Rarely does one see such a varied, fascinating and wholly absorbing collection of life stories that leaves the reader wondering how on earth the author packed it all into one lifetime. This miscellany of tales, where God, King and Country, are the common denominator, reveals a skills-set beyond the average man’s chosen career and hobbies. An independent streak inbred from his birth and infant nurture in a military family, his youth spent at boarding school, a gap year at the other end of the world in the Falkland Islands, then a 35 year career as a policeman in Hong Kong and, in retirement, training as a teacher and qualifying as an advanced driver. And now, in the evening of his years, as busy as ever writing books, still an active Freemason and energetically pursuing his responsibilities as chieftain of the Clan McDouall of Freugh. Oh, and I nearly forgot his hobbies; A member of Edinburgh’s Scotch Malt Whisky Society for 25 years, amassing over 200 favourite bottles, and model trains. He built a topographical HO-guage train set 8’ x 10’ for his boys when they were young. Hazel Miller, C of E Parish Administrator