[1] His father, Leroy M. Linick, a screen story analyst at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his mother, née Etta Gordon, separated soon thereafter.

Knowing of his interest in such affairs, his mentor at UCLA, George Mowry, suggested he choose a dissertation topic from this world.

[5] In 2017 Linick published in Beat Scene magazine some of the original research for this dissertation, including responses to a questionnaire returned to him by Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Charles Bukovsky.

[6] The event was of particular interest to Beat scholar James Campbell, who wrote about Linick's article in The Times Literary Supplement.

In 1981 the couple moved to the U.K.[citation needed] In 1982 Linick began a twenty-year tenure as a member of the faculty of the American School in London (ASL) in St John's Wood.

There he taught courses for both the social studies and the English departments, moving permanently to the latter in 1988 and serving as its chair for the last eight years of his teaching career, 1994-2002.

[citation needed] A second passion, one that traces back to the inspiration offered by Dahl to the young Linick and his school friends, was for the footpath.

[9] As early as 1974 Linick began a long series of walks on the extensive network of paths in England, the Channel Islands, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

Here too he kept a detailed daily journal and these served as the source for A Walker's Alphabet: Adventures on the Long-distance footpaths of Great Britain (2010).

[3] After publishing four volumes in the Paddington Rec cycle, Linick decided in 2013 to offer subsequent editions on his own web site.