My talks concentrate on a book I have just published about my forefather who owned one of the largest shipping companies in the 1850s. He had an amazing life. It is a story of rags to riches. Born in Ayr, orphaned by the age of 10, he ran away to sea, set up a shipbroking company in London, and became an MP. He met many influential people in his day; Brunel, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lincoln, Dickens, Paxton, Emperor Napoleon II, and Queen Victoria. I am conducting a speaker tour consisting of 18 talks around Britain, commencing July 2023.