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Valentin Savvich Pikul
July 13th is the birthday of Valentin Savvich Pikul (1928-1990), Russian and Soviet writer, author of numerous works of fiction on historical and naval subjects. Already during the writer's lifetime the total circulation of his books, excluding magazines and foreign publications, amounted to about 20 million copies. Valentin's father was from the Kiev province. After serving in the Baltic Fleet he stayed to work in Leningrad at the famous Skorokhod shoe factory. Here he met and married with Maria Karenina, the future mother of the writer. She was a native of Pskov province. In 1940 Pikul and his family moved from Leningrad to Molotovsk (today this city is called Severodvinsk). In 1941 Valentin went on vacation to his grandmother in Leningrad, but soon the Great Patriotic War began.
In 1943 Pikul graduated from the Jung School on the Solovetsky Islands. He was a cabin boy of the first set, specializing in "helmsman-signaller" and was sent to the destroyer "Grozny" of the Northern Fleet, where he served until the end of the war. After the victory over Germany he was sent to the Leningrad Preparatory Naval School. Further Valentin Savvich had to change a number of professions.
Valentin Pikul is the author of novels on the history of Russia: "The Demonic Forces,", "Out of the deadlock", "The Favorite" and others. He fascinatingly describes the era of the reign of the Russian empresses Elizabeth the 1st, Catherine the 2nd, etc.
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