Brian Lewis grew up on a tough council estate after arriving in Britain as part of the Windrush generation. At the age of eight he developed an interest in chess and joined a team made up of council estate kids to take part in championships, generally against children from more privileged backgrounds. At 12 he took on – and beat – an international grandmaster.
You have probably never heard of Lewis and yet he is one of thousands of ordinary people joining a rapidly growing trend to preserve their life stories for posterity with a ghostwritten autobiography. And there has been a sharp rise in demand for these services after the pandemic.
