Les Bird

Les Bird joined the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1976, and worked in the Marine Police for more than 20 years. He arrived in Hong Kong from the UK at a time when tens of thousands of refugees were fleeing the aftermath of the Vietnam War. In the years that followed, he was one of the senior officers instrumental in the interception and rescue of thousands of boatpeople as they attempted to cross the South China Sea to Hong Kong. Along the Southern Boundary, Bird’s second book, provides an insight into this dramatic time through original photographs and accounts from Bird, his fellow officers, and the Vietnamese who survived that formidable journey. Bird has also written a memoir of his time in the police, A Small Band of Men: An Englishman’s Adventures in Hong Kong’s Marine Police which he talked about at a sold-out event at last year’s literary festival.