Mel Ayton

Mel Ayton lives in Durham, England, with his wife Sheila and has two grown children, Laura and Tim. He has a B.A. Honours degree in Politics and History and an M.A. from Durham University (Durham University Alumni) where he specialised in historiography and the teaching of history in American schools and colleges. In 1988 he was selected as a ‘Fulbright Teacher’ and taught in schools in Michigan, USA. He also worked in Bermuda and taught in Zambia. He retired as a School Deputy Principal in 1999 to write full time.

Mel Ayton’s first book, ‘Questions of Conspiracy’, was an examination of the claims made by JFK conspiracy theorists. He decided to write the book following a conversation in 1988 with US Senator Arlen Specter  in which Specter expressed his dismay at the way the JFK conspiracists had misused the evidence in the case. The book was updated and revised and was published in 2002 as ‘The JFK Assassination: Dispelling The Myths’. ‘Dispelling The Myths’ was reviewed by  ‘The Nation’ magazine contributing editor and leading  JFK historian and author, Max Holland, who described it as “outstanding”. Kwickee.com nominated the book as one of  the two best books written about the subject. The book carries a forward written by JFK researcher Larry A. Sneed whose book ‘No More Silence - An Oral History of The Assassination Of President Kennedy’ was universally acclaimed throughout the United States.

In 2001 the University of Sunderland Press published Mr Ayton’s book ‘Questions of Controversy – The Kennedy Brothers’ which examined the controversial stories about John, Robert and Edward Kennedy. He was the first researcher to prove that JFK mistress Judith Campbell Exner had deliberately embellished her stories and lied about her role as a conduit between mobster Sam Giancana and JFK. Former JFK adviser and Kennedy White House historian, Professor Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., described his research about RFK and the Vietnam War as “persuasive”.

In 2003 Mel Ayton acted as the historical adviser for the BBC’s television documentary, ‘The Kennedy Dynasty’, which was broadcast in the UK in November 2003. He has also written for Ireland’s leading history magazine, ‘History Ireland’ and George Mason University’s ‘History News Network’ (www.hnn.us).

Mel Ayton’s latest book ‘A Racial Crime – The Assassination of Dr Martin Luther King’, will be published in the United States by ArcheBooks in January 2005. He has recently completed his research about the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and is presently researching the 1973 murder of Bermuda’s Governor Sir Richard Sharples. In 2004 he was given access to the Scotland Yard ‘Bermuda Murders’ files housed at the Metropolitan Police Archives Branch in London.

Mel Ayton is represented by literary agent Barbara Casey who lives in Florida (www.publishersupdate.com).