Samuel Orbaum was born on May 22, 1956, in Otley (near Leeds), Yorkshire, England. He didn't like the weather, so he left: at the age of six weeks, he immigrated to Montreal, where he acquired a Canadian accent -- his most noteworthy success during an otherwise oblivious childhood.

He was diagnosed as "a bad boy" because no one then knew what ADD was. He hated school (and school wasn't crazy about him either). Nevertheless, at the age of 8, he awoke to the world around him: he consumed the 20-volume World Book Encyclopedia, perusing through the thousands of pages three times, acquiring knowledge without any help from education. That same year initiated lifelong passions for philately, hockey, Scrabble and writing (this was the olden days, before computers spoiled the wonders of childhood); in the coming years, he discovered additional loves: the culinary arts, baseball, journalism, the opposite gender.

But admitting that his life had been a thorough failure, on February 18, 1981, at the age of 24, he immigrated to Israel with $23, a change of clothes, pages of poetry and little else. His fortunes changed, literally overnight: his life in Israel has been successful and happy. And by now he has a lot more than $23.

His first home in Israel was, of all places, the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak. He moved on to Kibbutz Lavi in the Galilee, then to Kibbutz Na'an, where he studied Hebrew at an ulpan. He moved on to an immigrant absorption center in Herzliya Pituach, studying hotel management at the Tadmor school (including a half-year chef course). He abandoned the studies upon clinching the only job he really wanted - at The Jerusalem Post.

He moved to Jerusalem, and on April 3, 1983, he began his career at the Post as an in-house advertising copywriter; five years and 2,000 advertisements later, he joined the editorial department.

Two days later, on April 5, 1983, he inaugurated the Jerusalem Scrabble Club, which continues to be a rousing success: it is the largest Scrabble club in the world. Sam won the club title many times, and the National Scrabble Championships in 1995, going on to represent Israel in the World Championships that year in London.

Sam married Wendy Elliman on March 26, 1989. A year and a half later, they already had three children! Odelia, Nomi and Donna -- identical triplets -- were born on October 1, 1990.

In 1998, Sam took the black cat, Wendy took the white cat, and they parted.
They live near each other, they get along fine, the girls have two happy homes, so it worked out well, you shouldn't feel so bad.

Just before his 39th birthday, in 1995, Sam was found to have cancer (lymphoma). Tough luck, but there's still a life to be lived, right? Sustained chemotherapy, and a bone-marrow transplant in 1998, failed to eradicate the condition, and a second BMT is due to be performed in the near future, so you can stop worrying.

Sam has published four books:

1. Never A Dull Moment; 208 pages, published by The Jerusalem Post in 1988 (compiler and editor; on assignment from the Post) -- a collection of the "little stories" of life in Israel, compiled from the pages of the Post from 1948 to 1988 (he had to wade through 13,000 newspapers to cull the material!). The book is out of print. (Sam also scripted a documentary film of the same name.)

2. The Animated Israel: A Homecoming; 49 pages, published by Scopus Films in 1988 -- a fable written in rhyme, telling the saga of the Jewish people and their Zionist aspirations.

3. But Seriously; 286 pages, published by The Jerusalem Post in 1998 -- a volume of 65 selections from the long-running humor column of the same name. (Sold out).

4. Eskimos of Jerusalem (And Other Extraordinary Israelis); 400 pages, self-published in 2001 -- 116 vivid stories of memorable people and places; a collection of his Not Page One column. (Sold out).