Meet the StorytellerIf the essence of a masterful storyteller is to have plenty of life experiences from which to draw stories, then Tom Ware fits the bill. He has led a colourful and adventurous life and, since his first involvement in speaking to audiences in 1972, has told his stories to appreciative audiences numbering well over 38,000 people.
Born in London in 1936, Tom lived through the horrors of Hitler's 'Blitzkreig.' He travelled to Australia in 1951, one of the millions of ten-pound Stirling migrants, and began work the day after his fifteenth birthday as a telegram messenger boy.
At eighteen Tom enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy, serving on the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, as well as on a white-painted survey frigate, HMAS Barcoo and two small boom defence vessels, the Kookaburra and the Kimbla.
In 1960 he joined the Department of Civil Aviation as an air-ground radio operator (akin to air-traffic control) and served at Sydney, and Dubbo Airports, and later at Madang and Port Moresby in Papua-New Guinea. Now married eleven years, in 1971 Tom migrated with his wife and three small children to New Zealand. It was in this country that Tom joined his first public speaking organizaiton, the Takapuna Toastmasters Club. This proved to be a momentous step.
In late 1973 Tom and his family returned to Australia where began a tumultuous but experientially-rich period of many jobs These included truck driver, foundry labourer, clerk, laboratory assistant and radio operator with the NSW Police Department. However, in 1976-77 Tom was able to fulfill a life-long dream as he took up a position with the Australian Department of Science as an Antarctic expeditioner. Originally allocated to Mawson Base, he was offered an earlier posting to MacQuarie. He sailed on the Nella Dan to spend a year on remote MacQuarie Island.
At the age of almost forty-two, Tom says he realized that it was time to settle down. Two short term jobs, the first with the Australian Post Office, the latter with the Overseas Telegraph Office, he finally took a job with the Australian Taxation Office and, he avers, managed to avoid actually doing any straight income tax work for the next seventeen years! It was during this time that he began to hone his skills as a writer and speaker.
In 1967-68 he wrote his first novel, Searchtime Expired, and since then he's written two other novels, half-a-dozen works of non-fiction, scores of short stories, hundreds of essays and heaps of poems- even some song lyrics. Additionally, he's written his autobiography and three film scripts.*
Tom has been a member of ten different speaking clubs including Toastmasters International, Rostrum Clubs of NSW, the National Speakers Association of Australia, and the Australian Storytellers Guild
Tom has been married for over fifty years, has three grown up children and four grandchildren.
He knows that all people love a good story. With a life full of experiences behind him, and most of his 'emotional debts' worked through, Tom uses his increasing sense of inner peace and harmony to tell stories which truly touch the listener.
*A list of some of his works can be seen under Tom's Books.
Born in London in 1936, Tom lived through the horrors of Hitler's 'Blitzkreig.' He travelled to Australia in 1951, one of the millions of ten-pound Stirling migrants, and began work the day after his fifteenth birthday as a telegram messenger boy.
At eighteen Tom enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy, serving on the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, as well as on a white-painted survey frigate, HMAS Barcoo and two small boom defence vessels, the Kookaburra and the Kimbla.
In 1960 he joined the Department of Civil Aviation as an air-ground radio operator (akin to air-traffic control) and served at Sydney, and Dubbo Airports, and later at Madang and Port Moresby in Papua-New Guinea. Now married eleven years, in 1971 Tom migrated with his wife and three small children to New Zealand. It was in this country that Tom joined his first public speaking organizaiton, the Takapuna Toastmasters Club. This proved to be a momentous step.
In late 1973 Tom and his family returned to Australia where began a tumultuous but experientially-rich period of many jobs These included truck driver, foundry labourer, clerk, laboratory assistant and radio operator with the NSW Police Department. However, in 1976-77 Tom was able to fulfill a life-long dream as he took up a position with the Australian Department of Science as an Antarctic expeditioner. Originally allocated to Mawson Base, he was offered an earlier posting to MacQuarie. He sailed on the Nella Dan to spend a year on remote MacQuarie Island.
At the age of almost forty-two, Tom says he realized that it was time to settle down. Two short term jobs, the first with the Australian Post Office, the latter with the Overseas Telegraph Office, he finally took a job with the Australian Taxation Office and, he avers, managed to avoid actually doing any straight income tax work for the next seventeen years! It was during this time that he began to hone his skills as a writer and speaker.
In 1967-68 he wrote his first novel, Searchtime Expired, and since then he's written two other novels, half-a-dozen works of non-fiction, scores of short stories, hundreds of essays and heaps of poems- even some song lyrics. Additionally, he's written his autobiography and three film scripts.*
Tom has been a member of ten different speaking clubs including Toastmasters International, Rostrum Clubs of NSW, the National Speakers Association of Australia, and the Australian Storytellers Guild
Tom has been married for over fifty years, has three grown up children and four grandchildren.
He knows that all people love a good story. With a life full of experiences behind him, and most of his 'emotional debts' worked through, Tom uses his increasing sense of inner peace and harmony to tell stories which truly touch the listener.
*A list of some of his works can be seen under Tom's Books.
RSS Feed