In a long and very chequered career, among a bewildering variety of other jobs, Neil Hanson has been an Oxford graduate, a plasterer’s mate, an ice cream salesman, a holiday camp redcoat and - simultaneously - an art critic and a rugby league commentator. He’s edited the boozer’s Bible - the Good Beer Guide, ran and later owned, Britain’s highest inn, in a wild and remote corner of the Yorkshire Dales, and also went round the world twice and worked as a print journalist and radio broadcaster in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

He is now a very successful author with over 60 published books to his name. As well as his own work, he’s also a “ghost writer” for, among others, sports stars, showbiz legends, captains of industry, SAS men, pilots, a treasure diver, an explorer, a kidnap negotiator, an undercover investigator and a spy.

An award winning speaker, he has entertained audiences at every type of occasion - corporate events, conferences, festivals, luncheon clubs, dinners and banquets - throughout the UK and in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Kansas City, New Orleans, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and Wellington