I have written four books over the past few years, three of which deal with family histories and are only ever likely to be of interest to a small number of people. I hope, however, that my fourth book will attract interest from a wider audience. In the Footsteps of my Daughter: A Wildlife Odyssey I tried very hard to interest a publisher in this book, but was unsuccessful. Rather than consigning it to the dustbin, I feel that it contains sufficient of interest that there may be a place for it on the Internet. It details a 169-day wildlife odyssey visiting the Cook Islands, the Fijian Islands, New Zealand, including Stewart Island and many of the small 'special' wildlife havens, Australia, Lord Howe Island, Tasmania and Singapore. It gives details about how the trip was planned, where to see some of the best wildlife available in the countries visited, where to stay and where to eat. I hope that it imparts the joyous feelings experienced by my wife and me as we journeyed around-the-world; the pure joy of doing something never done before, every single day for five and a half months. Life will never be the same again. I hope that my book will encourage someone in the latter years of their life to embark on a great adventure, but many younger people will also find it of interest when planning their gap year. It should come as no surprise that the greatest wildlife areas are also located in the most beautiful parts of the world. John Perigo: Wealden Iron-Maker and Cannonier This describes part of my wife's family history. It is the story of a French immigrant specialist iron-worker, who arrived in the Ashdown Forest in 1513 to set up one of the first ever blast furnaces in England and produce high-quality iron. It was a period of immense change in England and has been described as being the start of the Industrial Revolution. These specialist Frenchmen who came to live in the depths of the Sussex forests were at the cutting-edge of the 'new' technolgy of the time. Strangwayes: The Story of a Yorkshire Family, of Royalty, Norman Earls and Feudal Barons The name of Strangwayes has been traced back to the 1300s when the family lived at Strangwayes Hall near Manchester, now the site of the prison and law courts bearing the same name. Various members migrated away from the area, notably to Dorset and Yorkshire and my book details the genealogy of the Yorkshire families. Notably, it also tells of the ladies, and their ancestry, from many families of great importance who married into the Strangwayes line. A Story of four Families:
The Lister families of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Kent; the Moreton
families of Winchester and Hampshire; the Horne families of Northamptonshire,
the Romney Marsh and Tasmania and the MacLean families of Bualnaluib,
Loch Ewe and London (also including: the Young families of Somerset,
Wiltshire, Hampshire, Australia and the USA; the Lippiatt families of
Somerset; the Taylor families of Hampshire and the USA; the Talbot families
of Northamptonshire and New Zealand and the Goodman families of New
Zealand) |