A Loch Ness Monster hunter found himself “surrounded by foamy water” as a huge hump shape pulled up alongside his boat.
Clem Skelton was born the son of a royal equerry in 1919 – an officer responsible for the royal’s horses – but ran away from home aged 14 to become an actor. He became known as a heroic RAF pilot during the war before joining the religious order.
Later in life however, Clem developed a passion for the Loch Ness monster. He moved closer to the vast waterway later in his life as he attempted to track down the enigmatic beast.
But he only believed he had one encounter with the monster. Alison, who still lives in Drumnadrochit, told The Telegraph: “He was rowing across the loch around midnight to service the camera on the other side, and this thing came up beside the boat, a hump shape surrounded by foamy water. It was bigger than the boat, so he rowed the hell out of there, as any sensible person would.”
Later, after a suggestion from Alison’s sister-in-law, Clem found a new career as a writer. Alison and her husband initially co-authored a series of Gothic romances together under the pen name Abigail Clements.
But Clem later struck out with his own novel, Hardacre, which drew inspiration from his life in Yorkshire as a jobbing actor and his mother’s life. The story followed the Hardacre family through 70 years of historical upheaval into the 1950s.
It became a bestseller, prompting Clem to write a sequel, Hardcare’s Luck, and beginning to write a series of historical novels based around a Scottish Highland regiment. But disaster struck in the 1970s.
His budding writing career was cut short when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, having always been a heavy smoker. He used to joke that he would “wake up in the morning and then 20 minutes later get up when he’d stopped coughing”.
Clem died aged 59 in February 1979. His work faded from view after his death but was reissued in 2014, once again achieving bestseller status.
Sons Alasdar and Justin were particularly pleased by the news. “I find it difficult to unravel what are memories of my father and what are memories of stories I’ve been told,” Alasdair told The Telegraph.
Clem’s book has now been turned into a Channel 5 drama, The Hardacres, which airs on Monday at 9pm.