his Irish mother, Sinead O'Connor, and botanist English father, Thomas Wibberley. He began a career in journalism in London's Fleet Street at age 15 shortly after his father's death. Leonard moved to Trinidad in his 20s and started a newspaper. Later he became a foreign correspondent for English newspapers in New York during World War II and subsequently moved to California. Wibberley had seven children in his lifetime: one with his first wife Olga while in Trinidad and six others with Hazel in California. Over the course of his life Wibberley published 120 novels under his name and three pen names: Patrick O'Connor, Leonard Holton and Christopher Webb. He celebrated life every day; he was a world traveler, scuba diver, ocean sailor, mountain climber and surfer, and he loved music and studied the violin. An avid reader of nonfiction, his novels reflect his views of the world: his most famous work, the cold-war satirical novel The Mouse That Roared remains a popular stage production today. A forward-thinking Renaissance man, Leonard Wibberley was ultimately a lover of nature and people.
