An Interview with Richard Thurstan

I was born in Staffordshire in 1959 and spent over forty years in the insurance industry, ten years of which were as a loss adjuster. For those who are unfamiliar with the role, a loss adjuster is a professional claims specialist appointed by an insurance company to assess an individual’s or company’s claim from an impartial viewpoint.

I spent the next twenty-three years as a key account manager for a large insurance company and a further ten years as an insurance broker.

I retired in 2021 and live in a small market town in Staffordshire with my wife, Ann. We have two children, four grandchildren, and a young cocker spaniel. We spend our leisure time walking, sailing, and on the occasional holiday, wherever possible.

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

Many people think of insurance as a boring career, with very little excitement on a day-to-day basis. As with any profession, there are periods when the day-to-day work experience can be routine, but when dealing with insurance claims, every day is different. You find yourself dealing with individuals from all walks of life, and the circumstances of each claim are unique to that individual or company. During my ten years as a loss adjuster, I dealt with a large number of claims, and I decided to keep a record of the more unusual, sad, interesting, or funny incidents that I dealt with. I promised myself that when I retired, I would write about these incidents to share with my family and friends, many of whom had heard me describe some of these incidents over the years. When my memoir was in a basic draft form, my family and friends encouraged me to publish it as they found it a very interesting, funny memoir, which they believed would be enjoyed by a wider audience.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

I was struggling to come up with an appropriate title for my book and spent quite a few hours pondering this. As mentioned, I had kept a record of the more unusual and amusing incidents I had dealt with during my claims career but was unsure how to link them together in a meaningful way. As I explain in my book, when damage to property is caused by something covered by an insurance policy, it is called damage by an insured peril. There are many insured perils, such as fire, lightning, theft and storm, to name but a few. It was my wife who came up with the idea of calling my memoir The Perils of a Loss Adjuster. This then helped me to organise my book by writing chapters based on specific perils. So, for example, under the chapter of Fire and Lightning, my amusing stories/incidents are all related to that type of claim. There are eight chapters in total, all describing amusing incidents under different perils.

Describe your dream book cover.

I am not the most creative person, so I again struggled with my book cover. In the end, I settled on a cover showing an individual falling from a paper aeroplane. It seemed to sum up my claims career as never feeling fully in control. No two people or claims are the same, so it felt like always trying to stand (unsuccessfully) on a moving object.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Yakety Sax or the Mr Bean theme songs!!

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

I enjoy crime fiction and particularly all books by Lee Child.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I worked very briefly in the banking profession, but as outlined, I spent over forty years in the insurance industry.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I just wanted to record on paper some of the funny and amusing incidents that I had experienced as a loss adjuster. My main aim was to produce a book for my children so that they would have a record of the early years of my career. All of the incidents described in the book took place before they were born.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I tend to write at home in a quiet room.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

None. I actually really enjoyed the experience. I felt I had something I wanted to say, and I am now content that I have it as a permanent record.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I hope that readers find it an interesting and funny memoir and realise that insurance can be a very demanding, unusual, and rewarding career.

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