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About Tim Page

TIM PAGE was just 18 when he left England to travel the world, a few years ahead of the travelers that made the Europe – Asia journey famous as ‘the happy, hippie trail’ – but just in time to witness some of the heaviest fighting and most famous battles of the Vietnam war. His photographic career started by accident in Laos, where he covered the civil war for UPI – he was sent to Saigon where he earned himself a reputation as daring and high-spirited photojournalist, but one who always came back from the field with something special.  His photos were beamed around the world and this started his freelance work for the wire – photo agencies AP, AFP, UPI and magazinesTIME-LIFE, and PARIS MATCH. He was seriously wounded four times, the last time, he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Tim recuperated from his injuries in the United States and became involved in the anti-war movement while writing for magazines CRAWDADDY and ROLLING STONE – during that time, he also collected a series of photographs recording the bizarre side of life in ‘70’s America which will soon be published in his book ‘AMERICAN WHIPLASH’.

On his return to England after nearly 17 years, despite continued battles with what we now call ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ - found himself cast as a leading character in the highly acclaimed “DISPATCHES’ by Michael Herr, the model for the photographer in the film “APOCALYPSE NOW” and the subject of a documentary by the BBC, “MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES”.    There was a new interest in the photographs he had taken & Tim found some inner peace while going through his archives to produce the legendary photographic book “NAM”.   This was followed by his autobiography “PAGE AFTER PAGE” – a wonderful book filled with a ‘boys own adventure’ spirit, extraordinary misfits, war and brutality, comradeship and love, it is also a testament to optimism, friendship and survival. The 80’s were a time of healing for Tim and so in the early 90’s he set about discovering the fate of his friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone who disappeared on Highway One in Cambodia during three terrible weeks that extracted a heavy toll on the tight-knit world of war reporters and photographers – 17 dead or missing in 21 days. Tim’s return to Cambodia and the search for his friends produced the documentary “DANGER ON THE EDGE OF TOWN” and also led him to found the charity trust, the INDOCHINA MEDIA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION – to build a memorial to all media personnel of all nations who perished in the wars of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and to create a media faculty at Hue University. The IMMF became the genesis of the book “REQUIEM”.

Born in the year of the monkey 1944, May 25th, in Tonbridge Wells, Kent and brought up in Orpington, Kent, where he attended primary school and grammar school, Tim Page left England in 1962. Nine months in Amsterdam before overlanding to Kathmandu in a VW bus.  On to India, Burma, Thailand and Laos.

• LAOS '63-'Feb '65: working for U.S. AID, before stringing for A.F.P. and U.P.I. 
• Jan '65 exclusive pictures for U.P.I. of attempted coup d'etat in Laos, & an offer, accepted, of a staff position as photographer for U.P.I. in Saigon. 
• 4 months later contracted for Paris Match, then freelance as cameraman for both A.B.C. & C.B.C. - "Mills of the Gods" /Beryl Fox. 
• Shot for ‘TIME’/’LIFE’, ‘LOOK’, etc et al.   A total of 60 pages in ‘LIFE’.
• Wounded in action three times.
• Left Vietnam in spring '67, based in Paris.
• Covered the Six Day War from Arab side for ‘LIFE’.
• To the U.S.A. freelance in New York, including ‘JIM MORRISON & THE DOORS’ story – 6 pages in ‘LIFE’. 
• Travelled across the US in winter '67-'68. 
• Spring '68 - returned to Vietnam. 
• More spreads in ‘LIFE’. Freelancing for the next year until near-fatal wounding from a mine in April '69. 
• One year in US hospitals, NY and LA.
• '71-'72 Assigned as contract photographer to ‘TIME/LIFE’ ROME bureau. Return to US, Pacific Northwest and California. 
• Freelancing for ‘CRAWDADDY”/’ROLLING STONE”/etc. 
• Bad mean veteran times. Shot unpublished book "AMERICAN WHIPLASH" on America's recovery from the Vietnam War. 
• 1979 Return to U.K. for BBC Arena documentary "MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES". 
• Exhibitions at the Photographers' Gallery and the I.C.A. 
• Lectures at a number of polytechnics, Colleges, galleries.
• 1980 Return to Vietnam, Laos, and Burma for ‘OBSERVER MAGAZINE”. 
• 1982-3 Book on ‘SRI LANKA’, eleven month shoot. 
• 1983 Thames & Hudson publish -‘TIM PAGES ‘NAM’. 
• 1984 Thames & Hudson publish -‘SRI LANKA’. 
• 1984-5 Return to Vietnam for 6 months to shoot – ‘TEN YEARS AFTER’ - Vietnam Today", published 1987/Thames & Hudson.
• 1986-7 Writing autobiography – ‘PAGE AFTER PAGE’, published 1988 by Sidgewick & Jackson. 
• 1988-9 5 months in Cuba, shooting as yet unpublished book   - ‘GLASNOST O CHE’. 
• 1989 Return to Vietnam to start project on the Ho'ville to Hanoi train, for ‘ELLE’ magazine,   ‘DEPARTURES’ magazine: Panama/Dublin/Cuba 
• 1990  Return to Cambodia to research disappearance of Sean Flynn and Dana Stone. 
• 1990  Inception of the I.M.M.F. - the ‘Indochina Media Memorial Foundation’ - to build a memorial to all media personnel of all nations who perished between 1945 -1975, and to create a media faculty at Hue University. The IMMF now has a flourishing Bangkok chapter, and has to date run 14 training programmes for young journalists from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. 
• 1990 Return to Cambodia to make a documentary - ‘DANGER ON THE EDGE OF TOWN’ - the search for and discovery of the fate of Flynn and Stone. For Granada Television, screened on Granada’s celebration series in April '91. 
• 1991 Return to Cambodia to start book on Cambodia - ‘THE MIDDLE DISTANCE’ and to cover the return of Sihanouk, and the Khmer Rouge. 
• 1992  Helped found and set-up MAG – ‘MINE ACTION GROUP’.
• 1992 Two visits to Cambodia for the book. 
• 1993 Covered UNTAC elections in Cambodia. 
• 1994 Cambodia & Vietnam. Writing book - ‘DERAILED IN UNCLE HO’s VICTORY GARDEN’, a 'words' book, and final edit of ‘MID TERM REPORT’ - a photographic retrospective.
• 1994  July/August, was invited to accompany and document Canadian      singer BRYAN ADAMS on the first rock ’n roll show to tour Vietnam. 
• 1994  October, T.V. Documentary in Vietnam for Night & Day productions, Belgium. ‘TIM PAGE – RETURN TO VIETNAM’ 
• Lectures given at Open Prisons/Colleges/Polytechnics/Public Schools/Galleries/High Schools (see list) 
• 1995 March 20 ‘MID TERM REPORT’ published by Thames & Hudson.
  • April 6 ‘DERAILED IN UNCLE HO’s VICTORY GARDEN’ published by Simon & Schuster. 
  • April ‘NAM’ - a radio documentary for BBC Radio 4 won first In the SONY AWARDS.
  • April 20th Anniversary Vietnamese Liberation for THE GUARDIAN, THE SCOTSMAN & DER SPEIGEL.
• 1995  January Return to Vietnam for Sygma Press, Paris.
• 1996-1998   In house photographer for BLOOMBERG MAGAZINE.
• 1997  In the UK a major project for the IMMF is the publication of "PHOTO –REQUIEM’: Pictures by the Dead and Missing from the years 1945-75", by photo-journalists from all sides in the IndoChina conflicts.  Published by Random House. 
• 1997 Campaign for ICRC to ban landmines in association with MAG in Cambodia and the Balkans
• 1998  Campaign for Ogilvie Mather Rheihardt ‘Brussels’ for the European Human Rights Organisation in former Eastern Europe.   Attendant exhibition staged in the European Parliament.
• 1998  Campaign & exhibition in the parliament for ‘OMR’ on the European Year of the Disabled, six Western Nations. 
• Documentary ‘LE RETOUR SUR IMAGE’ made in Vietnam for French Television – Canal Planete, won first prize at documentary festivals in Brussels & Lille.  
• Documenting three of the nine faiths in the UK for the ‘FAITH ZONE” in the Millennium Dome (an ongoing project) to document all UK faiths – in association with The Princes’ Trust.
• 1998  Return to Vietnam inaugural exhibition of “REQUIEM”
• 1998  June – awarded an honorary M.A. from University of Kent at Canterbury in Media Studies.  
• Made Patron of MAG in Manchester, UK.
• 1999 Touring and promoting ‘REQUIEM’ – both the book and exhibition – in UK, USA, France etc.
• 2000  Return to Vietnam to donate ‘REQUIEM’ exhibition to Vietnamese government, where it is now on permanent display at the War Remnants Museum.
• 2000 April 30th return to Vietnam to cover 25th anniversary of the end of the war.
• 2000 July, start research for book and documentary about photographers who covered the war from the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong perspective.
• 2001  February, write and research ‘THE MINDFUL MOMENT’
• 2001 Travel to Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh Trail to meet and talk to photographers from the ‘other side’.  Also travel to Laos.
• 2002 - “PICTURES FROM THE OTHER SIDE” a National Geographic book & documentary film portraying the images made by Vietnamese during their 40 year liberation struggle are released.  The documentary is entered in Emmy Awards for 2003. 
• Publication of book “THE MINDFUL MOMENT” by Thames & Hudson in the UK, La Martiniere in France and Steidl in Germany – Touring and lectures in support of book all over UK and Europe.  Feature pieces from the book used in half dozen magazines. 
• 2002  ‘DEADLINES’, an exhibition of ‘photographers in wartime’ held in Belgium at ‘In Flanders Fields’ museum.
• 2002  IMMF Auction at the Freedom Forum in London to raise money for first photojournalism workshop in Ho Chi Minh City – which raises 54,000 pounds(UK).
• 2002  Return to Ho Chi Minh City to conduct photo workshop with 6 award winning photographers.
• 2002  Awarded one of Vietnam’s highest honours – ‘CULTURAL HERO OF THE  REVOLUTION’ – 6th recipient in history (including Vietnamese).
• De-mining activities with MINE ACTION GROUP in the former DMZ and on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Southern Laos. 
• 2002  July/August return to Sri Lanka and travel throughout Tamil Tiger war zones and the rest of the country to research and write  book commissioned by Thames and Hudson – ‘POLITICAL SAFFRON’ about the peace that has at last arrived. Publication in 2003.
• 2003  Relocate to Australia ………

WORKS IN PROGRESS:

‘IN  PRAISE  OF  HANDS’  -  (Photographic Book)

'AMERICAN  WHIPLASH'  -  (USA from ’68-’78)

‘THE  MIDDLE  DISTANCE’  -  (Cambodia since 1990)

‘GLASNOST  O  CHE’  -  (Cuba in ’88-’89)

‘tIMpAGE  –  AUSTRALIA’  -  (Images of Australia)

‘PAGE  AFTER  PAGE  AFTER  PAGE’  -  (Up-date of Autobiography)

'MaaaaTES'  -  PEOPLE  I  HAVE  KNOWN  -  (Portrait Book)

'LEICA  21mm'  -  (Collector's Box Set)

'THE  BEAGLE  HAS  LANDED'  -  (Tim's Australian Autobiography)

From November 97 – ‘REQUIEM” - Tokyo, Washington, London at the Freedom Forum and at the Proud Gallery, Lausanne, Bayeux, Daytona Beach, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Düsseldorf, New Orleans, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Angers before being gifted to George Eastman House in Rochester, New York a further 10 venues have been reserved. It opens in Brisbane, Australia on June 6th.
“REQUIEM” has received the following awards:

• The Infinity Award
• The George Polk Award
• The Overseas Press Club Award
• The Robert Capa Award
• The Olivier Rebbot Award
• The American Society of Media Photographers Award
• The National Press Photographers Association
• The Irish Press Photographers Association

Other awards in Switzerland, France, Eire and the United States.

Sales have exceeded 70,000.

With another permanent collection about to be installed in Hanoi.
   

AWARDS:

‘Citation for Bravery’ from 25th Infantry Division    1969

‘Honourable Lifetime Achievement Award’   (NPPA)  1998

M.A. (Honorary) University of Kent                   2000 

‘Cultural Hero of the Revolution’    (Vietnam)         2002

Feature magazine pieces by or about Tim Page have appeared in TIME/LIFE: LOOK: PARIS MATCH: GEO: MERIAN: THE OBSERVER MAGAZINE: THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE: ACTUEL: THE INDEPENDENT: EPOCA: TERRE SAUVAGE etc. 

Featured in documentaries for the BBC-(‘Panorama’ & ‘Arena’), GRANANDA TV, (‘World in Action’), ARTE, ABC Australia, BELGIUM TV, CANALE PLANETE France, HBO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, NHK Japan.

Autobiography ‘PAGE AFTER PAGE’ made into 4-part Mini series "FRANKIE’S HOUSE", screened on A & E and worldwide.

Also portrayed by Dennis Hopper in the Francis Ford Coppola movie – ‘APOCALYPSE NOW’.

Negotiations are advanced for a 6 part mini-series of ‘REQUIEM’ to be produced by actor Chris Nott and HBO.

Tim once based in the Kentish Weald, England, has recently relocated to Brisbane having accepted an ‘adjunct professorship’ at Griffith University.  He now divides his time between England and Australia and continues to travel to Indochina and Asia on assignment.

LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHED:

1983 TIM PAGE'S NAM, Thames & Hudson

1984 SRI LANKA, Thames & Hudson

1987 TEN YEARS AFTER- VIETNAM TODAY, Thames & Hudson

1988 PAGE AFTER PAGE, Sidgewick & Jackson

1995 MID-TERM REPORT, Thames & Hudson

1995 DERAILED IN UNCLE HO'S VICTORY GARDEN, Simon & Schuster

1997  REQUIEM  (WITH HORST FAAS), Random House

2001 THE MINDFUL MOMENT, Thames & Hudson

2002  PICTURES FROM THE OTHER SIDE, National Geographic

PROPOSED LIMITED EDITION

To commemorate the Anniversary of the Book “NAM” being continuously in print for 20 years - a Special ‘Limited Edition’ boxed set of images from the book have been produced. Each box is ‘cloth bound’ in military ‘olive drab’ green fabric and contains 20 ‘museum standard’ A3 prints - guaranteed for over 100 years. The 20 prints chosen for the set are some of the most classic frames taken by Tim Page during the Vietnam War. All highly recognisable and some having found fame on the cover of books such as Neil Sheehan’s Pulitzer Prize winning “BRIGHT SHINING LIE”, Col. David Hackworth’s “ABOUT FACE” and recently the European edition of Michael Herr’s “DISPATCHES”. The ‘boxed sets’ will be launched at the QCA Gallery, Griffith University, SouthBank in Brisbane on June 12th, 2003 to coincide with the opening of the ‘REQUIEM’ exhibition.

Page ID: 74

Last Updated: 02-04-2008