A book called Five Egyptian Pounds - The life of George Said

1. 1956: Arab revolutionaries have nationalised the Suez Canal, the
British have destroyed Almaza air base and the Greek-Maltese Said family,
British Subjects, are under house arrest. George Said, his wife Maroula and
baby daughter Tassie are given ten days to leave the country. They arrive at
Heathrow Airport with two suitcases of clothes and five worthless Egyptian
pounds…..
Written by Helen Said, a compelling biography that took twelve years to complete
“Whilst still on the desert sand, I caught sight of
an armed Egyptian policeman, on his BSA bike,
chasing after me. Terrified, I pushed my Harley beyond
its limits out into the desert to shake him off. My
greatest fear was that, if he got within shooting range,
he could draw his pistol and I would be a dead duck.
“A volley of sand kicked up behind me as I sped
through the open desert, with the policeman giving
chase. I kept up the pace for about an hour, sand
flying, wind whipping my face as I crouched forward
and streaked eastwards towards the town of Suez. I
could just make out a fence in the distance, demarking
the British Army Camp at the Southern end of the Suez
Canal, with the form of a soldier beside a gate.
Mounting the bitumen and feeling for the reassuring
presence of my British passport in my top shirt pocket, I
catapulted towards that soldier……”
“A diploma? From Egypt? It won’t be any good here…..”
The divide between me and the rest of the English workforce and management
needed no spelling out: Give this to the Gyppo, Go ask the Gyppo in the tool room
(about such and such) …..
Identifying as a trade unionist crystallised the barriers between me and the British
establishment, but I had a strong sense that I had nothing to lose by going down
the rebel’s road….”
COMING IN MARCH 2015 to Amazon Kindle and Equilibrium Bookstore
ISBN: 978-0-9924358-7-5
PRE-ORDER NOW http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/pounds.htm
Egyptian born western suburbs community leader George Said has a story to
tell….
Riding his pushbike through the Sahara Desert to befriend Bedouins and sharing a
shisha with Arab labourers in the Suez Canal Zone, George, a British Subject,
developed a lifelong passion for multiculturalism and Equal Opportunities. At the
height of the White Australia era, George, as a young migrant, became a fiery
advocate for multiculturalism, working as a Community Development Officer
during the Whitlam era and winning a Churchill Fellowship to study Equal
Opportunities abroad.
Five Egyptian Pounds: the story of George Said was written by George’s English
born daughter Helen Said. Helen studied mathematics at Melbourne University,
where she began attending political meetings and writing for student newspapers.
She was an acting Tramways Union delegate during the 1990 city tram blockade
and has written for Green Left Weekly and Scarlet Letter. She now tutors maths,
English and special needs.
For inquiries, interviews, bookshop orders, book signings and
speaking engagements please email:
FiveEgyptianPounds@gmail.com