I started as a cadet journalist on a weekly tabloid in suburban London. Sixteen years as a newspaper reporter, feature writer, sub-editor and production editor in the UK, Southern Africa and Australia led to an eight-year stint as a senior writer and then associate editor with Australian Geographic magazine in Sydney. There I added science, nature, environment, adventure travel and human geography to the topics that journalists cover for newspapers. As always, though, people remained my focus.

After going freelance in 1994, I was freer to choose my topics and to branch out into different genres – long-form journalism, memoir and book-length non-fiction. I've had seven books published and have edited and/or co-authored another eight.

Over the years I've been fortunate to be able to combine my leisure activities with my work. Hang gliding helped me with an article on wedge-tailed eagles and another on animal flight. Sea-kayaking enabled me to explore coastlines and hang out with seals. Hiking and camping were essential for articles on science, adventure and exploration. A long-held passion for the natural environment has fuelled articles on the state of our planet.

From the age of six months, I lived and travelled in Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Australia. By the time I was 11 years old I was fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. At school later I added French, German and Latin. I have a BA degree in German and Portuguese from Cambridge University.

PUBLICATIONS I HAVE WORKED FOR AS A STAFFER
Kingston Borough News, Cambridge Evening News, The World (shut down by South African Government in 1977), Rhodesia Herald, The Star (Johannesburg), The News (Adelaide, Australia), The Australian, Weekend Australian, Australian Geographic.

PUBLICATIONS I HAVE WRITTEN FOR
BBC Wildlife (UK), Geographical Magazine (UK), Terra (Germany), ADAC Reisemagazin (Germany), Australian Geographic, Griffith Review, Guardian Weekly, Newton, Australian Doctor, Architectural Review Australia, Country Style, Highlife, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Wild, Nature Australia, Out There.

An article on fish intelligence, entitled Underwater and Underrated, which I wrote for Australian Geographic magazine, was reprinted in Best Australian Science Writing 2020.

In 2014 I was a runner-up in the Bragg UNSW Press prize for science writing with my article Weathering the Storm, which was reprinted in Best Australian Science Writing 2014.

A memoir of mine, entitled The Ugly Cousin’s Visit, which initially appeared in Griffith Review, was reprinted in A Revealed Life, a 2007 anthology of memoir published by ABC Books.

In 2006 I was a finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day media awards for an article on waste and recycling entitled Tip and Run.

PROFILE IMAGE: A dingo checks me out during my field research for an article on Australia's wild dog. Photo by Esther Beaton.