Christian Williams

Williams joined The Washington Post in 1972 as an assistant editor of the Style Section. When the cast and crew of the Robert Redford movie All The President's Men descended on the newsroom to conduct research for the film, Williams served as the assignment editor on the article about the experience behind the scenes. "It was the age of cool. And suddenly we were cool," Williams said. "You could put out nine calls on deadline at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and get nine callbacks in a half an hour. People were paying attention."{{cite journal|title=All the President's Men: An Oral History|url=http://www.washingtonian.com/2016/04/03/all-the-presidents-men-movie-oral-history/|journal=Washingtonian Magazine|date=3 April 2016 |accessdate=29 April 2016}}

He was arts editor at the paper from 1976 to 1980.{{cite web|title=It's (wash.) Post Time For 'Capital News'|url=http://articles.philly.com/1990-04-09/entertainment/25919161_1_redmond-dunne-equal-justice-newspaper-reporter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602024325/http://articles.philly.com/1990-04-09/entertainment/25919161_1_redmond-dunne-equal-justice-newspaper-reporter|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 2, 2016|work=Philadelphia Daily News|accessdate=6 May 2016}} In 1981, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a series on Isidore Zimmerman, wrongly imprisoned for 25 years.{{cite news|title=The Imprisonment of Isidore Zimmerman|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/06/30/the-imprisonment-of-isidore-zimmerman/094c19ce-85fc-4ad6-87c5-a6a834dbd6aa/|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=6 May 2016}} In 1984, he joined Bob Woodward's investigative team.{{cite web|title=Los Angeles Times to Launch 'West' Magazine Feb. 5|url=http://www.latimes.com/la-mediacenter-2006-0112-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=12 January 2006 |accessdate=6 May 2016}}

In 1986, ABC produced a three-hour movie of the week, Under Siege, written by Bob Woodward, Richard Harwood and Williams based on their terrorism reporting.{{cite journal|title='Under Siege' gives melodramatic portrayal of domestic terrorism|url= http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0207/lsiege.html |journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date= 7 February 1986 |accessdate=29 April 2016}} After Williams and Woodward penned an episode of the NBC crime drama Hill Street Blues, Williams left the Post and moved to Hollywood.{{cite web |title=Hill Street Blues: Writing Credits|url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0601666/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers |website=IMDB|accessdate=29 April 2016}}

With David Milch, Williams created Capital News, an ABC drama based on a morning newspaper in Washington, D.C. Williams also co-created Hercules: The Legendary Journeys which became a worldwide hit in syndication. He was not involved in the production of the series. Williams was co-executive producer of the HBO funeral-home drama Six Feet Under when the show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series in 2002.{{cite web|title=Six Feet Under: Awards & Nominations|url= http://www.emmys.com/shows/six-feet-under |website=Emmys.com|accessdate=29 April 2016}}{{cite web|title=Producer: Six Feet Under |url= https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003994/ |website=IMDB|accessdate=29 April 2016}}

Williams crewed for Ted Turner aboard Tenacious for the 1979 Fastnet race, which was the event of the largest yacht racing disaster in modern times where out of 303 boats, only 86 yachts finished, of which Williams was aboard the race-winning boat. Sailors experienced Force 10 conditions which caused much destruction across the fleet and 18 sailors died.{{cite news |title=Aboard Tenacious: Turner Howls at Deadly Storm |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=20 January 2022|date=16 August 1979 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/16/aboard-tenacious-turner-howls-at-deadly-storm/c8b7e1bd-9aea-4444-99cc-c90871c85fda/}}

Williams has sailed from California to Hawaii three times, single-handed. The first voyage of Thelonious, an Ericson 32–3, took 20 days there and 28 days back. At age 74 he repeated the solo round trip of 5,000 miles on Thelonious II, a 1984 Ericson 38, with 17 days outbound and 22 days return. In 2021, he completed a third single-handed voyage (his second on Thelonious II) from Los Angeles to Honolulu (19 days) and back (26 days) at 78 years old—the video of this journey contains Williams's reflections upon the nature of aging.

Video documentaries of his sailing adventures have more than 10 million views on the YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristianWilliamsYachting/videos ChristianWilliamsYachting].{{cite news |last1=Tinoco |first1=Lily |title=Setting Sail |url=https://www.palipost.com/setting-sail/ |accessdate=9 January 2020 |work=Palisadian-Post}}

Williams chronicled the founding of CNN in the 1981 Ted Turner biography Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way.{{cite magazine|title=The Sure Thing: How entrepreneurs really succeed|url= http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/18/the-sure-thing |magazine=The New Yorker|accessdate=29 April 2016}} Williams' 2016 book "Alone Together: Sailing Solo to Hawaii and Beyond" recounts his solo sail two years earlier to Hawaii and back in his 32-foot sloop "Thelonious".{{cite web|title=Man Films As He Sails Yacht To Hawaii And Back Without A Crew|url=http://sfglobe.com/2015/10/23/man-films-as-he-sails-yacht-to-hawaii-and-back-without-a-crew/|work=The San Francisco Globe|accessdate=2 June 2016|archive-date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604032739/http://sfglobe.com/2015/10/23/man-films-as-he-sails-yacht-to-hawaii-and-back-without-a-crew/|url-status=dead}}

Philosophy of Sailing: Offshore in Search of the Universe, published in 2018, attempts to apply techniques of phenomenology and other forms of inquiry to the experience of isolation and solitude.{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-weekly.com/?p=23743|title=Christian Williams: sailor, raconteur, YouTube guru...and my friend with the sewing machine – |work=The British Weekly|date=7 December 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-28}} The book is listed number 9 of the top 20 sailing books of all time.{{Cite web |title=20 Best-Selling Sailing Books of All Time |url=https://bookauthority.org/books/best-selling-sailing-books |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=BookAuthority |language=en}}

His novel, Rarotonga, (East Wind Press, 2019), explores the attempt of a controversial millionaire to flee family, the IRS and a murder charge in search of paradise alone on his luxury sailing yacht.{{cite news |last1=Tinoco |first1=Lily |title=Setting Sail |url=https://www.palipost.com/setting-sail/ |accessdate=9 January 2020 |work=Palisadian-Post}}

Introduction to Sailing, (East Wind Press, 2022), was conceived as an original audiobook of sailing instruction on Audible.com.{{Cite web |title=Amazon.com: Introduction to Sailing (Audible Audio Edition): Christian Williams, Christian Williams, East Wind Press: Books |url=https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Introduction-to-Sailing/dp/B09W2QQMKJ/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=www.amazon.com}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Christian}}

Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:Norwich University alumni

Category:20th-century American newspaper editors

Category:20th-century American biographers

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American television writers

Category:YouTubers from Brooklyn