I have always been a writer. My first creative piece, I believe, was a newspaper written in Latin. My poetry collection, Warchild (1975), received faint praise and then was quietly forgotten. My Tallyforth Mystery series of crime novels was launched in 1998 with Be a Falling Leaf (now available on Kindle as Ofded). This was followed by Bird on the Wing (2000), The Liquidator (2002) and The Llareggub Experience (2003). Lavington’s Hole (2013) revisits Tallyforth and ‘George’ Elliott after a gap of ten years. I have also produced a piece of literary fiction entitled Known Unto God (2011), with a setting of the World War Two Battle of Crete.

My first travel narrative was Grey Paes and Bacon (2001), an irreverent and amusing perspective on the people and places in the Black Country. That was followed by Dancing with Sabrina (2002), an equally idiosyncratic account of my walk along the banks of the River Severn from source to sea, by Special Offa (2004), an account of my journey on the Offa's Dyke Path and by On the Wall with Hadrian (2006), a fun-filled account of my travels with the Roman Emperor along his famous Wall.

A couple of years ago I began a new venture with my own walking guides. The first of these was The Shropshire Cakes and Ale Trail (2007) detailing a 100-mile walk around south Shropshire. The second was The Worcestershire Cakes and Ale Trail (2009), which traces a similar route around the county of Worcestershire, The Warwickshire Cakes and Ale Trail (2010), a 100-mile amble round Shakespeare’s county and The Staffordshire Cakes and Ale Trail (2012), a similar walk around one of England’s largest counties.