Â鶹APP

A photo of Bryce Courtenayby Yahoo! Blog –

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Bryce Courtenay

Bryce Courtenay, AM was born on 14 August 1933. He died on 22 November 2012. He was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia’s best-selling authors, notable for his book The Power of One.

Arthur Bryce Courtenay was born in the Lebombo Mountains, South Africa, the son of Maude Greer and Arthur Ryder. Ryder was married with six children, and lived with his family, but also maintained a relationship with Greer, with whom he already had a daughter, Rosemary. In the article are the top ten remarkable facts about Bryce Courtenay.

1. He was the Creative Director of McCann Erickson

McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann Worldgroup, along with agency networks MullenLowe and FCB, makes up The Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), one of the four large holding companies in the advertising industry.

McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, experiential marketing agency Momentum Worldwide, healthcare marketing group McCann Health, branding firm FutureBrand, and public-relations and strategic-communications agency Weber Shandwick.

2. He was the Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson

J. Walter Thompson logo photo by JWTWorldwide –

J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merged J. Walter Thompson with fellow agency Wunderman to form Wunderman Thompson.

3. He worked as a Creative Director at George Patterson Advertising

George Patterson Y&R is currently known as Y&R ANZ. It is an Australasian advertising agency. The agency was formed in 2005 when the international advertising holding conglomerate WPP Group acquired the Australian marketing communications company, The Communications Group (TCG).

The George Patterson agency was founded on 1 November 1934. George Patterson started his advertising career at the age of 18 in 1908. Bryce Courtenay worked in the advertising company as a Creative Director.

4. Courtenay and Geoff Pike developed the concept behind the Cadbury Yowie

A photo of Cadbury Yowie chocolate by YowieWorld-

Yowie is a confectionery and publishing brand originating in Australia in 1995 by Cadbury and Kidcorp. It was one of the top-selling chocolates in Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, selling over a million units a week. After a break of nearly a decade, Yowie relaunched in 2014 for US markets.

So, it was Geoff Pike alongside Courtenay who developed the concept behind the Cadbury Yowie. Geoffry Morgan Pike was an English-born, naturalized Australian writer and cartoonist.

5. Courtenay divorced Benita in 2000

This was after he acknowledged sexual relationships with other women during their 42-year marriage. Benita Courtenay died on 11 March 2007, at the age of 72, four months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. He later lived in Canberra with his second wife, Christine Gee.

To be exclusive, before the divorce the couple lost a son on 1 April 1991. Damon, their son, who was born with the blood condition haemophilia died at age 24 from AIDS-related complications, contracted through a blood transfusion

6. Courtenay’s novels are primarily set in South Africa or Australia

His first book, The Power of One, was published in 1989. The Power of One is Set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s. It tells the story of an English boy who, through the course of the story, acquires the name of Peekay.

Despite Courtenay’s fears that The Power of One would never sell, quickly became one of Australia’s best-selling books by any living author. The story was made into a film, as well as being re-released in an edition for children.

7. Courtenay was one of Australia’s most commercially successful authors

He built up this success over the long term by promoting himself and developing a relationship with readers as much as marketing his books; for instance, he gave away up to 2,500 books free each year to readers he met in the street.

8. Courtenay had a very strong work ethic

Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. Courtenay had a very strong work ethic, often writing 12 hours a day, and he normally wrote a book each year during his writing career.

He turned to write in the late 1980s after a 30-year career in advertising. In his lifetime, he sold more than 20 million copies of his books worldwide.

9. He died from terminal gastric cancer

Adenocarcinoma of the stomach photo by

Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into several subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas.

Lymphomas and mesenchymal tumours may also develop in the stomach.
In September 2012, Courtenay announced that he was suffering from terminal gastric cancer and that his last book would be Jack of Diamonds.

10. He died two weeks after the release of Jack of Diamonds

The plot of the book goes as follows, “During the Great Depression, there was little hope for a boy born into the slums of Cabbagetown, Toronto. But Jack Spayd is offered a ticket out in the form of a Hohner harmonica, won by his brutal drunken father in a late-night card game.

Jack is a virtuoso and hits the road, stirring up success in wartime Europe and Canada before travelling to Las Vegas and mixing with the Mafia in the seedy world of elite poker. Before long Jack will be running for his life, and adventuring in the far reaches of Africa on a journey that may seal his fate.”