Al Stevens launches career as an author

Al Stevens…his first book, Evan Hardy, is a historical thriller

THOSE who remember Al Stevens who ran the doors of pretty much every top Birmingham nightspot admit to being surprised he’s turned author.

Those who have read his debut novel admit to being astonished.

It’s the subject matter that has wrong-footed those who knew Al in his 1990s clubland pomp or recall his days as a pro light-heavyweight boxer.

Rather than go down the tried and tested route of gangland thrillers or spilling the bins on Birmingham’s bad men, the 68-year-old’s book is set in a long-lost time.

“Evan Hardy”, launched last week, is crammed with crime, espionage and violence played out in the Napoleonic era.

It is a gripping rollercoaster ride, with the famed 1810 bare-knuckle world title rematch between English champ Tom Cribb and American Tom Molineaux running through it like a thread.

“People said, ‘why don’t you write a crime novel or about your experiences?’,” Al, still fit and remarkably trim, told me. “I’m not interested. I think we’ve had enough of them. I don’t want to write about this guy who did a bit of whatever. It’s been done.”

But the tale is influenced by Al’s own life and love for the fight game. One villain is even named Jon Pegg, the busy fight manager who was present during my meeting with the new author.

“My older brothers wrote and performed in their own plays,” said Al who boxed out of Quinton, but now lives in Harborne. “They were locally successful.

“I always wanted to write but was always doing something. As I had a bit more time on my  hands, I decided to give it a go.

“I finished it during shutdown – I don’t like the term lockdown because it sounds like something that happens in an American prison. I found it very cathartic.

“I’m happy with it, rather than proud of it. I’ve never tried to do a book before. I wanted to create a real hero and Evan Hardy is a real hero who becomes a bit conflicted as the story starts to unravel.

“I read a lot but didn’t want to be influenced by other writers. I didn’t do too much research, the stuff just popped into my head.”

Without giving the game away, main character Evan Hardy joins something akin to a special forces branch of Customs and Excise after ending his distinguished military career. Bootleggers and smugglers are faced with a killing machine and plenty of blood flows.

Publishers Olympia have high hopes for the novel, which is available at local book shops, and Al plans to pen three sequels.

During interviews, Al refuses to talk in depth about his colourful past for fear anecdotes will overshadow the real purpose – publicising the book.

But the blunt truth is thousands still know him as “Mr Night Club”, the man in charge of security at Birmingham’s premier establishments.

Al Stevens during his pro career as a light-heavyweight

They will know his strong links to the fight game. A martial art convert, Al had a modest nine fight career stretching from 1980 to ’83.

His pub, The Cauliflower Ear in Digbeth, with its adjoining gym, was the haunt of top fighters: fans mingled with present and former champs.

“It was popular with the fight crowd,” said Al, “I had a nice few years there.

“Leon Spinks (former world heavyweight champ who famously beat Muhammad Ali) actually served behind the bar in the late ‘80s.

“A taxi driver came in and said, ‘I’ve got these two wooden planks in the back looking for a gym down the road. One was Leon Spinks and I looked after him that week. He told me he was a trained cocktail bar manager and served customers on the Saturday night.

“They listened to his St Louis drawl and were saying, ‘my God, that’s Leon Spinks’.”

His curt comments about time as head of a security team that ensured clubs stayed safe are darker.

“A lot of people have been through the mill and I’m one,” he shrugged. “You are seeing people at their worst, either through drink or because they’re high.”

Certain individuals, with infamous reputations, faced an immovable object in Al, a burly barrier between the street and neon-lit nightclub they wanted to enter. That created enemies.

“I’m no angel,” said Al. “I have a lot of regret about some of the directions I took.”

Today, the pensioner still looks in his physical prime courtesy of his own rigid fitness regime and a personal fitness business. Clients are put through their paces and also taught boxing and martial arts.

“I’m in bed at nine because I have to get up at five to train people,” he said. “I have my own gym in Harborne and train a lot of the local surgeons, doctors, heart specialists. I do a lot of martial arts with them and some are surprisingly good.”

But Al craves to be a full-time writer. He added: “The process of bringing out this book really slowed down. I’m not an educated man and there were a lot of grammatical errors. I told them, ‘you might be able to spell better than me, but you can’t write a novel’.”

Expect more books from Al Stevens. Just don’t expect his life story.