Drug smuggling criminal, internationally acclaimed author, Oxford graduate and borderline genius; however you connect with Howard Marks, or Mr Nice, there’s no denying he lived a full and interesting life. In fact in 2014 upon his diagnosis for bowel cancer he was keen to state that he had no regrets.
Marks is reported to have died peacefully at home over the weekend, bringing to an end a lifetime of decadence, anarchy and campaining.
Marks was born in Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend in South Wales and there’s no denying he was a bright and intelligent boy, earning a place in grammar school, and eventually a place reading physics at Oxford University. It was here he would develop his love for cannabis, and his distraction almost cost him his degree. Maybe it is testiment to his level of intelligence that he managed to get caught up in the final weeks and gained his pass.
From here it might have been believed that Marks would go off and do wonderful things, instead he became a drug smuggler, something that would eventually see him jailed in the US in 1990. It was this conviction that would eventually lead Marks to write Mr Nice, the name, one of 43 aliases he used during his life.
The memoirs would go on to sell more than a million copies around the world, and cement his Mr Nice title. The name, one of many aliases he used belonged to one Donald Nice, a convicted murderer who sold his passport to Marks. Of all the names he used, this is the one that would stick and to many he remained Mr Nice forever.
In 2006, Marks wrote Senor Nice, a sequel to the original book, and then in 2011 a crime novel, Sympathy for the Devil was released.
For years the author campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis, and one of the last things he did before his death was to set up the Mr Nice and this foundation will go on to support the causes he was passionate about in life.
Whatever you think of Mr Nice, there’s no doubt that the world has lost a colourful character.
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