Career
His appearance on the British Broadcasting Corporation Horizon programme ‘We love cigarettes’ attracted criticism in the press most notably from The Independent and The Times. Critics challenged his suggestion that smoking had helped writers like Beckett, Wilde and Yeats produce great literature. The son of a German U-Boat commander Leavey grew up in south London.
He went on to write for African World, Rhodesia & Nyasaland Today, and the Royal Commonwealth Society’s African Affairs.
Leavey later worked for British Telecom where he both renamed and helped to launch the company’s first computer software label, Firebird. In 1990 he left British Telecom to pursue a career as a freelance writer and broadcaster.
As a contributor to the British weekly magazine, Punch, Leavey wrote a regular column entitled ‘Sharing an ashtray’ consisting of interviews with celebrities on the subject of smoking. Interviewees included Dame Beryl Bainbridge, Trevor Baylis, Sir Tom Courtenay, Tracey Emin, John Entwistle, Kinky Friedman, Sir James Galway, Roy Hudd, Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Patrick Moore, Sir John Mortimer, Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Springer and Geno Washington.
Leavey has written for numerous British newspapers and magazines including The Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and Radio Times, as well as appearing on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4, British Broadcasting Corporation Two and Channel 4, often in the capacity of unofficial spokesman for the hard pressed smoker.
He is the author of the FOREST Guide to Smoking in London which attracted press coverage both in the United Kingdom and overseas. The book includes a foreword by Auberon Waugh and a closing comment by Jeffrey Bernard. Leavey subsequently wrote the FOREST Guide to Smoking in Scotland: Where To Light Up.
He now lives on the Isle of Wight where he writes regularly for Cigar Journal and other magazines.
