Originally from Rothesay, the only town on the Scottish Island of Bute.

After working as a journalist in Lincolnshire, Hull and Leeds, I joined the Sunday Times in London and was a member of the Insight team. After five years I headed back up the M1 to become the paper’s North of England Correspondent.

I contributed to a book on the 1984-85 miners’ strike, wrote and published two detailed city guides - Leeds Fax and The Bradford Book - and authored the official handbook to the Yorkshire Wolds Way.

After a spell with BBC Television I returned to print media and now work as a freelance journalist mostly specialising in landscape issues, nature and travel. I also contribute a fortnightly column to The Big Issue In The North.

My novel The Penyghent Blood is now available as an ebook for Kindle, Kobo, & iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch. It can be read on other tablets/phones using the free Kindle app.

A review appeared in the Yorkshire Dales Society’s magazine issue 124, Autumn 2013. It can be read here: