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John Lascelles
John Lascelles was born February 8, 1928, in Auckland, New Zealand. He was educated in England at the Royal Merchant Navy School, Berkshire, and Canford School, Dorset. Aged 16, he...view moreJohn Lascelles was born February 8, 1928, in Auckland, New Zealand. He was educated in England at the Royal Merchant Navy School, Berkshire, and Canford School, Dorset. Aged 16, he joined the steamship, ‘Port Caroline,’ as Apprentice for a wartime Atlantic convoy in December, 1944. As Second Officer (Navigating) with a British Ministry of Transport First Mates Foreign-Going Certificate of Competency, he left the sea eight years, 19 voyages, and three circumnavigations later. With a Diploma in Architecture (Oxford), he came to Australia in 1960 by government-assisted migration. He designed the tourist attraction, Cat and Fiddle Square, and animated mural in Hobart. In 1962, he joined the National Capital Development Commission in Canberra for civic design. From 1966, he worked on commercial projects and on the Austin Hospital in Melbourne. Australia’s beautiful capital drew him back to Canberra in 1969 for more building design and construction in the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Construction. He retired from the Department’s Central Office in 1989 and continues to live in Canberra. He has two sons and a daughter. His fascination with the mystery of Troy led him to decades of research and to explore Hisarlik (Truva—the false site) and Pergamon (the true site) at Bergama, in Turkey. The photograph shows him, in 1980, on the rocky brow at the summit of the mount that he believes is Homer’s famous hill, ‘Callicolone,’ in the Iliad. He is also the author of the novel, Troy-Seeker: Saga of the Ship Ilica. Troy-Seeker presents new insights, in story form, to identify the true location of the acropolis, Ilios, the lower town of Troy, and the true time of the Trojan War. It is a love story for all who love sailing ships and the ways of the sea, and who would enjoy a solution to a mystery that has confounded scholars for two-thousand years.view less