Sep 23, 2012
Monarch Migration
For the last few weeks, one of nature’s great migrations has been taking place on the east end of Long Island: clouds of large, gold and black Monarch butterflies heading in a steady pulse west along the coast. They generally keep to the dunes, as is it’s more sheltered, but you also see them right by the ocean. It’s a long, perilous journey. From here they head all the way down the... read more
Jun 25, 2012
Seatrek, Spice and the Maritime Silk Route.
Thanks to my producer, Tony Grant, at the BBC’s wonderful programme, From Our Own Correspondent, half an hour of radio that takes you around the world. Last week, I had the honour of being able to tell the story of a recent journey I did to the island of Ternate in Indonesia. I... read more
May 3, 2012
New ***** Review of River of Desire
Many thanks to Michelle Harper for this review, which she posted on Kindle recently: Wish I could read it for the 1st time again; wonderful read, lyrical & haunting. Beautiful, haunting, lyrical, riveting! Follow the author on an exciting adventure into the heart of Patagonia and into his own heart. This is more than simply a wonderfully written travel book into one of the most remote regions of the... read more
Apr 16, 2012
Dalian, China 1984-1985
These amazing, historic photos were recently sent to me by Ralph Lake, an old colleague and excellent Mandarin speaker, who shared an extraordinary year with me in Dalian, Manchuria, where I taught English at the Dalian Foreign Language Institute for a year from 1984-1985. It was only five years after the Cultural Revolution, Mao caps and bicycles were everywhere, the shops were almost empty, people were... read more
Apr 8, 2012
Journey to Hazebrouck: BBC From Our Own Correspondent
I was honoured this weekend to be given the chance by BBC Radio 4′s great programme, From Our Own Correspondent, to tell the moving story of the death of my mother’s WW2 fiance, Martin Preston, nephew of the poet Robert Graves; and the heroic resistance put up by the Bucks Batallion at the siege of Hazebrouck in 1940, which allowed thousands of British soldiers to reach Dunkirk and England... read more
Mar 22, 2012
70th. Anniversary of The First Transport of Women to Auschwitz: March 26th.
We’re about to leave on a journey to Auschwitz via Vienna, Bratislava and Poprod to honour the first transport of Jewish women to the death camp on March 26th. 1942. Heather Macadam, author of Rena’s Promise: The Story of Two Sisters in Auscwhitz, is the moving force behind this event. Please join us at #PromiseVigils http://goo.gl/hmVmD so we don’t forget these brave... read more
