The Sun - April 26, 2007
A GRIPPING new thriller is being tipped to become an international best-seller – after featuring a real-life Scots hero.
By MATT BENDORIS
The Riverman novel follows a crime investigation which spans the continents, a web of greedy big businesses and their deadly rivalries.
It all starts with a lifeless body being pulled from the River Clyde by George Parsonage.
But Parsonage is no fictional figure – he has been hauling bodies out of Glasgow’s main river for decades.
Author Alex Gray was so blown-away by George while researching her tome she didn’t even change his name.
Last night George, 63, said: “It’s incredible honour to have a novel based around me.”
The only surprising thing is that it has taken so long.
For the boatman from Glasgow’s Humane Society - a charity set up to rescue people and retrieve bodies since 1790 – has many a grizzly tales to tell.
George took over the oars from his dad Ben, who died in 1979.
Since then he has dragged over 500 dead and decomposing bodies from the Clyde, and rescued 1,500 other souls.
George, whose house is based on Glasgow Green, has witnessed drug barons dump their victims into the freezing water then stone them from above.
He has removed headless corpses.
And he will never forget pulling a drowning woman from the murky waters only to discover she'd been stabbed in the stomach, when her guts spilled out inside of his boat.
He said: "People drowning are a danger to any potential rescuers.
“It's even more dangerous when you consider that the people I'm normally picking up are extremely drunk or doped up to the eyeballs.
"Often they say they don't want to be rescued, but I've never left a person behind.
"But one of the worst was a woman who had been slashed with a Stanley knife in a pub then dumped in the river.
“When I pulled her out her intestines spilled out. I actually had to put them back in before the
ambulance arrived. Amazingly she lived."
He added: “he more bodies I see that have been in the water for a long time the more I appreciate getting someone out alive.
"It's not a pleasant sight, believe me.
“The thing is I know the family need closure and will want to see the body, but sometimes you wish they wouldn't. Something like that stays with you forever.”
And George recalls the great lengths he went to trying to prevent a party of school children seeing a body.
He said: “One Sunday morning I was out rowing and unfortunately there was a man lying just below the surface who had probably fallen into the water drunk.
“Two bus loads of schoolchildren arrived at the rowing club across from my pier. I hide the body under a cover in the boat while I’m waving to all the children as if nothing is wrong.”
George admits the grisly scenes have lead to bouts of depression, but the gifted artist turned to painting to lift his spirits.
He said: "When I'm down I sculpt with pieces of metal I've fished out the river or paint. It helps keep my mind off things."
George had to sacrifice a career as an art teacher, a social life, love life and holidays for the calling of the river to be dragged from his bed any hour of any day to face such grim scenes.
And Parsonage - awarded an OBE from the Queen in 1999 – believes he always destined to follow in the wake of his father.
He said: “There was simply no escape from this job."
"My dad took this job in 1918 until 1979 when he died of a heart attack.
"We've always lived in the house in the middle of Glasgow Green. I was born here.
“My dad tried to keep his job separate from his home life and his four children, but it was near impossible.
"He'd disappear sometimes for days and weeks at a time and there were no mobile phones or pagers to keep in touch.
“He didn't go to family weddings or anything. It was just the river."
He added: "I started joining my dad on rescues at about 14 when I realised that I was a much better rower than any of the policemen who used to try and help out.
"But I prefer rowing boats to motorboats. If a motorboat misses someone on the first attempt then by the time they've turned around the person can be gone.
“Or if you disturb a body it can take another six weeks for it to surface – that’s six weeks longer a family has to wait.”
However it’s not all doom and gloom in his job.
The boatman has witnessed some of nature's most beautiful sights from porpoises frolicking to seals diving playfully by his boat.
He sighs: “It's a real love-hate relationship I have with the river."
But one of the best things to come out of the river has been George's wife Stephanie - a 46-year-old doctor.
She gave George a family - Benjamin, 11 and eight-year-old Christopher - along with a life away from the Clyde.
He said: "I always said that everything in my life has come out of the river - and that's where I met Stephanie when she joined a local rowing team.
"I was such a late starter because I never had a social life. It was incredible when I became a dad in my 50s.
“I have more of a life now. I have an assistant now. That means I can have a glass of wine at night, have holidays and go to concerts.”
However, George believes when he retires in less than two years time he will be the last Parsonage on the river.
He said: “This morning I was out at 7am with my boys in the back fishing footballs out the river which stops other kids trying to climb in and get them.
"I would love them to do some volunteer work for mountain rescue or something, but there's no way I'll ever let my boys follow me into this life.
“I think the Parsonage family have been on the Clyde long enough. It’s time for someone else to be The Riverman.”
AUTHOR Alex Gray swapped the classroom for writing when she was struck down with ME.
Fifteen years later The Riverman is her fourth crime novel and she has now signed a major deal with publishing giants Little Brown.
Her gritty tomes have already earned her comparisons to Rebus writer Iain Rankin.
The 56-year-old mum-of-two from Glasgow said: “When I was ill I started writing.
“I had some articles published in magazines before I got into novels.
“I’m a very optimistic person and believe good things can come from bad.”
Alex admits she is fascinated by the evil side to human nature.
She said: “I firmly believe there are people out there like Soham murderer Ian Huntley who are evil.
“The same way they are people out there who are saintly.”
One saint she will never forget is George Parsonage.
She said: “He’s not major character in the book, but he’s extremely important as keeps popping up throughout.
“I decided to use George as himself as everyone in Glasgow knows there’s only one real Riverman.”